Can living in an age-friendly neighbourhood protect older adults’ mental health against functional decline in China?

Abstract

Little is known about how and to what extent living in an age-friendly neighbourhood buffers the negative impact of older adults’ functional decline on their mental health in China. This longitudinal study advances our knowledge of the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC) framework by unravelling the enabling and compensatory roles of age-friendly neighbourhoods from a cumulative perspective. Empirically, it examines the buffering effects of eight domains of neighbourhood environment on the relationship between functional abilities and depressive symptoms among older adults in Chinese rural and urban contexts, using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Results of latent growth curve models indicate that living in an age-friendly neighbourhood environment significantly buffers the negative impacts of expected functional declines in the future. Enabling domains of neighbourhood environments play a stronger buffering role in the relationship between functional decline and depressive symptoms than compensatory domains. Cumulative effects of age-friendly neighbourhood environments reduce the rate at which depressive symptoms increase over time. It further investigates the differences between rural and urban environments in the enabling and compensatory roles of age-friendly neighbourhoods in combating geriatric depressive symptoms. Transportation and social participation are found to significantly reduce depressive symptoms in rural neighbourhoods, while infrastructure for communication and information is found to be related to rapid increase in depressive symptoms in urban neighbourhoods. Our findings inform policymakers about how to efficiently allocate public resources to improve mental health outcomes among older adults with functional decline in both rural and urban Chinese contexts.