Abstract
Worldwide population aging is currently in acceleration, which is especially true for China. Echoing the advocacy of “active aging” and “age-friendly communities”, governments and researchers across the world are paying more attention to the impact of neighborhoods on the health of older adults. Using the Ecological Model of Aging, this study aimed to discuss the relationships between neighborhood environment, lifestyle, and health of older adults, and to compare the differences among older adults of different age groups. The results showed that landscape environment has a direct effect on the health of older adults, while leisure environment has an indirect effect through lifestyle. Both leisure environment and landscape environment directly encourage older adults to take part in outdoor activity, in which the former mainly promotes the social participation of the high-aged (aged 80+) group, while the latter merely promotes that of the middle-aged (aged 70–79) group. The positive effect of social participation on health is gradually strengthened with the increase of age. Meanwhile, outdoor activity has its greatest effect on the middle-aged (aged 70–79) group, but not the low-aged (aged 60–69) group. To effectively boost the health of older adults and promote active aging, adequate considerations should also be given to the differentiated demands of older adults of different age groups, optimization of neighborhood environment, as well as cultivation of an amicable atmosphere.
Highlights
With the acceleration of population aging all over the world, the views of international society concerning this issue have shifted from “successful aging” to “healthy aging” and to “active aging”
We examined the role of lifestyle in mediating neighborhood environment and elderly health, based on the data collected from a survey in Shanghai
As for the division of the aging stage, the international society tends to take 60 or 65 as the benchmark of the aging population, while the scholars in China usually divide the older adults into three age groups: low-aged group, middle-aged group and high-aged group [59]
Summary
With the acceleration of population aging all over the world, the views of international society concerning this issue have shifted from “successful aging” to “healthy aging” and to “active aging”. Due to the growing proportion of the aging population in the global population, the role of older adults should be transformed from “passive dependents” into “active participants” of social activities. Active aging encourages older adults to positively face life, maintain physical and mental health, participate in social development, realize self-value, and shift their focus from longevity to quality of life [1]. The concepts of “age-friendly cities” and “age-friendly communities” were subsequently proposed with the aim to urge and help the governments to improve the community environment, which would promote the outdoor activities and social participation of older adults to boost their health [2]. “Age-friendly communities” highlighted the importance of communities as the main activity site and living space for older adults, as well as the practical value of community optimized intervention for active aging [3]. In recent years, increased attention has been paid to how the community environment affects health of the elderly [4]
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