LIVING ARRANGEMENTS OF THE ELDERLY WOMEN IN A RURAL SETTING OF SOUTH INDIA: PATTERNS, DIFFERENTIALS AND DETERMINANTS

Abstract

Living arrangements of the rural female elderly in India is at the state of deplorable condition Findings from selected villages in southern India suggest that a large proportion of the elderly widowed women live with children, whereas slightly more than half of the married live by themselves (i.e., with spouse only). Birvarate analysis reveal that while the increased monthly income and availability of surviving children are likely to encourage the older people to co-reside with their own children, irrespective of marital status, higher occupational status of the elderly reduces the co-residence with children among widowed. The logistic regression analysis highlighted that women with higher monthly family income, not working, suffering with physical disability and belong to lower caste tend to increase the probability of living with children. On the other hand, the tendency to live with children among the currently married elderly women has increased with the availability of son and their level of education.