‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life
This paper adds to the growing number of studies about mobility and wellbeing in later life. It proposes a broader understanding of mobility than movement through physical space. Drawing on the ‘mobility turn’ in the social sciences, we conceptualise mobility as the overcoming of any type of distanc...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2011
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| _version_ | 1797074786244886528 |
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| author | Ziegler, F Schwanen, T |
| author2 | Age Concern Durham County |
| author_facet | Age Concern Durham County Ziegler, F Schwanen, T |
| author_sort | Ziegler, F |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This paper adds to the growing number of studies about mobility and wellbeing in later life. It proposes a broader understanding of mobility than movement through physical space. Drawing on the ‘mobility turn’ in the social sciences, we conceptualise mobility as the overcoming of any type of distance between a here and a there, which can be situated in physical, electronic, social, psychological or other kinds of space. Using qualitative data from 128 older people in County Durham, England, we suggest that mobility and wellbeing influence each other in many different ways. Our analysis extends previous research in various ways. First, it shows that mobility of the self – a mental disposition of openness and willingness to connect with the world – is a crucial driver of the relation between mobility and wellbeing. Second, while loss of mobility as physical movement can and often does affect older people's sense of wellbeing adversely, this is not necessarily so; other mobilities can at least to some extent compensate for the loss of mobility in physical space. Finally, wellbeing is also enhanced through mobility as movement in physical space because the latter enables independence or subjectively experienced autonomy, as well as inter-dependence in the sense of relatively equal and reciprocal social relations with other people. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:41:14Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:6f603d0f-f380-42e8-85d7-79323b0a1274 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:41:14Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:6f603d0f-f380-42e8-85d7-79323b0a12742022-03-26T19:30:24Z‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later lifeJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:6f603d0f-f380-42e8-85d7-79323b0a1274PsychologyAgeingGeographyOlder personsEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetCambridge University Press2011Ziegler, FSchwanen, TAge Concern Durham CountyThis paper adds to the growing number of studies about mobility and wellbeing in later life. It proposes a broader understanding of mobility than movement through physical space. Drawing on the ‘mobility turn’ in the social sciences, we conceptualise mobility as the overcoming of any type of distance between a here and a there, which can be situated in physical, electronic, social, psychological or other kinds of space. Using qualitative data from 128 older people in County Durham, England, we suggest that mobility and wellbeing influence each other in many different ways. Our analysis extends previous research in various ways. First, it shows that mobility of the self – a mental disposition of openness and willingness to connect with the world – is a crucial driver of the relation between mobility and wellbeing. Second, while loss of mobility as physical movement can and often does affect older people's sense of wellbeing adversely, this is not necessarily so; other mobilities can at least to some extent compensate for the loss of mobility in physical space. Finally, wellbeing is also enhanced through mobility as movement in physical space because the latter enables independence or subjectively experienced autonomy, as well as inter-dependence in the sense of relatively equal and reciprocal social relations with other people. |
| spellingShingle | Psychology Ageing Geography Older persons Ziegler, F Schwanen, T ‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life |
| title | ‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life |
| title_full | ‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life |
| title_fullStr | ‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life |
| title_short | ‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life |
| title_sort | i like to go out to be energised by different people an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life |
| topic | Psychology Ageing Geography Older persons |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zieglerf iliketogoouttobeenergisedbydifferentpeopleanexploratoryanalysisofmobilityandwellbeinginlaterlife AT schwanent iliketogoouttobeenergisedbydifferentpeopleanexploratoryanalysisofmobilityandwellbeinginlaterlife |