title: Social capital, health, and elderly driver status.
abstract: Driving a car enables many people to engage in meaningful activities that, in turn, help develop and maintain personal social capital. Social capital, a combination of community participation and social cohesion, is important in maintaining well-being. This paper argues that social capital can provide a framework for investigating the general role of transportation and driving a car specifically to access activities that contribute to connectedness and well-being among older people. This paper proposes theoretically plausible and empirically testable hypotheses about the relationship between driver status, social capital, and well-being. A longitudinal study may provide a new way of understanding, and thus of addressing, the well-being challenges that occur when older people experience restrictions to, or loss of, their driver's license.
authors: Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia.
authors: Stephen T
authors: ST
authors: Isbel
authors: Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia; Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia, and ANU Climate Change Institute, The Australian National University.
authors: Helen L
authors: HL
authors: Berry
mesh_terms: D001334:Automobile Driving; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D066270:Social Capital; D014186:Transportation
keywords: Social capital; driving; elderly; health; well-being