@mastersthesis {6085, title = {Expectations to Move and Residential Mobility in Older Adults: Delineating reactive and proactive decision processes}, year = {2006}, month = {2006}, school = {The University of Kansas}, address = {United States -- Kansas}, abstract = {Older adults desire to maintain their independence, and most prefer to age in place. In later life, a variety of factors may culminate to challenge these preferences and prompt a residential move to another community-based setting or to a nursing home. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into these residential decision processes. A theoretical model for motivation and self-regulation is helpful for explaining dynamics that occur between goals for independence and to remain at home, the aging context, and expectations to move. This longitudinal research utilizes data from the 2000 and 2002 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to better understand the relationship between expectations to move within two years and actual residential mobility. The sample included adults ages 68 and older who did not live in a nursing home in 2000 and who were able to independently complete the interviews (N =5,020). Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that move expectations were significant predictors of community-based moves within two years, but they did not predict nursing home moves. A significant number of move expectations were interrupted by other life transitions such as marriage. Findings delineated patterns of reactive and proactive residential decision processes. Access to informal support was a critical factor in reactive moves, and fewer health diagnoses, positive perceptions of the physical environment, and use of home- and community-based services were associated with proactive decision patterns. The identification of proactive intervention strategies has implications for improved quality of life for older adults and for policy. This research supports the presentation of residential decision processes as an on-going phenomenon in later life, and the use of subjective probability measures and the motivation and self-regulation research model in gerontological research on ambiguous late-life transitions.}, keywords = {Expectations, Healthcare}, author = {Julie F. Sergeant} }