Day-to-Day Contact and Help Among Neighbors Measured in the Natural Environment

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Empirical evidence suggests that the concept of "neighboring" (i.e., social contact and social support within a neighborhood) is related to between-person differences in well-being among older adults. However, little is known about the within-person differences in older adults' everyday lives, which limits the ecological validity of prior findings. This study examined within-person associations between neighboring and the existence of positive valence, loneliness, and attachment to one's neighborhood. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The sample consisted of 4,620 observations of 20 days, drawn from 77 adults aged between 61 and 90 years. A mobile application on a smartphone was used for data collection. RESULTS: The results of the multilevel analysis suggest that daily contact with one's neighbors was not significantly associated with daily positive valence, but it was positively related to daily feelings of not being alone and daily attachment to one's neighborhood. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The study makes noteworthy contributions to the field of gerontology by applying a micro-longitudinal research design to assess real-life within-person information.

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