Conceptualizing time and behavior in environmental gerontology: a pair of old issues deserving new thought.
Architects, environmental designers, occupational therapists, and human service professionals are variously engaged in efforts to create settings for older persons that better fit their changing lifestyles and abilities. This theoretical article argues that to explain and predict more effectively the appropriateness of the settings occupied and used by their older occupants requires models and empirical inquiries that better conceptualize two areas of inquiry: (a) the temporal properties of environments and individuals and (b) the conceptualization of environmental behaviors or activities describing how individuals use, manipulate, or perform tasks in their settings. The types of constructs and relationships necessary for this inquiry are reviewed and their practical applications considered.
Golant
Stephen M
SM
Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611, USA. goalnt@geog.ufl.edu
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D001519:Behavior; D003210:Concept Formation; D004777:Environment; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000639:trends*; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D011593:Psychology, Social; D012649:Self Concept; D013997:Time Factors