The influence of neighborhood factors on the quality of life of older adults attending New York City senior centers: results from the Health Indicators Project

• Published in: Quality of life research Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 123 - 131
• Main Authors: Friedman, Dana, Parikh, Nina S., Giunta, Nancy, Fahs, Marianne C., Gallo, William T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.02.2012; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Chronic diseases; CLINICAL AND POLICY APPLICATIONS; Community; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depressive disorders; Ethnicity; Female; Health care; Health indicators; Health Status Indicators; Homes for the Aged; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health; Middle Aged; Neighborhoods; New York City; Older adults; Older people; Public Health; Quality of Life; Quality of Life Research; Questionnaires; Residence Characteristics; Safety; Senior citizen centers; Social capital; Social conditions & trends; Sociology; Walkability; New York City; United States > US; New York City New York; Neighborhood safety; Walkability; Social cohesion; Older adults; Quality of life
• ISSN: 0962-9343; 1573-2649
• DOI: 10.1007/s11136-011-9923-6

Purpose To examine the association between selfassessed quality of life (QOL) and perceived neighborhood safety, social cohesion, and walkability among older adults in New York City (NYC). Methods We used data from the 2008 Health Indicators Project, a cross-sectional survey of 1,870 older adults attending 56 NYC senior centers. QOL, a binary measure, was created by dichotomizing a 5-point Likert-scaled global assessment. Neighborhood safety, social cohesion, and walkability were multi-component scale variables that were standardized due to varying response metrics.Multivariate binomial logistic regression analysis was performed on 1,660 participants with complete data. Results After adjusting for covariates, QOL was significantly associated with neighborhood safety and social cohesion. A one-standard deviation increase in neighborhood safety and social cohesion increased the log odds of having higher QOL by 30% (odds ratio (OR) = 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.14, 1.48; P ≤ 0.001) and 36% (OR = 1.36; 95% CI = 1.16, 1.59; P ≤ 0.001), respectively. Higher QOL was not significantly associated with neighborhood walkability. Conclusion The results of this study underscore the need for initiatives that focus on enhancing age-friendly neighborhood features in large urban centers such as NYC and beyond.