シニア住民の生活の質と地域行事

－米国郊外住宅地における「５Kレース」を事例として－

抄録

    In an increasingly aging society, it has become more important to examine factors that enhance quality of lives for senior residents, especially those who live in suburbs, where neighborliness tends to be weak. The researcher observed a running event called 5K Race in an American metropolitan suburb as the case study. This neighborhood event had huge involvement of people from a wide range of generations. The senior volunteers in the event were focused on this paper.
    The researcher assumed that those inclusive events were essential to senior residents’ quality of lives because they could facilitate positive interaction and sympathy among residents and they could also generate proper roles for participants, all of which could strengthen a sense of community. Through interviews and questionnaires to the organizer, volunteers, runners, and other residents, the researcher picked out several factors that affected the involvement of a wide range of generations in the event. Then the significance of the event for the volunteers was examined using the theory of Sense of Community by McMillan & Chavis[1986].
    The findings were that the senior volunteers of 5K Race got involved in the event as helpful people in the neighborhood and enhanced their quality of lives in the process of shouldering various responsibilities of the tasks because it offered them dynamic interaction and plentiful positive roles. The researcher concluded that it’s significant for suburban neighborhoods to create such events to give senior residents these inclusive opportunities.