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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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To be or not to be (an older driver)
— social identity theory and driving cessation in later life | | Author(s) | Nancy A Pachana, Jolanda Jetten, Louise Gustafsson, Jacki Liddle |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 37, no 8, September 2017 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, September 2017 |
| Pages | pp 1597-1608 |
| Source | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X16000507 |
| Keywords | Driving capability ; Personality ; Social surveys ; Australia. |
| Annotation | Older people who anticipate having to stop driving due to health or cognitive decline often evoke concerns about practical aspects about retaining mobility and quality of life, as well as changes in personal and social identity. While driving cessation is often perceived as stressful because it disrupts peoples' lives and poses practical hurdles, the authors argue that part of the stress associated with driving cessation can be attributed to identity change with regard to thinking of oneself as 'no longer a driver' as well as the perception of 'getting old'. In an exploratory study, 208 older adults in Southeastern Queensland, Australia who had either ceased driving or had a plan to stop driving in the near future completed a Driver Identity Survey with multiple questions about how they thought they would feel before and after stopping driving, as well as worries about practical hassles, life changes and changed relationships. Participants reported driving cessation as a significant life event associated with subjectively feeling older. Irrespective of current driving status, older participants identified the state of having ceased driving as associated with feeling older than their chronological age. Participants' expectations about practicalities and social identity changes were both significant predictors of stress associated with driving cessation. Discussion focuses on how expectations of anticipated changes in functionality and identity may influence driving cessation decisions and adjustment in later life. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-170825203 A |
| Classmark | OPF: DK: 3F: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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