Effects of Neighborhood and Individual Change on the Personal Outcomes of Recent Movers to Low-Income Senior Housing

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of neighborhood and individual change on the personal outcomes of recent movers to Canadian government-subsidized senior citizen apartment buildings (SCAs). The authors' sample included 137 recent movers to 25 SCA projects in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who participated in a longitudinal survey. The analysis involved testing four logistic and ordinary least squares regression models, with personal state outcomes of the moves (self-rated health, morale, depression, self-esteem) treated as dependent variables. Although the overall performance of the models was moderate, the entry of a block of independent change variables into the regression equations consistently registered statistically significant increases in their explanatory power . Significant predictors of the outcomes included changes in personal resources, everyday travel, and resident appraisals of service, social, and physical components of neighborhood content. The findings suggested that the older person's subjective interpretations of a new residential setting assumed more importance in producing outcomes than objective measures of that settings.