This is evident in a recently published study from the research groups Applied Gerontology and Active and Healthy Ageing, which have collaborated with a group of researchers at Goethe University in Frankfurt within the Forte-funded project HoT-Age.
- We found interesting cases. You often think about stability and that the elderly stay in the same residence for a long time, but here we saw examples of them storing all their belongings and moving into a bed & breakfast, because they didn't know where they would live afterwards, says Maya Kylén, assistant researcher in the Applied Gerontology research group, Lund University.
The researchers focused on people who had moved in with a partner late in life, and found two patterns. One was a group that moved into a new home with a partner and the other was participants who either moved in with their partner or had their partner moved in with them.
Could be the new normal
Maya Kylén has mainly worked together with German first author Anna Wanka. They also saw examples of older people who choose to work a little longer, after having moved back to Sweden and the family after many years abroad. And people who are weekend partners.
- This is different from how we usually think about the elderly. It is perhaps the new normal, that there is a great heterogeneity in how one chooses to live, continues Maya Kylén.
Maya is involved in several national and international interdisciplinary research projects that focus on life events in the later part of life, housing, home and neighborhood environments, and care and rehabilitation at home for people with complex health conditions.
Currently, she leads two major projects; AGE-HERE, which focuses on the relationship between economic factors, such as taxes, and the health of elderly homeowners. And InHome, a new model that integrates environmental factors into rehabilitation after stroke for a more person-centered care.
Interviews with Swedes and Germans
The study is part of the CASE project Hot Age, where doctoral student Erik Eriksson and a German colleague conducted in-depth interviews with 50 older people in Sweden and Germany, about life events in the later part of life, health and how they experienced their homes and local environments.
Nine of them have now been studied for their sometimes unusual moving patterns together with a partner.
- We saw that several moved in together in connection with their retirement, something that had not been possible before due to the work situation. Before retirement, they had had a weekend cohabitation. Moving in together could also be a way of dealing with other life events, such as deteriorating health, continues Maya Kylén.
The participants also discuss what it's like to move in with a partner, or when both move to a new home.
- You can feel like a guest when you move in with your partner. It's not just a new environment, it takes longer to adapt and feel at home.
Did you see differences between those who live in Germany and Sweden?
- The study is based on few individuals and you should therefore be careful to talk about differences, but in Germany we saw that several of the participants chose to move out into the countryside, while the participants in Sweden chose to move into the center and avoid being dependent on a car.
Read more about "Moving in together in later life: Making spaces into places as a joint endeavour".