‘On the street where you live’: Neighbourhood deprivation and quality of life among community-dwelling older people in Edinburgh, Scotland

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 74; no. 9; pp. 1368 - 1374
• Main Authors: Mõttus, René, Gale, Catharine R., Starr, John M., Deary, Ian J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2012; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Adjustment; Aged; Ageing; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Pressure; Cognition; Cognitive Functioning; Deprivation; Elderly; Female; Health Problems; Health Status; Heart Diseases; Humans; Independent Living; Male; Males; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Neighborhoods; Neighbourhood deprivation; Neighbourhoods; Older people; Personal health; Personal Satisfaction; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Quality of Health Care; Quality of Life; Relative deprivation; Residence Characteristics; Scotland; Social Environment; Socioeconomic Factors; United Kingdom; Urban Health; Urban Population; Well-being; Wellbeing; United Kingdom; Scotland; Great Britain; Europe; United Kingdom > UK; Edinburgh Scotland; Wellbeing; Scotland; Neighbourhood deprivation; Ageing; UK; Quality of life; Social environment; Human; Social influence; Poverty; Residential neighborhoods; Housing; At home; Street; Social medicine; Elderly; Public health; Inequality
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.12.050

It is well established that neighbourhood quality is related to various aspects of people's health and coping, especially in old age. There have also been a few reports on the links between self-reported neighbourhood quality and quality of life in older age. However, it is not clear which aspects of quality of life in particular are related to neighbourhood quality and whether these associations are independent of the roles of cognitive, socioeconomic or health status, or rating biases. Using a large sample of Scots from the Edinburgh area (N = 1091, of whom 548 were men) aged between 68 and 71 years, this study shows direct associations of objectively and comprehensively determined neighbourhood deprivation with self-perceived quality of life in physical and environmental domains, but not in psychological or social relationship domains. In a path model, these associations were independent of the roles of childhood cognitive ability and change in it to age 70, educational attainment, and occupational social class. The count of adverse health conditions (cardiovascular disease, stroke history, high blood pressure, diabetes, or arthritis) was associated with both quality of life and neighbourhood deprivation, and mediated the indirect links from neighbourhood deprivation to physical, psychological and environmental domains of quality of life. It is concluded that the neighbourhood in which older people live plays a role in one of the most important outcomes—how satisfied they are with various aspects of their life including physical functioning. ► Objectively determined neighbourhood deprivation was associated with perceived quality of life in the physical and environmental domains. ► The associations were to some extent mediated by the number of common health conditions people have. ► Neighbourhood deprivation was not directly associated with perceived quality of life in the psychological and social relationships domains.