Table 2.

Nursing Home Entry by Living Arrangements, Number of Changes in Household Composition, and Other Characteristics: Assets and Health Dynamics of the Elderly/Health and Retirement Survey 1993–2002

Characteristics	Sample, % (n)	Entered nursing home (%)a
Total	100 (8,063)	11.6
Living arrangements
Continuously
Aloneb	28.6 (2,315)	19.6
With spouse	37.9 (3,070)	7.4**
With same adult child	7.7 (619)	11.2**
With othersc	2.4 (190)	21.1
Changed
From spouse or alone to adult child	4.6 (368)	12.2**
From spouse to alone	11.6 (940)	5.6**
From spouse/alone/with adult child to othersc	3.0 (242)	9.5**
Other patterns	4.3 (399)	8.6**
Number of changes in household composition
0b	71.6 (5,797)	13.2
1	20.1 (1,626)	8.7**
2	6.3 (507)	5.1**
3+	2.0 (163)	3.1**
Individual characteristicsd
Age (in years)
70–75b	40.0 (3,233)	5.8
76–80	23.8 (1,925)	13.2*
81+	26.8 (2,171)	21.9*
Gender
Male	36.8 (2,974)	8.1*
Female	63.2 (5,119)	13.7
Race/ethnicity
Black non-Hispanic	13.3 (1,078)	12.3
Hispanic	6.0 (482)	11.9
Other race/ethnicity (primarily    Caucasian)	80.7 (6,533)	6.0**
Net worthe [M; SE]	[1.8; 4.1] (8,063)	[1.1; 1.6]*
Number of living children
0b	12.3 (995)	18.7
1	16.2 (1,307)	13.9*
2+	71.6 (5,791)	9.9*
Any ADL limitations
Yes	14.1 (1,143)	18.4*
No	85.9 (6,950)	10.5
Number of chronic diseases
0b	22.1 (1,790)	11.0
1	33.1 (2,675)	10.6
2+	44.8 (3,628)	12.7
Cognitive functioningf
Fair/poor	10.6 (860)	22.7**
Excellent/very good/good	89.4 (7,233)	10.3

^an = 939.

^bReference category.

^cPredominantly relatives (including grandchildren) but excluding a spouse or child.

^dBaseline measures.

^eContinuous variable constructed by dividing net worth in dollars by $100,000.

^fBased on self-rating or proxy rating of memory at baseline.

*0.01< p ≤ .05; **p ≤ .01.