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    • Leisure amenities in the neighborhoods provide

    2018-11-05

    Leisure amenities in the neighborhoods provide easy-to-access places where residents can meet and spend time together; and because of the relaxing nature of the setting or activities the ensued interaction is usually pleasurable. Such interactions may facilitate the development of social bonds and networks, and has the potential to generate social capital such as “interpersonal trust and norms of reciprocity and mutual aid” in the neighborhood (Kawachi, 1999, p.120). Likewise, voluntary associations could promote resident participation in Tricine life and strengthen social networks,which could reinforce social connections, reciprocity and interdependence among residents (McKenzie, 2008; Wickrama & Bryant, 2003). Older adults suffering from poor physical health are likely to have fewer opportunities to develop and maintain new social ties, and be at higher risk of social isolation compared to their healthy counterparts (Penninx et al., 1999). Collective actions to care for older adults with poor health and engage them in community life may be more likely to occur in neighborhoods with high levels of social capital, which helps to increase sense of security, protect self-esteem, improve social connections and resolve daily life problems of these older adults. In addition, leisure amenities and voluntary associations in neighborhoods provide physical space and opportunities for older people with poor health—whose mobility is likely to be more restricted than those in good health—to spend time and develop ties with others, thus reducing their likelihood of isolation and loneliness. Based on the literature about buffering effects of social support at the individual levels (Cohen & Wills, 1985), it seems reasonable to expect that older adults with poor physical health will benefit more than those in good health from living in neighborhoods with more leisure amenities and voluntary associations. In China, neighborhood is interchangeable with community, which is officially defined as “a common social sphere constituted by people living within a certain geographical parameter per official administration” (Shen, 2014, pp. 210). Since the mid-1980s, the Chinese government has launched a nationwide campaign, “Community Building” as a way to address social problems, such as weakened security, loss of identity, and decreased collective responsibility, that arose from the rapid social transformations from a planned- to a market-based economy. The aims of community building include establishing a sense of geographic-based community into people\'s daily life, encouraging community participation in providing social services, and promoting life quality of residents (Xu, 2005). In the past decade, there have been centrally driven attempts to create a sense of community in neighborhoods, including building facilities for leisure and recreational activities, sponsoring social groups, and boosting social participation (Xu, Gao, & Yan, 2005). Older persons are one of the populations targeted by the community building effort because of the rapid growth of the older population and dramatic changes of family structure in China (Bray, 2006; Xu et al. 2005). However, the evidence about the health benefits of community building is scant at best. A study using regional data has suggested that more neighborhood amenities and organizations are associated with fewer depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older residents in China (Shen, 2014). Our study aims to extend the scope to the national level, and examines whether community building is particularly important for older persons with poor health.
    Methods
    Results Table 1 presents the weighted descriptive statistics of urban and rural samples, respectively. The average score of depressive symptoms was 7.51 in the urban and 9.86 in the rural sample. The disparity of depressive symptoms between rural and urban samples is consistent with most previous studies (Chen, Hu, Qin, Xu, & Copeland, 2004; Chen et al., 2005; Dong & Simon, 2010; Ma et al., 2008; Li et al., 2011). About 15% of urban and 26% of rural respondents had ADL limitations; and 77% of urban and 73% of rural respondents had chronic conditions. On average, the urban neighborhoods had 4.42 types of leisure amenities and 2.49 types of voluntary associations. Among the rural neighborhoods, there were, on average, 2.04 types of leisure amenities and 0.79 types of voluntary associations.