The Relationship between Place Attachment and Social Well-Being in Older Adults

Background: Health has been defined as a state of complete physical, psychological, and social well-being and place attachment has an effect on self-rated health of older adults. Neighborhood is a part of the social life of each person and his or her feeling to the neighborhood is important in well-being. There are few studies on the relationship between place attachment and social well-being.

Methods: This study was a descriptive and analytical study conducted on 550 older adults in a Tehran city. The Social Well-being Scale and the Place Attachment Scale were used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis by IBM SPSS statistics V.22 software.

Results: Findings showed that place attachment, explained (β =.78, P<.001) of the variance in social well-being. The finding of this study revealed that the place attachment has a strong effect on social well-being of older adults.

Conclusions: Any change in the place of attachment leads to changes in the social well-being and finally on health in the older adults. So, the improvement of the living place has a major role on health and well-being.