“International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy” (2005), Vol. 25, No. 3. p. 9-41.

In “Household composition in post-socialist Eastern Europe,” Patricia Ahmed and co-author Rebecca Jean Emigh examine living situations for individuals in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and Russia. The article discusses how some people have a preference for a particular habitation and only sway from it when their true desires cannot be met. Ahmed and Emigh then explain the adaptive strategies perspective in which people basically accept their living situation and adjust accordingly depending on financial status, work, nurturing children or caring for the older relatives. 

The article then depicts data emphasizing that many individuals survive with adaptive strategies perspective. The authors also investigate factors such as poverty, retire¬ment status, single motherhood and agricultural cultivation.

Patricia Ahmed is an assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. She earned a doctorate from UCLA in 2005. Her research interests include economic development, stratification, gender, comparative/historical sociology, cultural sociology and quantitative methods.