Abstract
Age has been used as the major determinant in the process of aging being the causal or explanatory variable of health, behavior and competence. Over recent decades, in several research context, there is growing emphasis on the idea that beyond and behind age (an other biological conditions), external or environmental factors account for variation in the way people become older. In this article, empirical results coming from several studies are presented showing the importance of environmental f actors such as socio-recreational aids, community accessibility, expectation of functioning, tolerance, and social climate predict personal factors suc h as health, memory and depression complaints, activity, health and satisfaction among the elders living in residential settings. Also, socio-demographic factor s such educational level and income are strongly associated with health (physical and mental health) and environmental quality seems to be related with life satisfaction in elders living in the community.
