4.2e Repertoires of Action

Repertoires of action are the strategies or methods people have in mind for doing a particular action (or how they think something should be done). People are not likely to take a specific action, such as voting in an election or hosting a dinner party, unless it is “part of their repertoire” (Small et al., 2010, p. 16). Distinct repertoires of action are available to various social groups.

For example, not all families are open to living in a multigenerational household. In the United States, 7.2% of U.S. households are multigenerational (Washington et al., 2023). Older U.S. adults with declining health may remain at home and have in-home care provided by family members, aides, or both. They may move in with their adult children or into an assisted living facility or nursing home. Families’ decisions about where aging family members live depend on culture, social class, race, gender, and other factors. In the United States, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and foreign-born households are more likely to be multigenerational than White households (see Figure 4.3) (Cohn et al., 2022).

In the United States, less than 10% of 85-year-olds live in nursing homes, about half live with family (including spouses and adult children), and about 40% live alone (independently or in assisted living) (Lerman & Cocco, 2023). The family’s financial resources (and race) determine where older adults live. Globally, older adults more often live with adult children in low-income countries compared to high-income countries (Carr, 2023). As people live longer, they are also more likely to have declining health that can come with older age (such as dementia), which increases the need for specialized elder care. Families must decide whether they can provide that care in the older person’s home, a family member’s home, or if they need specialized care from a nursing home.