The present study is a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study based on the project “As alterações da longevidade relacionadas a idosos octogenários do Distrito Federal na abordagem interdisciplinar” (Changes in longevity related to octogenarians of the Federal District (Brazil) in a interdisciplinary approach) database, approved by the Ethics Research Committee, registered in the Certificate of Presentation for Ethical Appreciation (CPEA) number 50075215.2.0000.0029, linked to the Postgraduate Program in Gerontology of the Universidade Católica de Brasília (UCB, Catholic University of Brasília).

Of the 107 advanced elderly individuals selected, 22 of them lived alone, 50 in uni- or bi-generational households, and 35 in tri-generational households. The analyzes indicated that there was a higher prevalence of women, widowed individuals, and a higher number of children for elderly individuals living in tri-generational arrangements. Elderly individuals living in uni- or bi-generational environments were mostly males (54%) and married. For elderly individuals who reported living alone, there was a higher prevalence of widowed individuals, followed by unmarried individuals. No statistically significant associations were found between the household arrangement, age, education, mood, mean MSME score, and the individual presenting any BADL and IADL difficulties (Table 1).

Regarding the other variables, elderly individuals who lived in uni- or bi-generational households indicated that they were more satisfied with life compared to the same age group, and reported the highest prevalence of participation in the “cultural activities” and “ driving an automobile” AADLs. On the other hand, no differences were observed in the other domains of life satisfaction. With regard to the perceived social support, no difference between groups was reported. However, there was a tendency of the group with uni- or bi-generational arrangements to have a greater availability of social-emotional support when compared to elderly individuals who reported living alone or in tri-generational environments (Table 2,3,4).

The results of this study indicate that the household arrangements for advanced elderly individuals are associated with the family composition, variables of life satisfaction and social involvement. It was observed that elderly individuals with tri-generational arrangements were female, widowed and with a larger number of children. The engagement in these activities may be related to motivational and relational factors, since participation in social activities may increase the perception of the elderly individual’s quality of life (Borges & Magalhães, 2011; Mantovani, Lucca, & Neri, 2016; Cachioni et al., 2017).

However, there was no relationship between the household arrangement, age, education, mood, the mean MSME score, and BADL- and IADL-related difficulties, which may be associated with two factors: (1) when selecting the cognitively healthy individuals (50% of the sample), the most dependent ones could have been excluded and this factor could have generated a selection bias; (2) it is a sample of elderly individuals with a high prevalence of functional difficulties (50%) and less variability in relation to the sociodemographic variables investigated.

On these factors, other studies, such as the one by Rabelo and Neri (2015), used cluster analysis and identified the existence of three groups: elderly individuals who need instrumental help to perform everyday activities, with anxiety and dissatisfaction regarding family relations; elderly individuals who depend on others to perform activities of daily living, with anxiety and satisfaction with family relationships; and elderly individuals who are fully independent and satisfied with their family relations. However, Rabelo & Neri only analyzed elderly individuals who were 60 years-old or more, and used instruments that measured family functionality, which were not applied in this study. Satisfaction with family relationships is a factor that associates health and well-being in old age, and should be further investigated (Fuller-Iglesias et al., 2015).

Although other studies have related social support to the household arrangement (Alves et al., 2015; Borges & Magalhães, 2011; Paúl, 2005; Rabelo & Neri, 2015; Rosa et al., 2007) in this study there were no statistically significant associations between these variables. It was observed that the sample tended to have a high availability of self-perceived social, instrumental, affective, informative and social-emotional support. However, the tendency of the group with a uni- or bi-generational arrangement to have a greater availability of social-emotional support when compared to the others, may indicate that, in this aspect, the coexistence with the next generations favors these exchanges, performed by people who share common beliefs, stories and values.

Nevertheless, the data presented suggest that in old age, household arrangements can also be guided by intergenerational social exchanges, patterns of solidarity, altruism, and multigenerational care roles (Kenne & Batson, 2010). In the first case, the changes would be based on economic reasons (Gazso, McDaniel, & Waldron, 2016), while in the second case they would be associated with health care and disability needs related to health and functional disability (Kenne & Batson, 2010).

According to data from the Pesquisa Nacional de Amostra por Domicílios (PNAD, National Household Sample Survey), in 2013, there were families whose elderly individuals contributed with up to 54.6% of their income. However, it was found that older women started to head more households than in the past decades and that approximately two-thirds of the income came from Social Security (Camarano & Kanso, 2016). In this case, the role of elderly individuals in multigenerational households may be linked to the role of the provider and the head of the family, evidencing social exchanges as a mechanism of economic protection and intergenerational survival (Gazso et al., 2016). In the present study, there was no association between the household arrangement and the perception of income insufficiency, which may indicate that the economic contracts between generations may not be the determining factor for the household arrangement and advanced elderly individuals in the sample investigated.

On the other hand, multigenerational households can also be configured to support advanced elderly individuals, in addition to other variables such as marital status and gender. In this study, it was observed that women reported a higher prevalence of “uni-” and “tri-generational” household arrangements. Findings presented by Warner, Adams, and Anderson (2018) indicate that elderly individuals who reside alone reported more solitude, which is attenuated through social relations, functional limitations and the individual’s sex. Brazilian elderly women are more likely to be widowed, and go through a longer period of pre-death functional disability (Camarano & Kanso, 2016), indicating that the feminization of old age must be taken into long-term care.

With regard to other socio-demographic variables, the individual’s marital status tends to be a great predictor of intergenerational co-residence, with uni- or bi-generational households mostly composed of married elderly individuals, while the tri-generations ones are mostly composed of elderly widowed individuals, supporting our findings (Kenne & Batson, 2010). While marital status tends to moderate housing standards, on the other hand there are controversial findings on the relationship between widowhood in health indicators and the individual’s well-being in old age (Burns, Browning, & Kendig, 2015). With regard to the role of grandparents in the present study, it was not possible to determine whether they played any roles in the upbringing of their grandchildren, a fact that has been reported as having a negative impact on the health and well-being of elderly individuals (Kenne & Batson, 2010). Data from North American studies indicate that 42% of the grandparents who corresponded with their grandchildren were also the legal guardians for those under the age of 18, occupying the roles of providers and caregivers.

In summary, the data from the present study indicate that household arrangements in advanced old age are associated with family composition and some dimensions of life satisfaction and social involvement. However, it is important to note that the data refer to octogenarian and nonagenarian elderly individuals in an outpatient care clinic sample of the Federal District (Brazil), and that this population has a peculiar characteristic. It is a sample that originates mostly from other Brazilian states due to the foundation of the nation’s capital, Brasília. In this way, they have already established behavioral, emotional, and relational patterns permeated by diverse sociocultural characteristics. Previous studies have indicated that generational (Suanet & Antonucci, 2017) or cultural patterns can moderate factors such as contact frequency, proximity, orientation and social network composition (Ajrouch, Fuller, Akiyama, & Antonucci, 2018). Thus, the findings described are specific to the Federal District sample. It is necessary to elaborate more studies with Brazilian advanced elderly individuals, in order to verify if the household arrangements in advanced old age follow the same associations with socio-demographic variables, satisfaction with life, participation and social involvement. In summary, the findings highlight the need to deepen the way in which relationship patterns and generational exchanges are organized in the household arrangements in advanced old age.