tHE imPliCationS of CHanGinG family StRUCtURES and

tHE imPliCationS of CHanGinG family StRUCtURES and

Research project of the Future of Living and Housing (ASU-LIVE) Research Programme
The implications of changing family
structures and population ageing
on long-term housing trajectories,
housing wealth and health, and
nursing-home residence
Principal Investigators: Pekka Martikainen, Hanna Remes, Mikko Laaksonen
Changes in the population structure
strongly influence housing needs and
demands. Several current demograph­
ic transformations – decreasing house­
­h old size and growth of one-person
households, postponement of mar­
riage and childbearing, higher rate of
union dissolution, diversification of
family forms, continuing migration to
more urban areas and rapid popula­
tion ageing – all affect housing and
living arrangements in different phases
of the life course. In the future, ac­
commodating the more diversified
and individualised housing needs
poses a serious challenge, especially
among older people, and may have a
strong influence on the health and
wellbeing of the population.
living and housing arrangements, and
assess their implications for well­
being, health and mortality. We pay
particular attention to long-term
social trajectories of individuals and,
accordingly, follow their paths of
housing and living arrangements as a
function of time. The study focuses
on three life stages – early adulthood,
mid-life and old age – that form our
main research topics: (1) Housing
traject­o ries from early adulthood to
later life stages and their effects on
well­b eing; (2) The effects of housing,
housing wealth, and neighbourhood
characteristics on health in mid-life;
and (3) Social determinants of nurs­
ing-home residence and independent
living at the end of life.
The overall aim of this study is to
assess the consequences of population
ageing and changing family forms on
Previous research on the associations
between family events and housing
changes remains relatively scarce.
RESEARCH GROUP:
Pekka Martikainen
Professor
Hanna Remes
Researcher
Mikko Laaksonen
Senior Researcher
Contact:
Pekka Martikainen, [email protected], +358 9 191 23889
Hanna Remes, [email protected], +358 9 191 23885
Mikko Laaksonen, [email protected], +358 29 411 2156
www.aka.fi/asu
Housing studies have not fully
embraced family issues, and housing
issues are also seldom addressed in de­
mographic and family studies. Finnish
register-based individual-level data
provide unique opportunities to com­
bine these perspectives and study
housing and living arrangement tra­
jectories across the life course. Fur­
thermore, these trajectories can be
linked to various health outcomes.
With population-level data on nursinghome residence and long-term hospi­
tal care, we can also study the associa­
tions between housing and health
even at the furthest end of the life
span. The implications of changing
family structures and population age­
ing on long-term housing trajectories,
housing wealth and health and nurs­
ing-home residence may have major
impacts on public health and the so­
cial protection system.