Clothing as an environment for older adults' successful ageing

Abstract

This research tested a conceptual model for proximity of clothing to self (PCS) in relation to age identity, self-actualization, psychological well-being, self-assessed health, sex and chronological age among older adults, aged 65 and over, within the human ecological perspective. A mail survey was sent to a national random sample of 1700 older adults in the US resulting in 195 usable respondents in the final sample. The respondents returned two completed questionnaires, which were (1) Clothing: A Resource for Successful Aging? (to measure PCS, age identity and demographic variables) and (2) Personal Orientation Inventory (to measure self-actualization). The results indicated that older adults' psychological well-being, one component of successful ageing, was directly affected by their self-assessed health, age identity and self-actualization. PCS indirectly influenced individuals' psychological well-being in a slightly negative way in later life. In sum, clothing may be used as a needs satisfier for different levels of needs or related more closely with needs in addition to self-actualization needs for older adults. Further research should be conducted to explore relationships among PCS, different levels of human needs, clothing-related variables and psychological well-being for this age group. In practice, the effort should be given to teach the use of clothing (or other human-built objects) as a tool or need satisfier to contribute to success in a person's later life by offering some educational or training programmes through local senior community centres or universities.