How does the prevalence of certain age groups influence trust and ownership?
In examining the relationship between retirement age populations within community areas and trust/engagement (based on the literature’s indication of the link between these factors), I was able to examine how the prevalence of people of a certain age might influence the behaviors and thoughts of the whole community area. Because the literature suggests that there may be differences in trust of the city that are influenced by age category, I wanted to see if a higher prevalence of older individuals within a community might increase the overall trust within that community area or the amount of independent engagement (ex: picking up trash).
First, in Figure 7, using the same “Community Data Snapshots 2023” data, I measure the association between the percentage of people over the age of 65 (from within each community area) and the level of trust in that community area from the Chicago Health Atlas (2021-2022). There is a slight correlation between them, but it is not statistically significant, suggesting that there may be some truth to the notion that older folks have a higher degree of trust in the local government, but more research would be needed to understand this aspect of engagement. I also examined, in Figure 8, the relationship between the percentage of people over age 65 in a community area and the percentage of people who described their neighborhood as without litter (also taken from the Chicago Health Atlas 2021-2022). There was almost no correlation between these variables, suggesting that when it comes to DIY initiatives such as picking up litter, these are not initiatives coming only from those who are of retirement age.