College of Global Public Health, New York University.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2019 Aug 21;74(6):1041-1052. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby126.
This study explores the effects of social and environmental disruption on emergency housing transitions among older adults following Hurricane Sandy. It is based upon the Sandy Child and Family Health (S-CAFH) Study, an observational cohort of 1,000 randomly sampled New Jersey residents living in the nine counties most affected by Sandy.
This analysis examines the post-Sandy housing transitions and recovery of the young-old (55-64), mid-old (65-74), and old-old (75+) compared with younger adults (19-54). We consider length of displacement, number of places stayed after Sandy, the housing host (i.e., family only, friends only, or multi-host), and self-reported recovery.
Among all age groups, the old-old (75+) reported the highest rates of housing damage and were more likely to stay in one place besides their home, as well as stay with family rather than by themselves after the storm. Despite this disruption, the old-old were most likely to have recovered from Hurricane Sandy.
Findings suggest that the old-old were more resilient to Hurricane Sandy than younger age groups. Understanding the unique post-disaster housing needs of older adults can help identify critical points of intervention for their post-disaster recovery.
本研究探讨了社会和环境破坏对桑迪飓风后老年人紧急住房转移的影响。它基于桑迪儿童和家庭健康（S-CAFH）研究，这是一项对 1000 名随机抽样的新泽西州居民的观察性队列研究，这些居民居住在受桑迪影响最严重的 9 个县。
本分析比较了年轻老年人（55-64 岁）、中老年人（65-74 岁）和老年人（75 岁以上）与年轻成年人（19-54 岁）在桑迪之后的住房转移和恢复情况。我们考虑了流离失所的时间长短、桑迪后居住的地方数量、住房主人（即只有家人、只有朋友或多主人）以及自我报告的恢复情况。
在所有年龄组中，老年人（75 岁以上）报告的住房损坏率最高，而且更有可能在除了自己家之外的地方停留，并且在风暴后更有可能与家人而不是自己住在一起。尽管受到了这种干扰，老年人最有可能从桑迪飓风中恢复过来。
研究结果表明，老年人比年轻人群体更能适应桑迪飓风的影响。了解老年人在灾后住房方面的独特需求，可以帮助确定他们灾后恢复的关键干预点。
