ABSTRACT
To advance the field of environmental gerontology and make it more relevant to other social and behavioral scientists, this paper proposes a holistic, emotion-based theoretical model to judge whether older adults occupy residential environments that are congruent with their needs and goals. The model theorizes that older persons achieve this individual-environment fittingness or “residential normalcy” when they have two overall favorable and relevant sets of emotional experiences: (1) pleasurable, hassle-free, and memorable feelings—and are in their residential comfort zones; and (2) competence and in control feelings—and are in their residential mastery zones. Older persons often find that their residential environments have become emotional battlefields because although they are in their comfort zones, they are out of their mastery zones, or vice versa. Distinguishing these constructs becomes critical as we increasingly judge residential settings not just for their home-like qualities, but also for their ability to provide long-term care.
