Well-being and mobility: a theoretical framework and literature review focusing on older people

Journal article

There is an increasing attention for how mobility is associated with well-being amongst people in general and older adults in particular. Comparisons across research projects and articles are, however, hampered by the different understandings and conceptualisations of well-being that are employed. We, firstly, develop a heuristic framework for understanding the concept of well-being, and secondly, use this to explore possible linkages between well-being and mobility and to critically examine the various conceptualisations of well-being in research on mobility in later life. It is argued that future work on well-being and mobility should consider both the objective and the subjective and the hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions of well-being, and should pay detailed attention to the multiple ways in which well-being and its linkages to mobility are context-dependent and shaped by the particularities of time and place.

Authors: Nordbakke, S; Schwanen, T

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Routledge
• Journal: Mobilities
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 104-129
• Publication date: 2014-01-01
• DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2013.784542
• EISSN: 1745-011X
• ISSN: 1745-0101
• Language: English
• Keywords: motility; ageing; mobility; well-being; quality of life; literature review
• Subjects: Older persons; Commerce, Communications, Transport; Psychology; Ageing