Considering situational variety in contextualized aging research : opinion about methodological perspectives

  • Due to the increasingly heterogeneous trajectories of aging, gerontology requires theoretical models and empirical methods that can meaningfully, reliably, and precisely describe, explain, and predict causes and effects within the aging process, considering particular contexts and situations. Human behavior occurs in contexts; nevertheless, situational changes are often neglected in context-based behavior research. This article follows the tradition of environmental gerontology research based on Lawton’s Person-Environment-Interaction model (P-E model) and the theoretical developments of recent years. The authors discuss that, despite an explicit time component, current P-E models could be strengthened by focusing on detecting P-E interactions in various everyday situations. Enhancing Lawton’s original formula via a situationally based component not only changes the theoretical perspectives on the interplay between person and environment but also demands new data collection approaches in empirical environmental research. Those approaches are discussed through the example of collecting mobile data with smartphones. Future research should include the situational dimension to investigate the complex nature of person environment interactions.
Metadaten
Author:Friedrich WolfORCiDGND, Alexander Seifert, Mike Martin, Frank OswaldORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-611387
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.570900
ISSN:1664-1078
Parent Title (English):Frontiers in psychology
Publisher:Frontiers Research Foundation
Place of publication:Lausanne
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2021/04/12
Date of first Publication:2021/04/12
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2021/06/23
Tag:aging; ambulatory assessment; context; experience sampling; real-life study; situation
Volume:12
Issue:art. 570900
Page Number:5
First Page:1
Last Page:5
HeBIS-PPN:481864199
Institutes:Erziehungswissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie
6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Open-Access-Publikationsfonds:Erziehungswissenschaften
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0