NO LONGER IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT: THE IMPACT OF DRIVING ON IDENTITY AS A DISABLED PERSON

Abstract

According to a growing body of literature, the decision to stop driving has profound implications for older adults’ mobility, social integration, involvement in out-of-home activities and can lead to worsening of depression. The effect of driving cessation on older adults’ orientation to the future in terms of goals and meaning in life is understudied. Using ordinal logistic regression, this study assessed the impact of driving cessation on older adults’ self-reported future goals and perceptions of meaningfulness and on their assumption of a disabled identity. The sample of 711 respondents (M = 83.74, 67.3% female) was obtained from eight waves of the Florida Retirement Study (Kahana, Kelley-Moore, & Kahana, 2012). Respondents were mostly amenity migrants from the Midwest, living in a large retirement community, that provided no services, in Clearwater, Florida. Between 1994 and 2001, 31% of the participants stopped driving. After controlling for age, gender, marital status, cognitive functioning, IADL, self-rated health, presence of chronic diseases, and having transportation support from friends or family we found that driving had a significant positive effect (β=0.461, p=0.000) on having clear future goals. The second model found no significant effect (β=0.089, p=0.535) of driving on the perceived meaningfulness of existence. The final model revealed that driving cessation led to an increase in assuming a disability identity, even after controlling for the functional level. These findings demonstrate the importance of driving for older adults’ perceived quality of life and suggest the need for initiatives that will maximize the self-sufficiency of older adults.