Abstract
The purpose of this research was to find out the differences in the moving motivation and life satisfaction of senior cohousing communities between male and female residents in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden and Denmark. Senior cohousing is an attractive housing alternative for the aged 55 and over who looks for sharing one's life with neighbors. The 655 survey questionnaires out of 960 had replied from 14 Seniorbofrellesskaber in Denmark and 11 seniorhus within SABO sector and 8 housing cooperatives initiated by the Seniorgarden Housing Company in Sweden during April to May, 2002. The data were analyzed by SPSS win program, using frequencies, percentiles, cross-tabulations, and Pearson's correlations. The results showed that the senior cohousing residents were generally healthy and age of 70's years old and nearly half lived with a spouse. The male residents lived with a spouse about 2 times more than did the female. The residents had very strong motivation to move into the community and very high life satisfaction. Most aspects of moving motivation were not differed by the sex of the residents. However, male residents were more likely than female to be motivated to move in by becoming a pensioner, while female residents were more likely than male to be motivated by being a widow, looking for safety, or avoiding loneliness. These different motivation to move in by sex become more clear when general characteristics such as age, health status, living with or without a spouse, or country were controlled. Female residents were more likely than male to live' dream life' in the senior cohousing community. The stronger the moving motivation, the higher the life satisfaction in the community.