Housing and Life Course Transitions in Later Life: The Role of Housing, Place, and Sense of Home in Periods of Uncertainty

Abstract Housing is central factor for health and well-being in later life. Many countries have implemented ageing in place policies, but they tend to neglect the dynamic nature and heterogeneity of the ageing process. Housing needs change as people grow older, and experience different transitions across their life courses. Studies have demonstrated relationships between housing and health and wellbeing in later life on the one hand and life transitions and health and wellbeing in later life on the other hand. However, research on life transitions in combination with objective and perceived housing in relation to indicators of good ageing is scarce. Hence, the symposium aims to explore the dynamic relationship between housing and life transitions and how this relationship impacts health, well-being, functioning, and social/neighborhood participation along the process of ageing. First, Anna Wanka and Frank Oswald investigate how older adults’ relationship to their home is interlinked with life-course transitions and social exclusion, presenting case studies from three countries. Maya Kylén explores the meaning of home and health dynamics throughout the retirement transition among the ‘younger old’ in Sweden. Kieran Walsh asks how ‘sense of home’ interrelates with risks entailed in the transitions of bereavement, dementia on-set and forced migration. Finally, Helen Barrie discusses the transition to homelessness based on the HILDA survey to identify the profile(s) of older people at risk of homelessness in Australia. Finally, Richard A. Settersten will discuss the four contributions.


GEROPSYCHOLOGY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: MENTORING AND OUTREACH BY THE AMERICAN BOARD OF GEROPSYCHOLOGY
Michelle Mlinac, 1 and Heather Smith, 2 1. VA Boston Healthcare System,Jamaica Plain,Massachusetts,United States,2. Milwaukee VA Medical Center,Milwaukee,Wisconsin,United States To build workforce capacity and increase access to geropsychology services across the country, the American Board of Geropsychology (ABGERO) is engaged in efforts to promote competence in the specialty of Geropsychology. ABGERO developed a mentoring program to encourage psychologists to pursue board certification by demonstrating knowledge, skills, and abilities in delivering professional services to older adults. Mentors provide support around exam preparation, develop learning plans for psychologists new to the specialty, and help mentees consolidate their professional identities as geropsychologists. Candidates receiving mentorship include early career psychologists who completed geropsychology fellowships, mid-late career geropsychologists who seek board certification to be generative to the field, and psychologists looking to build expertise in geropsychology. For this latter group, clinical consultation groups were also created. Currently, 20 geropsychologists mentor 41 psychologists and 2 graduate students. Two geropsychologists have provided weekly consultation to 15 psychologists. Future implications for mentoring within geropsychology will be discussed.

HOUSING AND LIFE COURSE TRANSITIONS IN LATER LIFE: THE ROLE OF HOUSING, PLACE, AND SENSE OF HOME IN PERIODS OF UNCERTAINTY
Chair: Anna Wanka Co-Chair: Steven Schmidt Discussant: Richard Settersten Housing is central factor for health and well-being in later life. Many countries have implemented ageing in place policies, but they tend to neglect the dynamic nature and heterogeneity of the ageing process. Housing needs change as people grow older, and experience different transitions across their life courses. Studies have demonstrated relationships between housing and health and wellbeing in later life on the one hand and life transitions and health and wellbeing in later life on the other hand. However, research on life transitions in combination with objective and perceived housing in relation to indicators of good ageing is scarce. Hence, the symposium aims to explore the dynamic relationship between housing and life transitions and how this relationship impacts health, well-being, functioning, and social/neighborhood participation along the process of ageing. First, Anna Wanka and Frank Oswald investigate how older adults' relationship to their home is interlinked with life-course transitions and social exclusion, presenting case studies from three countries. Maya Kylén explores the meaning of home and health dynamics throughout the retirement transition among the 'younger old' in Sweden. Kieran Walsh asks how 'sense of home' interrelates with risks entailed in the transitions of bereavement, dementia on-set and forced migration. Finally, Helen Barrie discusses the transition to homelessness GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting Innovation in Aging, 2020, Vol. 4, No. S1 based on the HILDA survey to identify the profile(s) of older people at risk of homelessness in Australia. Finally, Richard A. Settersten will discuss the four contributions. The international literature presents growing evidence of the impact of life transitions in older age on experiences of social exclusion, and place in general and as well as housing in particular potentially play a mediating role in this interrelation. However, the specific mechanisms through which the older adult place relationship mediates exclusionary outcomes of life-course transitions remains poorly understood in the study of ageing. This contribution investigates how older adults' relationship to their home is interlinked with lifecourse transitions and old-age social exclusion. To do so, we present case studies from three different countries (Germany, Ireland and Poland), focusing on the individual experiences of retirement and bereavement, and analyze them by drawing on the concepts of the person-environment exchange processes of agency and belonging. Finally, we draw conclusions about how spatial agency and belonging can protect and empower older people at critical junctures in their lives.

