Neighborhood Experiences of People Over Age 50: Factor Structure and Validity of a Scale

Abstract

Background and Objectives Various aspects of the neighborhood environment have been shown to correlate with older adults’ health. Socio-ecological models of health posit that interventions in the living environment can influence population health. Yet, there are no scales to comprehensively measure older people’s experiences of their neighborhoods especially in dense urban contexts. This study analyzes the psychometric properties and factor structure of a holistic measure of Older People’s Neighborhood Experience (OpenX) to understand constituent factors of residential satisfaction and well-being in dense urban contexts. Research Design and Methods Participants were 1,011 community-dwelling older adults aged 50 and older in Singapore. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questions were drawn to measure physical and social aspects of the neighborhood as well as sociodemographic variables. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to obtain a shorter version; content validity, internal consistency, and external validity were assessed. Results The OpenX has a 4-dimensional structure, explaining 45.5% of the variance of neighborhood experience. They are communal affordance, embeddedness, environment pleasantness, and time outdoors. Good reliability and validity were found, including Cronbach’s alpha of 0.827. The correlation between neighborhood experience and objectively measured proximity to parks and fitness corners approached significance (p = .082). Discussion and Implications The 16-item OpenX demonstrated good psychometric properties. With reference to the transdisciplinary neighborhood health framework, it is useful for assessing older adults’ neighborhood environment, identifying neighborhoods for pilot population health interventions, and understanding how the neighborhood environment affects older adults’ health.

A Study of Older Adults’ Perception of High-Density Housing Neighbourhoods in Singapore: Multi-Sensory Perspective

“…The findings suggest that some of these factors are associated with both age and self-reported health condition. Such results correspond to some recent local studies which observed the connection between environmental conditions, going out and outdoor behaviour, and physical, psychological and social well-being of elderly residents (e.g., [ 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 , 119 ]). For instance, in their qualitative study, Bhuyan and Yuen [ 120 ] concluded that older adults tend to associate safety and pedestrian-friendly features with physical health, public amenities with social well-being, and aesthetic appeal and wayfinding with mental health.…”

“…Cao and colleagues [ 114 ], for instance, included an aesthetics category (nature, buildings, noise and cleanliness) to understand the out-of-home behaviour of older Singaporeans. In their study, Gan, Fung and Cho [ 115 ] proposed a holistic assessment of ‘Older People’s Neighborhood Experience’, which captured some elements of environmental pleasantness and outdoor aesthetics, such as appreciation of greenery, unique neighbourood features and different ambience qualities. Similarly, Hou and colleagues [ 116 ] considered both objective and subjective (perceived) measures of built environments in reference to older adults’ travel/walking behaviour, whereby perceived measures included those on aesthetics, cleanliness and safety.…”

Prior Social Contact and Mental Health Trajectories during COVID-19: Neighborhood Friendship Protects Vulnerable Older Adults

“…Future research may seek to understand plausible mechanisms by examining qualitative data of participants’ lived experiences and comparing across profiles. Community-level structural variables (e.g., neighborhood socioeconomic status) may alter individual experiences of the COVID-19 syndemic pandemic [ 20 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. Qualitative methods are appropriate to “understand social processes or social structures … the settings, groups or individuals … which cannot be pre-selected” otherwise [ 50 ].…”

The development and psychometric testing of the expressive and instrumental Online Neighborhood Network Uses Scale (ONNUS)

“…This is not the first study that provides an instrument to measure people's neighborhood experiences (Buckner, 1988;Gan et al, 2020;Nasar & Julian, 1995;Peterson et al, 2008), digital media use in neighborhood contexts (Capece & Costa, 2013;Kavanaugh et al, 2005;Kim et al, 2019), nor is it the first to provide an instrument to measure social media use in a social capital framework (Appel et al, 2014;Ellison et al, 2007;Vitak, 2014;Williams, 2006). However, the ONNUS is the first instrument to measure social media use with respect to social relationship development and capitalization in a neighborhood context, thereby extending beyond ego-centered personal social networks.…”

“…In that sense, ONNUS is an instrument to measure a specific component of contemporary neighborhood life, making it complementary to other scales oriented towards neighborhood life (e.g. OpenX; Gan et al, 2020) for which online neighborhood life is a blind spot. As ONNs allow users to reach out to neighbors and networks of neighbors beyond their personal local social networks (De Meulenaere, Baccarne, et al, 2020), future studies could further investigate this intersection of in-person and online neighborhood relations and how these relations develop and are acted upon.…”