Perceived Neighborhood Characteristics and Activity Engagement among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Older Adults

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Urban Sociology
• Public Health

Background:

• Older adults' activity engagement is crucial for well-being.
• Neighborhood characteristics like social cohesion and physical disorder can influence health behaviors.
• Racial and ethnic disparities may affect these associations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between neighborhood social cohesion and physical disorder with activity engagement in older adults.
• To investigate potential racial and ethnic differences in these associations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Health and Retirement Study (2018, 2020) with 8,036 participants aged 50+.
• Measured activity engagement as the monthly number of activities participated in.
• Employed Poisson regression to analyze associations, including race/ethnicity interactions.

Main Results:

• Both social cohesion and physical disorder positively correlated with overall activity engagement.
• Social cohesion's positive effect was weaker in Hispanic older adults.
• Physical disorder's positive effect was stronger in Hispanic older adults compared to non-Hispanic White adults.
• No significant interactions found for non-Hispanic Black older adults.

Conclusions:

• Older adults in high-disorder neighborhoods showed higher activity engagement, possibly due to strong social networks mitigating disorder.
• Social cohesion benefits for activity engagement were less evident in Hispanic older adults, suggesting different priorities.
• Findings highlight the complex interplay of neighborhood environment, social factors, and ethnicity on older adult activity.