. Lund University, Lund, Skane Lan, Sweden
Housing is the main spatial context for aging, important for well-being, a sense of identity and independence in daily life. Yet, as people grow older housing needs change and knowledge about how people reason about their future home when they enter retirement age is lacking. This qualitative study presents findings that explored meaning of home and health dynamics in the present and in a projected future among communityliving people aged 67 -70 years. Findings suggest that the home becomes progressively important after retirement. Not only the immediate home environment but also local neighborhoods influence perceptions about home. Home brings emotional and social benefits but also worries about how to cope with complex home ambivalence when reflecting upon future housing arrangements. The findings highlight the importance of considering perceived aspects of home and could be used to raise awareness among policymakers, housing authorities and professionals involved in housing-related counselling.

HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY IN CONSTRUCTIONS OF EXCLUSION ARISING FROM CRITICAL LIFE-COURSE RUPTURES
Kieran Walsh, 1 anna Urbaniak, 1 and Bridin Carroll, 2 1. Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, National University of Ireland Galway,Galway,Galway,Ireland,2. NUI Galway,Galway,Galway,Ireland There is growing recognition that the older adult life course can involve critical transitions that function as significant sources of adversity, and ruptures in life trajectories. While knowledge about how these ruptures generate multidimensional disadvantage remains underdeveloped, less is known about how they are spatially constituted and how their processes and outcomes may be mediated by older peoples' relationship with place. Utilizing a 'sense of home' as a conceptual orientation, this paper explores the role of place in social exclusion arising from life-course ruptures. Focusing on bereavement, dementia on-set and forced migration, it draws data from 45 life-course interviews. Place (e.g. home environment and the wider community) was involved in three ways: as a component of the rupture; as a life domain where people experience exclusion; and as a mediator of exclusionary processes. Circularity is observed, with perceived environmental uncertainty intensifying effects of rupturerelated exclusion, further contributing to that uncertainty. Home is central to health and wellbeing; yet the changing nature of work, household dynamics and especially housing markets, with scant policy attention and action around this, means low-middle income households are struggling in many countries. In Australia, while older people are considered to be at less risk because of higher levels of home ownership, there is a growing body of evidence about the living situations of older people who have not attained or retained home ownership over the life course and have limited wealth and savings moving into later life. This paper presents the findings of multivariate regression modelling using HILDA, a national longitudinal panel survey, to identify the profile(s) of older people at risk of homelessness in Australia. The data makes it clear a range of structural and individual factors across the life course are increasingly impacting on the ability to live a good life in older age.

IMPACT OF AGE VIEWS ON COGNITION: EXPERIMENTAL, LONGITUDINAL, AND ECOLOGICAL MOMENTARY FINDINGS
Hans-Werner Wahl, 1 Becca Levy, 2 Brad Meisner, 3 Andrea Gröppel-Klein, 4 Deidre Robertson, 5 Serena Sabatini, 6 and Anna Lücke, 7 1. University of Heidelberg,Heidelberg,Germany,2. Yale School of Public Health,Woodbridge,Connecticut,United States,3. York University,North York,Ontario,Canada,4. University of Saarland,Saarbrücken,Saarland,Germany,5. Economic and Social Research Institute,Dublin,Ireland,6. University of Exeter,Exeter,England,United Kingdom,7. Heidelberg University,Heidelberg,Germany Research on the impact of age views on cognition has seen a strong momentum in recent years, fitting the stereotype