Differences in perceptions of the living environment by respondent age

Abstract

This article explores whether potential statistically significant differences in terms of respondents’ demographic characteristics (i.e., age) can point to intergenerational differences in perceptions of the living environment. A quantitative methodology was used. Older respondents reported higher satisfaction, a stronger feeling of socioeconomic homogeneity of the neighbourhood, better neighbourly relations, and more positive opinions on the maintenance of the built environment than did younger respondents. In turn, younger respondents expressed a higher level of agreement about vandalism and physical and verbal attacks in the neighbourhood. These results were unexpected because previous studies showed significantly lower levels of agreement regarding satisfaction with the built environment and significantly higher levels of agreement about crime among older respondents than younger ones. They can be explained by the findings of many researchers, who established that the elderly generally still prefer to grow old at home – that is, in the environment they are familiar with, because they are often afraid that moving to an eldercare facility would inevitably cause them to lose their independence. Therefore, they tend to accept the environment where they live the way it is. On the other hand, the article shows that a series of statistically significant differences established indicates that the living environment, which has a strong impact on people’s satisfaction and well being, nonetheless does not offer the same quality of the built social infrastructure to all users (i.e., users with different demographic characteristics).