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Household Moves Project: Research about downsizing possessions in later life
This is a current project.
Description
The purpose of this study is to learn more about the work that older people go through to move out of one place and into another. There is a special interest in learning about how people make decisions about their possessions during such a move, particularly in how decisions are made about what items to keep, discard, give away, or sell.
Why is it so hard to part with things? Watch this TV commercial from the Ikea furniture company.
Project Administration
This research is a collaboration among social scientists at the University of Kansas, Wayne State University, and the University of Missouri.
David Ekerdt,
University of Kansas,
principal investigator
Mark Luborsky,
Wayne State University,
co-principal investigator
Cathy Lysack,
Wayne State University,
co-principal investigator
Jaber Gubrium,
University of Missouri,
consultant
Project Contact
David J. Ekerdt
Director, Gerontology Center
Professor of Sociology
University of Kansas
1000 Sunnyside Ave., Room 3090
Lawrence, KS 66045-7555
dekerdt@ku.edu
785-864-4130 (phone)
785-864-2666 (fax)
This is a project of:
KU Gerontology Center
In collaboration with :
Institute of Gerontology
Wayne State University
University of Missouri
This research is supported by the National Institute on Aging.
Publications and Presentations
Ekerdt, D.J., Sergeant, J.F., Dingel, M., & Bowen, M.E. (2004). Household disbandment in later life. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 59B, S265-273.
PDF
Ekerdt, D.J. & Sergeant, J.F. (2006) Family things: Attending the household disbandment of elders. Journal of Aging Studies, 20, 193-205.
PDF
Sergeant, J.F., & Ekerdt, D.J. (2008). Motives for residential mobility in later life: Post-move perspectives of elders and family members. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 66, 131-154.
PDF
Ekerdt, D.J. (2009). Dispossession: The tenacity of things. In I.R. Jones, P. Higgs, & D.J. Ekerdt, (Eds). Consumption and generational change: The rise of consumer lifestyles and the transformation of later life (pp. 63-78). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
PDF
Smith, G.V, & Ekerdt, D.J. (2011). Confronting the material convoy in later life. Sociological Inquiry, 81, 377-391. (PMC3148717)
PDF
Ekerdt, D.J., Addington, A., & Hayter, B. (2011). Distributing possessions: Personal property can become a social matter. Generations, 35(3), 34-40. (PMC3381342)
PDF
Luborsky, M., Lysack, C., & van Nuil, J. (2011). Refashioning one's place in time: Stories of household downsizing in later life. Journal of Aging Studies, 25, 243-252.
PDF
Ekerdt, D.J., Luborsky, M., & Lysack, C. (2012). Safe passage of goods and self during residential relocation in later life. Ageing and Society, 32, 833-850.
PDF
Ekerdt, D.J. (2012, May). Too many things. Consumers, Commodities, and Consumption: Newsletter of the Consumer Studies Research Network, 13 (2).
PDF
Participant Recruiting
We are recruiting volunteers to interview in Lawrence, Kan., and the greater Kansas City area. Likewise, we are recruiting volunteers in the greater Detroit area.
The project is interested in talking to persons aged 65 and over who:
- Are planning a move in the next 12 months
- Moved in the last 4 months
If you are interested in participating in this study or would like further information, please contact us at the "Household Moves" Project Office: 785-864-0665.
Send corrections/comments/questions to lifespan@ku.edu
