Residential context, social relationships, and subjective well-being in assisted living

Adaptive reframing and cumulative inequality theory provide the conceptual framework for investigating associations between four measures of subjective well-being (general, temporal, comparative, and experiential), residential context, and social relationships. Data from 344 cognitively intact assisted living (AL) residents aged 60 years and older interviewed for the Florida Study of Assisted Living were analyzed using logistic regression. Having control over the AL transition, often associated with socioeconomic status, was positively associated with all four dimensions of subjective well-being, consistent with a cumulative inequality framework. Other residential context characteristics (living arrangements prior to AL, private pay, size, licensure status) were less consistently associated with well-being. High-quality staff relationships were associated with temporal well-being, while positive coresident relationships were associated with all four well-being indicators. Compared with preexisting external relationships with family and friends, and consistent with adaptive reframing, social relationships unique to AL were independently and more consistently associated with residents' perceptions of subjective well-being.