2017

Authors

Janine L. Wiles; Anna Rolleston; Avinesh Pillai; Joanna Broad; Ruth The; Merryn Gott; Ngaire Kerse

Abstract

An extensive body of research theorises that attachment to place is positively associated with health, particularly for older people. Building on this, we measure how indicators of attachment to place are associated with health for in people of advanced age in New Zealand. We use data from a cohort study (LiLACS NZ), which includes an indigenous Māori cohort aged 80–90 years and a non-Māori cohort aged 85 years from a mixed urban/rural region in New Zealand.

We demonstrate that people in advanced age hold strong feelings of attachment to place. We also establish some positive associations between attachment to place and health in advanced age, and show how these differ for the indigenous and non-indigenous cohorts. Place attachment, and particularly its relationship to health, operates in different ways for different groups.

Publication Link

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953617303003?via%3Dihub