Life-style of Older People: Improvement or Threat to their Health?

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Abstract
The transition from independent living to a residential home or to sheltered housing challenges the resilience of all elderly people. This paper reports a study which used longitudinal design, within which 455 Dutch people were interviewed twice a year over a five-year period. Drawn from five different groups, the sample represented people at different stages of independence, ranging from those who needed no assistance through to a group of new residents in an elderly persons' home. The focus was on preparedness for and the adaptation experience of relocation to a dependent setting. A battery of psychological, social and medical measures was employed to produce serial data which were subjected to discriminant analysis. The dominant finding is that attitudes to dependency are central to the maintenance of self-esteem and well-being.