Changes in the Family and Living Arrangements for Older People

Changes in the Family

Every human being has the need for affection and to have someone toward whom he can express love and affection. Family and friends supply this need. Here, too, changes take place as people grow older. Already noted is the fact that women have to take into account the time when all of the children have left home. Men retire and lose some of their old friends. Other friends of the older couple move away. The later years also present the possibility of the death and dying of one of the marriage partners.

The loss of loved ones, whether friend or a member of the family, requires more than any other change in the later years, the utmost courage and ability to adapt to new situations.

Change in Living Arrangements

At the time people retire the facts show that most of them are living in their own home. As they become older, however, some of them find it desirable to give up their home and move elsewhere or they may find it necessary to give up their own home altogether and live with relatives or in a senior care nursing home or assisted living home. Giving up one’s own home means many things. It often means giving up independence and privacy and it usually means giving up familiar things and surroundings.

Most older people will say that this is one of the more difficult aspects of growing older.