Thesis Growing Old in Easington: A Life Course Study of Ageing and the Social Environment in the Former Mining Villages of Easington, County Durham Julie Ann Englund Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Health and Society Faculty of Medical Sciences University of Newcastle upon Tyne April 2013 Acknowledgments This thesis and research have benefited enormously from the support I have received from many people. I would, in particular, like to thank my advisors in Newcastle University’s Institute of Health and Society, Dr Suzanne Moffatt and Professor John Bond, for their time, insight and kindness. Other people to whom I am especially grateful for their considerable assistance to me at different stages of the research project, include: Professor Jim Edwardson of Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Health; Anna Lynch, Director of Public Health for County Durham Primary Care Trust; Professor Martin White in the Institute of Health and Society, for a travel grant that allowed me to present my thesis research at the Nordic Gerontology Congress in Oslo; the Research Management & Governance Unit of NHS County Durham, for a generous grant in support of this project; staff at Newcastle University’s Walton and Robinson libraries and the NHS Appleton House library. There are several people and organisations in Easington who made possible my work, including older adults in a variety of settings, from luncheon clubs to the Women’s Institute. I will always be grateful for the personal perspective on Easington’s history that I received from the late Ruth Purvis. I also wish to thank my highly supportive family who have long encouraged my work in the field: my husband, Daniel, my daughters, Anna and Abbie, my parents, Jerry and Joanne Wahlquist and my parents-in-law, Luther and Elvira Englund. Finally, I would like to thank three friends whose support has been especially encouraging: Vasanti Piette, Colette Hawkins and Steph Sanderson. Abstract: Title: Growing Old in Easington: A life course study of ageing and the social environment in the former mining villages of Easington, County Durham This thesis examines the lives of older people in the former mining communities of the East Durham coalfield (the former District of Easington). The study considers whether there are unique challenges faced by older adults in an area that is classed as deprived in national measures of socio-economic disadvantage. This qualitative research explores the quality of later life for older people in Easington and, against the backdrop of the life course theory, addresses the broad question: what has the Easington context, with its historic mining culture, contributed to older residents’ experience of ageing?” The study found that the”lived experience” of older people in Easington is influenced by their own personality, family structure and life opportunities (in education, employment and retirement), each of which have contributed to participants’ experience of ageing. Study results also confirmed the positive and negative effects neighbourhood,”place” and social networks have on older peoples’ overall quality of life. The sense of social connectedness is an important factor relating to a positive quality of later life. An important finding was that loss of community infrastructure resulting from closure of the mines has profoundly influenced the ageing experience of older people in Easington. This research confirms previous studies which highlight the fact that older people residing in such socio-economically deprived areas are at increased risk of social exclusion. The thesis ends with a discussion of some implications from the study for ageing policy and service development. Julie Ann Englund Institute of Health and Society Faculty of Medical Sciences University of Newcastle upon Tyne January 2013 i Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2. Easington: Its Past and Present ................................................................ 9 Figure 1 – East Durham - Easington Villages ........................................................ 11 Figure 2– Easington Situated in County Durham .................................................. 12 2.1 Pit Work and the Culture of Easington ............................................................ 13 2.2 The Social World of the Pit Village ................................................................... 14 2.2.1 Life After the Mines ....................................................................................... 16 2.3 The Current Portrait of Easington .................................................................... 16 Figure 3. Life expectancy at birth ........................................................................... 17 Figure 4. Income deprivation affecting older people ............................................ 18 Table 1 – Percentage of the Easington population living in deprived areas ........ 19 Chapter 3. Ageing, Environment and Community Studies: Consideration of the Literature and Theory .................................................................................................. 21 3.1 Aims and Scope of Review .................................................................................. 21 3.2 Part I: Quality of Life: The Essence of Living ................................................ 22 3.3 Part II: Environmental Gerontology: The influence of environment in later life ............................................................................................................................... 23 3.3.1 Environmental Gerontology: A Theoretical Framework .............................. 24 3.3.2 The Development of the Environmental Press/Person-Environment Fit Approach ................................................................................................................. 26 3.4 Part III: Place Attachment – Definition and Concepts................................... 31 3.4.1 Place Attachment in Theoretical Models ....................................................... 35 3.5 Ageing in Place: To “Stay Put” or Not – Factors Which Influence Ageing in Place ............................................................................................................................ 39 3.5.1 Background – What is Ageing in Place? ....................................................... 41 3.5.2 Ageing in Place and the Individual ................................................................ 42 3.5.3 Ageing in Place and the Community ............................................................. 44 3.6 Part IV: Community Studies Literature .......................................................... 48 3.6.1 History and Rational of Community Studies ................................................. 49 3.6.2 Community Studies – Empirical findings ...................................................... 51 Chapter 4. Concepts of Poverty, Deprivation and the Life Course Theory .......... 57 4.1 Part I: Concepts of Poverty and Deprivation .................................................. 58 4.2 Measuring Poverty and Deprivation ................................................................. 58 1 4.3 How Does Socio-economic Deprivation Affect Older People? ........................ 60 4.3.1 Social Exclusion ............................................................................................. 61 4.3.2 Applying Social Exclusion to Older People .................................................. 63 4.3.3 Critique of Social Exclusion .......................................................................... 65 4.4 Statistical Picture of Older People’s Poverty in the UK .................................. 66 Figure 3 – Percentage of pensioners (percent) falling below various measures of low income ................................................................................................................. 66 4.5 The Challenge of Measuring and Capturing Deprivation .............................. 67 4.5.1 Health ............................................................................................................. 68 4.5.2 Educational Attainment: A Strong Association with Socio-economic Deprivation .............................................................................................................. 70 4.5.3 Mental Well-being and Socio-economic Deprivation.................................... 71 4.6 Part II: Toward a Theoretical Construct: Structure vs. Agency (or a bit of both)? .......................................................................................................................... 73 4.7 Life Course Theory: A Framework for Understanding the “Whole Person” ..................................................................................................................................... 76 4.7.1 Life Course Theory: History and Application ............................................. 77 4.8 Ageing in Place and the Life Course ................................................................. 81 4.9 Applying the Life Course Theory to Socio-economic Disadvantage in Later Life .............................................................................................................................. 82 4.9.1 “Timing” Over the Life Course and its Link to Socio-economic Disadvantage ................................................................................................................................