Citation

Isbel ST, Berry HL. Yale J. Biol. Med. 2016; 89(1): 87-90.

Affiliation

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.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

27505020

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.

Language: en