College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China.
College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, No.24 First South Section First Ring Road, Chengdu 610065, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Aug 5;16(15):2794. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16152794.
An important goal of building "age-friendly communities" is to help the elderly to access more opportunities for social participation and better health. However, little is known about the complex relationships between neighborhood environment, social participation, and elderly health. This study examined the mediating role of social participation in the area of neighborhood environment affecting elderly health and explored the discrepancy among different age groups in 43 neighborhoods of Shanghai. Both neighborhood environment and social participation had significant positive effects on elderly health in all the samples. Meanwhile, social participation served as a mediator of the relationship between interpersonal environment and elderly health. Furthermore, remarkably, health promotion effects transferred from the physical environment to interpersonal environment and social participation with age; the influence of physical environment on elderly health decreased with the increase of age, while the influence of interpersonal environment and social participation on the health of the elderly increased with the increase of age. This study found that physical environment, interpersonal environment, and social participation had different effects on elderly health of different ages. Different policies should be applied toward improving the interpersonal environment, optimizing of physical environment, and guiding the community activities.
建设“老年友好社区”的一个重要目标，是帮助老年人获得更多的社会参与机会和更好的健康。然而，人们对邻里环境、社会参与和老年人健康之间的复杂关系知之甚少。本研究考察了邻里环境领域的社会参与在影响老年人健康方面的中介作用，并探讨了上海市 43 个街区不同年龄组之间的差异。邻里环境和社会参与对所有样本中的老年人健康都有显著的积极影响。同时，社会参与是邻里环境与老年人健康之间关系的中介变量。此外，值得注意的是，健康促进作用会随着年龄的增长从物理环境转移到人际环境和社会参与；物理环境对老年人健康的影响随着年龄的增长而降低，而人际环境和社会参与对老年人健康的影响则随着年龄的增长而增加。本研究发现，物理环境、人际环境和社会参与对不同年龄的老年人健康有不同的影响。应采取不同的政策来改善人际环境、优化物理环境和指导社区活动。
