Giving Voice to the Environment as the Silent Partner in Aging: Examining the Moderating Roles of Gender and Family Structure in Older Adult Wellbeing.

Michal Isaacson,Joseph Coughlin,Ashwin Tripathi,Lisa D'Ambrosio,Tannistha Samanta

doi:10.3390/ijerph17124373

Abstract

Gerontological scholarship has long seen the environment to be a silent partner in aging. Environmental Gerontology, an established approach in Social Gerontology, has shown how the everyday lives of older adults are deeply entangled in socio-spatial environments. Adopting an Environmental Gerontology approach, we explore social and cultural dimensions of the association between out-of-home mobility and wellbeing among older adults in a north western city of India. This was established by combining high resolution time-space data collected using GPS receivers, questionnaire data and time diaries. Following a multi-staged analytical strategy, we first examine the correlation between out-of-home mobility and wellbeing using bivariate correlation. Second, we introduce gender and family structure into regression models as moderating variables to improve the models’ explanatory power. Finally, we use our results to reinterpret the Ecological Press Model of Aging to include familial structure as a factor that moderates environmental stress. Findings emphasize the central role that social constructs play in the long-established relationship between the environment and the wellbeing of older adults.

Highlights

Environmental Gerontology, or a Gero-geographical approach, opens the doors for discussion on the convergence of aging, wellbeing, and environment
The goal of this study is to examine the complex linkages between gender, familial structure, movement and wellbeing among older adults
In order to illustrate the association between out-of-home mobility and quality of life, each wellbeing indicator was analyzed through bivariate correlation

Summary

Introduction

Environmental Gerontology, or a Gero-geographical approach, opens the doors for discussion on the convergence of aging, wellbeing, and environment. More current scholarship has introduced the broader context of society and culture into the discussion on environment and aging [1,2,3]. Gerontology has often organized its theories around activity and wellbeing, space or spatial behavior remain neglected in its early theoretical articulations. This neglect is more intensified in the context of developing countries (notable exceptions include [4,5,6]).

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