Residential Place Attachment as an Adaptive Strategy for Coping With the Reduction of Spatial Abilities in Old Age

Abstract

This study intended to test whether attachment to one’s own residential place at neighborhood level could represent a coping response for the elderly (consistently with the “docility hypothesis;” Lawton, 1982 ), when dealing with the demands of unfamiliar environments, in order to balance their reduction of spatial abilities. Specifically, a sequential path was tested, in which neighborhood attachment was expected to play a buffer role between lowered spatial competence and neighborhood satisfaction. The participants ( N = 264), senior citizens (over 65-year-old), responded to a questionnaire including the measures of spatial self-efficacy, spatial anxiety, attitude toward wayfinding, residential attachment and residential satisfaction. Results from the mediation analysis showed that a lower perceived spatial self-efficacy is associated to a higher spatial anxiety, and both promote a more negative attitude toward wayfinding tasks in non-familiar places. This leads to a higher attachment to one’s own neighborhood, which in turn predicts a higher residential satisfaction. Thus, the “closure” response of becoming more attached to their residential place may be an adaptive strategy of the elderly for compensating the Person-Environment (P-E) mis- fit ( Lawton and Nahemow, 1973 ) when they feel unable (or less able) to cope with the demands of unfamiliar environments.

The distance to death perceptions of older adults explain why they age in place: A theoretical examination

“…Supporting these interpretations is research that has consistently found that older people have strong emotional attachments to their current dwellings, which they imbue with personal meanings ( Giuliani, 2003 ; Oswald et al, 2011 ; Rowles, 2017 ; Wiles et al, 2012 ). These emotional connections motivate older people to reminisce about their lives ( Coleman & Wiles, 2020 ; Rowles et al, 2004 ), to feel a sense of continuity with their pasts, and to remember their accomplishments and successes ( Ekerdt, 2020 ; Fornara, Lai, Bonaiuto, & Pazzaglia, 2019 ; Rowles et al, 2004 ; Scannell & Gifford, 2010 ; Weisman, 2001 ). Older persons particularly construe their possessions as “treasured archeological evidence of their pasts” ( Golant, 2015a , p. 49).…”

“…A longer length of dwelling occupancy often positively correlates with these dwelling attachments ( Hjälm, 2014 ). Studies also find that these emotional attachments increase in significance and intensity as older people limit their outside-the-home activities—which also occurs at higher ages when older persons are more aware of their limited time left ( Csikszentmihalyi & Rochberg-Halton, 1981 ; Fornara et al, 2019 ). It would take many years for older persons to re-establish these emotional attachments in a new location, an undesirable prospect when they perceive their deaths as near ( Diehl & Willis, 2003 ; Hjälm, 2014 ; Oswald et al, 2006 ; Oswald et al, 2011 ; Rowles, 2017 ; Scannell & Gifford, 2010 ).…”

Serial Mediation of Environmental Preference and Place Attachment in the Relationship between Perceived Street Walkability and Mood of the Elderly

“…Other research has suggested that place attachment plays a positive role in both nature and the urban environment for restorative perceptions [ 50 ], while attachment disruption may lead to negative feelings of grief or loss [ 54 ]. Moreover, a few studies have shown the mediating role of place attachment on the relationship between people and their surrounding environments [ 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ]. For example, Isa et al and other scholars have found the mediating role of place attachment on the relationship between environment satisfaction and revisit intention [ 57 , 58 ].…”

Role of Social Belongingness During the Post-Disaster Recovery

“…But not all those who are affected by the disasters experience these conditions. Scholars who have studied the consequences of disasters among the old age have concluded mixed results (Fornara et al 2019).…”

“…This aggravates the chances of their feeling of place belongingness disappearing, especially when they are forced to relocate. This might negatively impact the elderly people the most as their place of residence is noticeably important for them; they usually spend most of the day in their residential environment and this may help in providing a relationship with their past (Fornara et al 2019). There is also positive correlation between age and sense of community belonging (Schellenberg et al 2018).…”