IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i12p4373-d373195.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Michal Isaacson

    (Gerontology Department, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel)

  • Ashwin Tripathi

    (Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382355, India)

  • Tannistha Samanta

    (Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382355, India)

  • Lisa D’Ambrosio

    (AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA)

  • Joseph Coughlin

    (AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Michal Isaacson & Ashwin Tripathi & Tannistha Samanta & Lisa D’Ambrosio & Joseph Coughlin, 2020. "Giving Voice to the Environment as the Silent Partner in Aging: Examining the Moderating Roles of Gender and Family Structure in Older Adult Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:12:p:4373-:d:373195
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4373/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4373/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Rebecchi & Maddalena Buffoli & Marco Dettori & Letizia Appolloni & Antonio Azara & Paolo Castiglia & Daniela D’Alessandro & Stefano Capolongo, 2019. "Walkable Environments and Healthy Urban Moves: Urban Context Features Assessment Framework Experienced in Milan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Meijering, Louise & Weitkamp, Gerd, 2016. "Numbers and narratives: Developing a mixed-methods approach to understand mobility in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 200-206.
    3. Ministry of Statistics and Prog Implementation (MOSPI), 2016. "Elderly in India," Working Papers id:10596, eSocialSciences.
    4. Child, Stephanie T. & Lawton, Leora E., 2020. "Personal networks and associations with psychological distress among young and older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    5. David E. Bloom & Ajay Mahal & Larry Rosenberg & Jaypee Sevilla, 2010. "Economic security arrangements in the context of population ageing in India," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(3‐4), pages 59-89, July.
    6. Zhenhua Zheng & Liu (Lydia) Yang, 2019. "Neighborhood Environment, Lifestyle, and Health of Older Adults: Comparison of Age Groups Based on Ecological Model of Aging," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Siobhan Austen, 2016. "Gender Issues in an Ageing Society," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 49(4), pages 494-502, December.
    8. Shannon T. Mejía & Lindsay H. Ryan & Richard Gonzalez & Jacqui Smith, 2017. "Successful Aging as the Intersection of Individual Resources, Age, Environment, and Experiences of Well-being in Daily Activities," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(2), pages 279-289.
    9. John Knodel & Mary Beth Ofstedal, 2003. "Gender and Aging in the Developing World: Where Are the Men?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 29(4), pages 677-698, December.
    10. John Bongaarts & Zachary Zimmer, 2002. "Living Arrangements of Older Adults in the Developing World," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 57(3), pages 145-157.
    11. Visaria, Abhijit & Dommaraju, Premchand, 2019. "Productive aging in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 14-21.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laishram Ladusingh & Melody Thangjam, 2021. "Policy reforms and changing intergenerational support of elderly in India," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 401-416, December.
    2. Sara Randall & Ernestina Coast, 2016. "The quality of demographic data on older Africans," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(5), pages 143-174.
    3. Yatish Kumar & Priya Bhakat, 2022. "Social Capital in Old-Age and the Role of the Social Marginalisation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 371-388, August.
    4. Andrea Amerio & Andrea Brambilla & Alessandro Morganti & Andrea Aguglia & Davide Bianchi & Francesca Santi & Luigi Costantini & Anna Odone & Alessandra Costanza & Carlo Signorelli & Gianluca Serafini , 2020. "COVID-19 Lockdown: Housing Built Environment’s Effects on Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-10, August.
    5. Shobhit Srivastava & T. Muhammad & Priya Saravanakumar, 2023. "Factors associated with discordance of actual and preferred living arrangements among older adults: an analytical cross-sectional study in India," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 1-16, September.
    6. Letizia Appolloni & Alberto Giretti & Maria Vittoria Corazza & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2020. "Walkable Urban Environments: An Ergonomic Approach of Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-31, October.
    7. Nurman Achmad & R. Hamdani Harahap & M. Arif Nasution & Subhilhar, 2018. "To Become A Cawir Metua: Life Satisfaction Of The Karo Elderly A Social Security Case Study On The Karo Elderly In Lingga Village, Simpang Empat Sub-District, Tanah Karo Regency," Junior Scientific Researcher, SC Research Publishing SRL, vol. 4(1), pages 82-91, May.
    8. David E. Bloom, 2011. "Population Dynamics in India and Implications for Economic Growth," PGDA Working Papers 6511, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
    9. Zhenhua Zheng & Hong Chen & Liu Yang, 2019. "Transfer of Promotion Effects on Elderly Health with Age: From Physical Environment to Interpersonal Environment and Social Participation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-15, August.
    10. Sturge, Jodi & Klaassens, Mirjam & Lager, Debbie & Weitkamp, Gerd & Vegter, Daan & Meijering, Louise, 2021. "Using the concept of activity space to understand the social health of older adults living with memory problems and dementia at home," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    11. Albert Esteve & David S. Reher, 2021. "Rising Global Levels of Intergenerational Coresidence Among Young Adults," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 691-717, September.
    12. Abbas Sheikh-Mohammad-Zadeh & Nicolas Saunier & E. O. D. Waygood, 2022. "Developing an Objective Framework to Evaluate Street Functions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-15, June.
    13. Jiquan Peng & Juan Chen & Liguo Zhang, 2022. "Gender-Differentiated Poverty among Migrant Workers: Aggregation and Decomposition Analysis of the Chinese Case for the Years 2012–2018," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-23, May.
    14. Y Selvamani & Pushpendra Singh, 2018. "Socioeconomic patterns of underweight and its association with self-rated health, cognition and quality of life among older adults in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, March.
    15. Zhenhua Zheng & Hong Chen, 2021. "The Relationship among Community Environment, Behavior, Activity Ability, and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults: A Hierarchical and Multi-Dimensional Comparative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-12, July.
    16. Fillekes, Michelle Pasquale & Röcke, Christina & Katana, Marko & Weibel, Robert, 2019. "Self-reported versus GPS-derived indicators of daily mobility in a sample of healthy older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 193-202.
    17. Delclòs-Alió, Xavier & Miralles-Guasch, Carme, 2017. "Suburban travelers pressed for time: Exploring the temporal implications of metropolitan commuting in Barcelona," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 165-174.
    18. Jeofrey Bautista Abalos & Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, 2023. "Demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors for the rise in one-person households in developing countries: the case of the Philippines," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1-32, December.
    19. Aurora Angeli & Marco Novelli, 2017. "Transitions in Late-Life Living Arrangements and Socio-economic Conditions of the Elderly in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia," Working Papers 1083, Economic Research Forum, revised 04 2017.
    20. Jianbo Han & Edwin H. W. Chan & Esther H. K. Yung & Queena K. Qian & Patrick T. I. Lam, 2022. "A Policy Framework for Producing Age-Friendly Communities from the Perspective of Production of Space," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-23, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:12:p:4373-:d:373195. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.