Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA, 90407, USA.
Health Place. 2023 Jul;82:103036. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103036. Epub 2023 May 25.
Neighborhood walkability is favorably related to multiple physical health outcomes, but associations with social health are less clear. Present analyses examined how neighborhood walkability was related to neighborhood social health and explored the potential confounding role of neighborhood self-selection.
Cross-sectional data were analyzed for 1745 adults, ages 20-66, recruited from two US regions. We created a walkability index around each participant's home (1 km street network buffer) based on residential density, street intersection density, mixed land use, and retail floor area ratio. Neighborhood social health outcomes included reported social interactions with neighbors and sense of community. Two mixed model regressions were conducted for each outcome, with and without adjusting for walkability-related reasons for moving to the neighborhood (self-selection). Covariates included sex, age, socioeconomic status, white/nonwhite race/ethnicity, marital status, and time living in the neighborhood.
Neighborhood walkability was positively related to social interactions with neighbors, both without (b = 0.13, p < .001) and with adjustment for self-selection (b = 0.09, p = .008). Neighborhood walkability was positively associated with sense of community, but only before adjusting for self-selection (b = 0.02, p = .009).
Neighborhood walkability may promote specific aspects of neighborhood social health, which together are beneficial for physical and mental health. These findings provide additional impetus for enhancing walkability of US communities.
社区步行环境与多种身体健康结果呈正相关，但与社会健康的关联尚不明确。本分析旨在探讨社区步行环境与社区社会健康的关系，并探索社区自我选择对其的潜在混杂作用。
对来自美国两个地区的 1745 名 20-66 岁成年人进行了横断面数据分析。我们根据居住密度、街道交叉口密度、混合土地利用和零售楼层面积比，在每个参与者家的周围（1 公里街道网络缓冲区）创建了一个步行环境指数。社区社会健康结果包括报告的与邻居的社交互动和社区意识。对于每个结果，我们进行了两次混合模型回归，一次不调整，一次调整搬入社区与步行环境相关的原因（自我选择）。协变量包括性别、年龄、社会经济地位、白人和非白人种族/民族、婚姻状况以及在社区居住的时间。
社区步行环境与与邻居的社交互动呈正相关，不调整（b=0.13，p<.001）和调整自我选择（b=0.09，p=0.008）时均如此。社区步行环境与社区意识呈正相关，但仅在不调整自我选择时如此（b=0.02，p=0.009）。
社区步行环境可能促进社区社会健康的特定方面，这些方面共同有益于身心健康。这些发现为提高美国社区的步行环境提供了更多动力。
