How do objective and subjective assessments of neighbourhood influence social and physical functioning in older age? Findings from a British survey of ageing.

The objective was to investigate associations between type of area, individuals' perceptions of their neighbourhoods, and indicators of social and physical functioning. Social functioning was measured using numbers of social activities and frequency of social contacts in the past month. Physical functioning was measured with Townsend's Activities of Daily Living scale. The study was a British cross-sectional population survey of people aged 65 plus living at home. Multilevel analyses indicated that respondents who lived in affluent areas were less likely to have low levels of social activity independently of individual demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Individuals' perceptions of the area as neighbourly and having good facilities were also independently associated with lower likelihood of low social activities. Affluence of the area and perceived neighbourhood were associated with physical functioning, although these associations disappeared once adjustment was made for individuals' characteristics. Both objective and more subjective measures of the neighbourhood independently contributed to our understanding of the determinants of social and physical functioning in older age. The unique value of this paper is its inclusion of the influence of perceived neighbourhood on the social and physical functioning of an older population, which are key components of active ageing.

[1]  A. Bowling,et al.  Do perceptions of neighbourhood environment influence health? Baseline findings from a British survey of aging , 2006, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

[2]  L. Mckay,et al.  Out-of-home food outlets and area deprivation: case study in Glasgow, UK , 2005, The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity.

[3]  John E. Ware,et al.  SF-36 Health Survey. , 1990 .

[4]  S. Macintyre,et al.  Area, Class and Health: Should we be Focusing on Places or People? , 1993, Journal of Social Policy.

[5]  M. Hammer,et al.  'Core' and 'extended' social networks in relation to health and illness. , 1983, Social science & medicine.

[6]  C. Bulpitt,et al.  Local area deprivation and urban-rural differences in anxiety and depression among people older than 75 years in Britain. , 2004, American journal of public health.

[7]  M. Woolcock,et al.  Health and Wealth: Health by Association? Social Capital, Social Theory, and the Political Economy of Public Health , 2005 .

[8]  K. Rook,et al.  Social Support Measurement and Interventions , 2000 .

[9]  P. Martikainen,et al.  The effects of regional characteristics on alcohol-related mortality-a register-based multilevel analysis of 1.1 million men. , 2004, Social science & medicine.

[10]  Ming Wen,et al.  Objective and perceived neighborhood environment, individual SES and psychosocial factors, and self-rated health: an analysis of older adults in Cook County, Illinois. , 2006, Social science & medicine.

[11]  T. Seeman,et al.  Social Environment Effects on Health and Aging , 2001, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[12]  Michael Marmot,et al.  Neighbourhood social cohesion and health: investigating associations and possible mechanisms , 2004 .

[13]  I. Brissette,et al.  Measuring social integration and social networks. , 2000 .

[14]  J. Lynch,et al.  Disentangling contextual effects on cause-specific mortality in a longitudinal 23-year follow-up study: impact of population density or socioeconomic environment? , 2006, International journal of epidemiology.

[15]  Steven Cummins,et al.  Neighbourhood environment and its association with self rated health: evidence from Scotland and England , 2005, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

[16]  N. Lin.  Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action , 2001 .

[17]  J. Morris,et al.  Inst-Risk II: an approach to forecasting relative risk of future institutional placement. , 1988, Health services research.

[18]  A. Sooman,et al.  Health and perceptions of the local environment in socially contrasting neighbourhoods in glasgow , 1995 .

[19]  Carles Muntaner,et al.  Commentary: Social capital, social class, and the slow progress of psychosocial epidemiology. , 2004, International journal of epidemiology.

[20]  D Acheson,et al.  Independent inquiry into inequalities in health , 2005 .

[21]  S. Weich,et al.  Social capital and mental health , 2002, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[22]  J. Liang,et al.  Social networks, social support, and mortality among older people in Japan. , 1994, Journal of gerontology.

[23]  T. Seeman,et al.  Social network characteristics and onset of ADL disability: MacArthur studies of successful aging. , 1996, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[24]  A. Kalache,et al.  Active ageing: a policy framework. , 2003, Advances in gerontology = Uspekhi gerontologii.

[25]  Vicente Navarro,et al.  Commentary: Is capital the solution or the problem? , 2004, International journal of epidemiology.

[26]  S. Syme,et al.  Issues in the study and application of social support. , 1985 .

[27]  E. Grundy,et al.  Enhancing the quality of extended life years. Identification of the oldest old with a very good and very poor quality of life , 1999 .

[28]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Bonding versus bridging social capital and their associations with self rated health: a multilevel analysis of 40 US communities , 2006, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

[29]  Anne M Kavanagh,et al.  Urban area disadvantage and physical activity: a multilevel study in Melbourne, Australia , 2005, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

[30]  D. Blazer.  Social support and mortality in an elderly community population. , 1982, American journal of epidemiology.

[31]  J. Coleman,et al.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[32]  M. Weinstein.  Population health and aging : strengthening the dialogue between epidemiology and demography , 2001 .

[33]  R. Putnam.  Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital , 1995, The City Reader.

[34]  Alison Walker,et al.  Living in Britain : results from the 2001 General Household Survey , 2001 .

[35]  J. House,et al.  Social relationships and health. , 1988, Science.

[36]  D. Gold,et al.  Disability as a Function of Social Networks and Support in Elderly African Americans and Whites. , 2001, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[37]  N. Krause.  Satisfaction with social support and self-rated health in older adults. , 1987, The Gerontologist.

