Impacts of the perception of physical environments and the actual physical environments on self-rated health

Abstract

ABSTRACTA series of studies have supported the significant and positive relationships between surrounding built environments and physical activities. In addition, it is quite clear that vigorous physical activities generally lead to good health outcomes. Usually, good health is considered as the result of active living, such as daily walking and bicycling. Therefore, favorable, walkable, and bikable built environments near residential areas could initiate dynamic and diverse physical activities, resulting in good health outcomes.Although the physical environments around residential areas may have similar conditions, people may differently recognize the surrounding environments depending on the individual's subjective assessment. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the relative importance between the perception of environments and physical circumstances with regard to self-rated health. The purpose of this study is to identify the impacts of environmental perception and actual physical environments on self-rated health. An integrated dataset of environmental perception and built environment characteristics and self-rated health was developed for a survey sample of residential locations (n = 543) in the city of Columbus, OH, USA. Perceived walkable destinations around the home are significantly and positively associated with good health evaluations. In contrast, physical environments do not obtain a statistical significance.