Elsevier

Journal of Aging Studies

Volume 31, December 2014, Pages 1-9
Journal of Aging Studies

Moving as a gift: Relocation in older adulthood

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2014.07.001Get rights and content

Highlights

  • This paper uses Marcel Mauss' The Gift (1925/1990) as a theoretical lens.

  • The emotional motivation of gift giving is a rationale for moving in older adulthood.

  • Relocation in older adulthood is conceptualized as a gift to one's partner and kin.

  • Examines expectations of reciprocation and some of the obligations that emerge.

Abstract

While discussions of accessibility, mobility and activities of daily living frame relocation studies, in older adulthood, the paper explores the emotional motivation of gift giving as a rationale for moving. This ethnographic study investigates the processes of household disbandment and decision-making of older adults in the Midwestern United States relocating in post-Global Financial Crisis contexts. In this study, relationships are created and sustained through the process of moving, linking older adults (n = 81), their kin (n = 49), and professionals (n = 46) in the Midwestern United States.

Using Marcel Mauss' The Gift (1925/1990) as a theoretical lens, relocation in older adulthood is conceptualized as a gift in two ways: to one's partner, and one's kin. Partners may consider gift-giving in terms of the act of moving to appease and honor their partner. Kin who were not moving themselves were also recipients of the gift of moving. These gifts enchain others in relationships of reciprocity. However these gifts, like all gifts, are not without costs or danger, so this paper examines some of the challenges that emerge along with gift-giving.

Section snippets

Relocation in older adulthood: a time for gifts

Older adults experience many transitions, including cognitive and physical changes, in relation to housing. Older persons may reevaluate the benefits and drawbacks of remaining in their current residence. Professionals, volunteers, or family members can assist older adults as they make their plans. If they plan to stay in their current homes, modifications, such as grab bars, and community based services may help them to stay.

Relocation is another option for older adults who worry about their

Methodology

I employed a panel design, attempting to follow older persons and their family and friends through three stages of moving: 1) pre-move planning, 2) move in-process, and 3) post-move adjustment. Though not discrete, conceptually, the three stages served to distinguish those older adults who “completed” a move from those who were only engaged in the pre-move planning but did not undertake a move, and those who I interviewed after their moves in their post-move adjustment phase.

Data were collected

Study sample

I wanted to understand the moving experiences of older Americans from three perspectives: those of the older adults themselves (n = 81), their kin (n = 49), and professionals involved in the move (n = 46). Primarily participants were older adults, either single (n = 43) or married (n = 38) when both agreed to participate. While some of the older adults were interviewed in these distinct phases (pre-move phase n = 25; post-move phase n = 17), most older adults, their kin and involved professionals (e.g., real

Data collection

This study implemented semi-structured interviews and participant observation as data collection strategies.

  • 1)

    Semi-structured interviews:

    Semi-structured interviews were conducted by the researcher which demonstrated a “co-creation of meaning” (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2006: 134) through interviews. This process established a relationship where participants were viewed as the experts on moving. The researcher prompted participants to clarify responses to questions about the emotional, health,

Analytical approaches

Data were transcribed and analyzed using iterative, thematic content-analysis approaches. Multiple sources of data, such as transcripts of real-time interaction, field notes, documents and photographs were included in the analysis for emergent themes along with the interview data to avoid “constraints on outputs” in the analysis phase (Patton, 2002: 39). As an additional validity measure, I facilitated conversations with participants before formal conference presentations of my research

Findings

In this study, gift-giving emerged as a theme throughout data collection and analysis. Sometimes, older adults would explicitly mention gifts and at other times, ideas of reciprocity and benefits from relocation were acknowledged. By applying the anthropological literature on gift-giving, a rich understanding of the effect of relocation on older adults and their kin surfaces.

In “The Gift,” Marcel Mauss describes how gift exchange practices around the world involve multiple types of objects and

A gift to one's partner: partner's desire to move

In this study, negotiating the timing and decision to move involved partners, adult children and other kin, as well as external factors such as the availability of their chosen residence. Older people could offer the gift in different ways, either deciding to move at all (choosing to move) or when to move (timing). In the next example, Mr. and Mrs. Paul struggled with both of those concerns.

Mr. and Mrs. Paul lived on a farm on the outskirts of town. It was not their first move as they referred

A gift to one's partner: honor partner

Moving can also be gift to a partner posthumously. In this case, it is not about preparing a partner for a life beyond the other's, but rather paying clear attention to the legacy left. Legacies can be in terms of reputation and material wealth. When I met Mrs. Ash, I soon realized that she would honor her late husband by diligently dispersing the possessions that they had accumulated over a lifetime together.

The entire family was involved in making sure the possessions in the home were settled

A gift to one's kin: peace of mind

I shall now focus on the ways moving can be viewed as a gift to one's kin. Considering ways that moves can be both present and future gifts provides the opportunity to understand why older people undertake moves to meet the emotional and logistical needs of their kin. Mrs. Ash loved her home, and even while she was through selling and donating possessions, she paid meticulous attention to her home maintenance. In fact, one day when I drove up, she was negotiating with someone about the cost of

A gift to one's kin: freedom

The emotional and logistical involvement of kin in the moving process varies. Sometimes older adults really make most of the plans and kin are directed to perform certain duties, including reclaiming their childhood objects that their parents had been storing, or taking objects that aren't being moved. Sometimes they are taken out of duty, and sometimes out of desire. I also see that older adults' moves affected kin far beyond the material circulation of possessions. Moving could also be an

A gift to one's kin: ease of caregiving

Mr. Lewis explained that the previous moving experiences of older relatives, as well as their experience with moving their own family 27 times, affected their relocation decision.

Mr. Lewis: The move is a philosophical move.

Researcher: Okay.

Mr. Lewis: It's a philosophical move to basically, uh, two, two major objectives.

To, to be help and assistance to our to our kids and grandkids and number two to make it so that our kids didn't have to go out to (location) in the middle of nowhere and pick up

Conclusion

This study shows that gift-giving occurs in the process of relocation of older adults. In addition to physical gifts, such as inheritances, the emotional gifts to partners and kin include appeasing a partner's desire, honoring a partner, and providing peace of mind, freedom and ease of caregiving to other kin. Other relocation scholarship has understood moving in terms of older adults' ability to navigate their physical surroundings or in terms of physical and cognitive losses or expected

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Ruth Dunkle and Dr. Judith T. Irvine who mentored me on this interdisciplinary project. This work was supported by the Hartford Foundation, University of Michigan and a grant from the National Institutes of Health, P30 AG015281, and the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research.

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