The impact of the residential environment on Chinese older people's aging-in-place intentions: A mediation and moderation analysis

Abstract

Aging populations around the world are growing rapidly. Older people prefer to age in place, but they have health needs that require environmental support at the community level. Drawing on Sen's capability approach, we argue that as chronic conditions are inevitable when older people become frail, the policy should focus on providing conversion factors to support older people's capabilities to live independently. The empirical studies, therefore, investigate how residential environment characteristics as conversion factors influence aging-in-place intentions. This study conceptualizes the aging-in-place concept as an intention predicted by three constructs of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control). Drawing on a survey of older respondents in Beijing, this study used mediation and moderation analysis to examine the effects of environmental conversion factors on aging-in-place intentions, particularly if these factors increase the perceived behavioral control to live independently. The results show that home accessibility and meeting opportunities positively correlate with aging-in-place intentions. Three TPB components fully mediate such positive effects, with perceived behavioral control having the largest mediation effect. Additionally, meeting opportunities are more influential on aging-in-place intentions for non-frail older adults due to the more significant influence meeting opportunities have on their perceived behavioral control. The results contribute to understanding how the residential environment supports aging in place by supporting older people's capabilities. The results can be used to provide policy recommendations for developing more effective community-based interventions for older people.