A Lifestyle Analysis of the Elderly: Perceptions of Risk, Fear, and Vulnerability

Abstract

This article examines the place of risk, fear, and vulnerability in the lifestyle choices of the elderly. Using the earlier lifestyle theory of the late researcher Michael Hindelang and his colleagues, Michael Gottfredson and James Garofalo, the authors note the extent to which the elderly lifestyle choices of Milwaukee citizens may be affected by beliefs about risk, fear, and vulnerability brought about by aging and corresponding losses in physical functioning. The study is based on a random sample of 1,100 Milwaukee County telephone subscribers contacted by mailed questionnaire by the authors under funding provided by Marquette's Urban Institute and Graduate School.