ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of families in influencing the dynamic processes of aging in place. It identifies family considerations in late-life migration patterns, family caregiving behavior and consequences, and personal autonomy negotiations within a family context. Concern has been raised about the potential of family members for compromising the personal autonomy of older persons by actively encouraging, and sometimes insisting on, a move to a “safer” environment. Thus, the family’s role in the decision-making process regarding aging in place is more appropriately characterized as one of participant rather than as adversary. In the vast majority of cases, however, it is important to remember that the primary impediment to aging in place is neither family over-protectiveness nor lack of concern. Thus, the literature on migration in later life clearly highlights the importance of family considerations in motivating relocation decisions, especially at later life stages.
