Household arrangements of the elder elderly.

The aging context of the elder elderly needs to be taken into account, due to the redefinition of family as a social institution. This is an epidemiological, cross-sectional study that characterized the household arrangements of 147 elder elderly living in Ribeirão Preto, SP, through home interviews. The age range between 80 and 84 years predominated. The majority receives a retirement benefit ranging from one to three minimum wages, and owns their house. On the average, they have 4.08 children and live with 2.8 people. Most men live with their partners, while women live by themselves. The elderly head a large part of households. The most frequent arrangements are families with two and three generations. Regarding the household arrangement, there was equivalence in the results between the ones that moved into the house of the elderly and cases when the elderly moved into the family's house, reinforcing the family as a protector and caregiver of the elderly.