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Household Composition Among Elders in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Context of HIV/AIDS
Authors: Zimmer, Zachary
Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Volume 71, Number 4, November 2009 , pp. 1086-1099(14); DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00654.x
Topic(s): Aging
Elderly
HIV/AIDS
Country: Africa
  Multiple African Countries
Published: NOV 2009
Abstract: Cross-sectional and repeated surveys from household components of Demographic and Health Surveys in sub-Saharan Africa were examined to determine whether household composition indicators for older adults (N = 52, 573), involving offspring and grandchildren, correlated with national levels of AIDS mortality. One in 4 was living with a grandchild whose own parents were absent. Absence was a result of residence elsewhere and parents being deceased. Older adults in countries with a high accumulation of AIDSmortality were more likely to live in a skip-generation household and with a double-orphaned grandchild and less likely to live in a 3-generation household. Change in living arrangements toward skip generation and a double orphaned household was experienced in countries with high accumulation of AIDS mortality.