The differential importance of personal and environmental resources to older Canadians.

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Low, G.
  • Gao, Z.
  • Keating, N.

• Drawing on social productive function and social capital theory, we examine the differential importance of personal and environmental resources to the satisfaction with time use, health, finances, and main activities. Data pertaining to Canadians aged 60 and above (n=5,986) participating in the General Social Survey (Cycle 17) were analyzed. Canadian seniors were most satisfied with their time use and least with their finances. While health limitations and the sense of mastery were important to all four domains, the physical environment and civic activities yielded increasingly idiosyncratic, domain-specific effects. We further explore the significance of our findings using literature pertaining to resilience, the functional specificity of social relationships, and the maximum utility of resources.

• Date created

  2009

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Social capital
  • Older people
  • Social participation

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3RF5KF8S

• License

  © 2009 Wiley. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.