Sense of community, loneliness, and satisfaction in five elder cohousing neighborhoods

ABSTRACT

Data were collected at five elder cohousing neighborhoods to understand more about who lives in these communities, their reasons for moving, their satisfaction, and to explore the intersection between loneliness and sense of community. The average age of the predominantly white, female, and well-educated sample (n = 86, 56% response rate), was 68 ± 6.573 at move-in. Respondents moved in search of a sense of community and were generally satisfied with their experiences. Prevalence of loneliness was lower than the national average, but still affected 24% of the sample. Findings suggest that senior cohousing is delivering on the promise to promote sense of community.

KEYWORDS:

• Neighbors
• senior cohousing
• living arrangements
• aging better together

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Retirement Research Foundation.