Relocation Frequency and Loneliness Among Older Evacuees: Associations with Perceived Community Resilience

Background and Objectives: Older adults evacuated during armed conflict may experience repeated residential moves in addition to the initial evacuation. Because the number of relocations in this study was recorded in unequal ordinal categories, the present analysis treats relocation frequency as a categorical exposure rather than as a continuous measure of a broader construct of relocation instability. This study examined post-return associations between self-reported relocation-frequency category, perceived community resilience, and loneliness among adults aged 50 years and older following wartime evacuation. Research Design and Methods: The analytic sample included 109 evacuees (eligibility ≥ 50 years; observed age range 54–89 years) from a northern Israeli community who had returned to their home community following evacuation during the Israel–Hamas War. Loneliness was measured using the 11-item Hebrew version of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale and perceived community resilience using the brief Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measure (CCRAM-10). Relocation frequency was assessed with a single study-specific self-report item and analyzed in three categories (one relocation, two to three relocations, or four or more relocations); because the questionnaire did not explicitly define which transitions to count, the categories are interpreted as self-reported. Multivariable linear regression used indicator coding with one relocation as the reference category and adjusted for age, gender, and partnership status; sensitivity analyses additionally adjusted for depressive symptoms, current physical health, and household income. Results: Loneliness differed across relocation categories in the demographic-adjusted model (overall F(2,88) = 7.40, p = 0.001), but the pattern was not monotonic. Participants reporting two to three or four or more relocations had higher adjusted loneliness than the one-relocation group. Perceived community resilience was associated with lower loneliness (B = −0.312, p = 0.002), but relocation category was not significantly associated with community resilience (overall p = 0.187). In a same-sample comparison (n = 76), the relocation coefficients decreased after adding depressive symptoms, current physical health, and household income, and the overall relocation category term was not statistically significant in the extended model (p = 0.298). Discussion and Implications: Self-reported relocation-frequency category may mark heterogeneity in post-return experiences following evacuation, but the observed association with loneliness was sensitive to adjustment for additional psychosocial and socioeconomic factors. Cross-sectional data and a single-item relocation measure do not support causal or mediation conclusions. Longitudinal studies using multidimensional measures of relocation experiences are needed.