Elderly persons, family and household: a narrative review of the decision to live alone

Abstract

The authors seek to establish bases of argumentation in order to better understand the reasons that lead elderly citizens to live alone and how transfers take place (flow of resources, actions and information that is exchanged and circulated) when such persons do live alone. Determining factors are reviewed and discussed regarding the household arrangements of elderly citizens, including demographic, socioeconomic and health factors, with emphasis on single-person households. Factors that permeate transfers between elderly citizens and their families are underscored, such as the characteristics of intergenerational transfers, differences among the various types of support provided, and the gender of the elderly persons. The study consists of a narrative review and the results indicate that comfortable socioeconomic and health conditions, more advanced age and lack of children seem to contribute to an elderly person’s decision to live alone. However, there were differences in the results of the studies analyzed in terms of the factors associated with the formation of single-person households among elderly persons. Although transfers generally take place regardless of the elderly person’s household arrangements, those that take place among members of a single household seem to be more frequent and, perhaps for this reason, are discussed at greater length. Even when elderly persons who live alone participate in transfers, they are more likely to receive formal care than those who live with other persons.