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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Advance Access originally published online on January 29, 2009
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 2009 64B(2):252-257; doi:10.1093/geronb/gbn018
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Neighborhood Characteristics and Disability in Older Adults

John R. Beard1,2,3, Shannon Blaney1, Magda Cerda1,4, Victoria Frye1, Gina S. Lovasi5, Danielle Ompad1, Andrew Rundle6 and David Vlahov1

1 Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, New York
2 School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia
3 Southern Cross University, Australia
4 Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Dearborn
5 Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University, New York
6 Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York

Address correspondence to John Beard, MBBS, PhD, Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029-5202. Email: jbeard{at}nyam.org


  Abstract

Objective: To characterize the influence of the residential neighborhood of older adults on the prevalence of disability.

Methods: We combined Census data on disability in older adults living in New York City with environmental information from a comprehensive geospatial database. We used factor analysis to derive dimensions of compositional and physical neighborhood characteristics and linear regression to model their association with levels of disability. Measures of neighborhood collective efficacy were added to these models to explore the impact of the social environment.

Results: Low neighborhood socioeconomic status, residential instability, living in areas with low proportions of foreign born and high proportions of Black residents, and negative street characteristics were associated with higher prevalence of both "physical" disability and "going outside the home" disability. High crime levels were additionally associated with physical disability, although this relationship disappeared when misdemeanor arrests were removed from the crime variable. Low levels of collective efficacy were associated with more going-outside-the-home disability, with racial/ethnic composition dropping out of this model to be replaced by an interaction term.

Conclusion: The urban environment may have a substantial impact on whether an older adult with a given level of functional impairment is able to age actively and remain independent.

Key Words: Disability • Elderly • Environment • Neighborhood

Received June 4, 2008; Accepted October 21, 2008
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