Old age and environmental docility: the roles of health, support and personality

This study assessed the generalizability of Lawton and Simon's environmental docility hyopthesis across three domains of personal competence. The hypothesis was supported, in that a survey of 102 people (aged 60 to 92) found environmental press to be related significantly to adjustment only among less competent individuals in terms of (a) health (i.e., those with poor ratings of health, vision, and hearing, the old-old, and men); access to caregiving networks, (i.e., those who were unmarried, had infrequent contact with children and family, and lived in smaller communities); and (c) personality, (i.e., those with low self-esteem, and external locus of control, low assertiveness, and an inability to deal with the threat of dependency).