Äldre och känslan av att vara stark och inflytelserik i samhället

Författare

• Susanna Jungerstam
• Annika Wentjärvi

Abstract

The Nordic welfare state is based on an inclusive view on democratic participation, stressing that all citizens have the right to influence and take part in decisions concerning themselves and the society as a whole. However, studies concerning the factual influence of people, in general, and of older adults, in particular, are rather rare, as are studies discussing older adults’ subjective sense of being strong and influential in society. Our study is based on data from the 2010 GERDA (Geron­tological Regional Data Base) survey, including a total of 6838 respondents aged 65, 70, 75 and 80 years in Ostrobothnia in Finland and the Västerbotten region in Sweden. Only slightly more than half of the older adults indicated that they felt strong and influential in society. Male respon­dents more often felt influential than women, and respondents aged 65 and 70 more often felt influential than persons aged 75 and 80. Focusing on theoretically motivated resource factors with respect to older adults’ sense of influence, we found that there is a significant correlation between the sense of being influential and the respondent’s health, engagement in voluntary work, econo­mic situation and voting activity, as well as with age.