Investigating the association between perceived environmental characteristics and the eudaimonic wellbeing of older adults in Hong Kong

Abstract

Eudaimonic wellbeing (EW) comprises six dimensions, which are imperative factors in the psychological state of older adults: positive relations with others (PR), purpose in life (PL), environmental mastery (EM), autonomy (AU), personal growth (PG), and self-acceptance (SA). However, evidence regarding EW dimensions and the characteristics of the neighborhood environment remains poorly understood and researched. This study, therefore, seeks to explore the multi-dimensionalities of EW, perceived environmental characteristics in terms of walkability, and walking habits using a face-to-face questionnaire survey with older adults in Hong Kong.

Seven distinctive environmental characteristics were selected to explore their associations with EW. Convenience sampling was used to recruit a total of 258 older adults, each of whom completed a questionnaire survey in their community center. The Chinese version of the 18-item Ryff’s Psychological Wellbeing scale (SPWB-C) was used to measure their EW, and the Chinese version of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale-Abbreviated (NEWS-A-C) was used to measure their perceived walkability characteristics. In addition, participants’ sociodemographic data, health characteristics, and walking times were asked. Their lower-extremity function was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery instrument. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the relationships between perceived neighborhood environment and EW. Analysis started with the sociodemographic data and health characteristics. Next, the significantly correlated perceived environmental characteristic variables were added in decreasing order of their correlation strength with the EW. Then, a mediation analysis was conducted to investigate whether walking time served as a mediator between environmental characteristics and EW.

The results indicated that, after adjusting for the sociodemographic and health differences between older adults in the regression analyses, scores for NEWS-A-C subscales could each significantly explain the SPWB-C scores of some EW dimensions. Specifically, street connectivity explained PR, land-use mix (access) explained PG and SA, aesthetics explained PR and EM, and traffic hazards explained AU, EM, and PG. The final regression models formulated with the sociodemographic data, health characteristics and the NEWS-A-C scores can explain 7.7% to 11.7% proportion of the SPWB-C scores. NEWS-A-C scores separately explained appropriately 6% of variance in different EW dimensions of SPWB-C score, except that of PL. When investigating the association between perceived walkability characteristics and walking time for different purposes, only walking time for transportation could be significantly explained by the NEWS-A-C (street connectivity subscale) score. However, results indicated that walking time was not the significant mediator in the association between NEWS-A-C scores and SPWB-C scores.

This study provides relevant information for urban design to further explore the association between neighborhood characteristics and the psychological state of older adults. It can help to develop a friendly urban design for older adults and enriches the literature by adopting a novel angle to understand the association between perceived walkability characteristics and EW of older adults. These findings could inspire future research such as focus group and observational studies with data from the geographic information system on the association between neighborhood characteristics and psychological wellbeing.