Neighborhood and Health among Chinese Older Adults: Beyond the Urban and Rural Dichotomy.

The objectives of this study are to explore to what extent the neighborhood-level characteristics moderate the relationship between physical frailty and depressive symptoms. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011 wave, 6,245 individuals ages 60 years and older were included for analyses. Multilevel mixed-effects models were fitted to examine the moderating effects of urbanicity and neighborhood-level socio-economic status (SES) on the relationship between frailty and depressive symptoms among older adults, controlling for individual-level characteristics. RESULTS: Results showed a stronger relationship between deterioration in physical health and depressive symptoms in rural neighborhoods and neighborhoods with lower SES, after controlling for individual-level SES. Also, the moderating effects of the neighborhood-level socioeconomic factors remained after controlling for urbanicity, indicating that neighborhood SES works beyond the rural-urban contexts. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Findings from this study demonstrate the important roles of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics in reshaping, and the need to redefining, China's rural-urban dichotomy. The findings also identified neighborhoods with low SES as potential targets for policy and practice to reduce the stress associated with health decline. PMID: 32598467 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The Gerontologist - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tags: Gerontologist Source Type: research