[38]  L. George,et al.  Social Support and the Outcome of Major Depression , 1989, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[39]  A. Brock,et al.  A study to determine what variables predict institutionalization of elderly people. , 1985, Journal of advanced nursing.

[40]  V. Cattell.  Poor people, poor places, and poor health: the mediating role of social networks and social capital. , 2001, Social science & medicine.

[41]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Social capital: a guide to its measurement. , 1999, Health & place.

[42]  O. Olsen,et al.  Impact of social network on cardiovascular mortality in middle aged Danish men. , 1993, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[43]  Madhavi Bajekal,et al.  Health Survey for England , 2004 .

[44]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Social capital, income inequality, and mortality. , 1997, American journal of public health.

[45]  D. Rose,et al.  Constructing classes : towards a new social classification for the UK , 1997 .

[46]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Does the state you live in make a difference? Multilevel analysis of self-rated health in the US. , 2001, Social science & medicine.

[47]  J. Ware,et al.  Conceptualization and Measurement of Health for Adults in the Health Insurance Study , 1979 .

[48]  Benjamin H. Gottlieb,et al.  Social support measurement and intervention: A guide for health and social scientists. , 2000 .

[49]  M. Wen,et al.  Poverty, affluence, and income inequality: neighborhood economic structure and its implications for health. , 2003, Social science & medicine.

[50]  M. Marmot,et al.  Characteristics of individuals and characteristics of areas: investigating their influence on health in the Whitehall II study. , 2001, Health & place.

[51]  L. Berkman,et al.  Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents. , 1979, American journal of epidemiology.

[52]  S V Subramanian,et al.  Does social capital enhance health and well-being? Evidence from rural China. , 2007, Social science & medicine.

[53]  S. Syme,et al.  Social support and health. , 1986 .

[54]  Robert J. Sampson,et al.  Systematic Social Observation of Public Spaces: A New Look at Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods1 , 1999, American Journal of Sociology.

[55]  P. Rees,et al.  Does migration exaggerate the relationship between deprivation and limiting long-term illness? A Scottish analysis. , 2002, Social science & medicine.

[56]  A. Bowling.  Social networks and social support among older people and implications for emotional well-being and psychiatric morbidity , 1994 .

[57]  T. Seeman.  Health Promoting Effects of Friends and Family on Health Outcomes in Older Adults , 2000, American journal of health promotion : AJHP.

[58]  Ann Bowling,et al.  The association between social networks and mortality in later life , 1998 .

[59]  I. Kawachi.  Social cohesion, social capital and health , 2000 .

[60]  A. D. Diez Roux,et al.  Associations of neighborhood characteristics with the location and type of food stores. , 2006, American journal of public health.

[61]  A. Bauman,et al.  Social capital, socio-economic status and psychological distress among Australian adults. , 2006, Social science & medicine.

[62]  L. Berkman,et al.  Neighborhood effects on the self-rated health of elders: uncovering the relative importance of structural and service-related neighborhood environments. , 2006, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[63]  C. Sherbourne,et al.  Marital status, social support, and health transitions in chronic disease patients. , 1990, Journal of health and social behavior.

[64]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Social capital and self-rated health: a contextual analysis. , 1999, American journal of public health.

[65]  J. Goldthorpe,et al.  Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain , 1980 .

[66]  Ann Bowling,et al.  An Integrational Model of Quality of Life in Older Age. Results from the ESRC/MRC HSRC Quality of Life Survey in Britain , 2004 .

[67]  K. Pickett,et al.  Multilevel analyses of neighbourhood socioeconomic context and health outcomes: a critical review , 2001, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[68]  A Bowling,et al.  Social support and social networks: their relationship to the successful and unsuccessful survival of elderly people in the community. An analysis of concepts and a review of the evidence. , 1991, Family practice.

[69]  V. Carstairs,et al.  Deprivation and health in Scotland. , 1990, Health bulletin.

[70]  S. Cowley,et al.  Social capital for health: issues of definition, measurement and links to health , 2004 .

[71]  伊藤 秀一.  Poverty in the United Kingdom , 1999 .

[72]  L. Potvin,et al.  A theoretical and empirical analysis of context: neighbourhoods, smoking and youth. , 2002, Social science & medicine.

[73]  Philip Rees,et al.  Selective migration, health and deprivation: a longitudinal analysis. , 2005, Social science & medicine.

[74]  C. Bulpitt,et al.  Area deprivation, social class, and quality of life among people aged 75 years and over in Britain. , 2005, International journal of epidemiology.

[75]  Sheldon Cohen,et al.  Psychosocial models of the role of social support in the etiology of physical disease. , 1988, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[76]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Commentary: Reconciling the three accounts of social capital. , 2004, International journal of epidemiology.

[77]  M. Albert,et al.  Social relationships, social support, and patterns of cognitive aging in healthy, high-functioning older adults: MacArthur studies of successful aging. , 2001, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[78]  C. Carver,et al.  Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. , 2009, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[79]  Luisa Franzini,et al.  Neighborhood economic conditions, social processes, and self-rated health in low-income neighborhoods in Texas: a multilevel latent variables model. , 2005, Social science & medicine.

[80]  N. Mutrie,et al.  Nowhere to play? The relationship between the location of outdoor play areas and deprivation in Glasgow. , 2007, Health & place.