IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i14p7283-d590273.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Age-Friendly Rural Communities Affect Quality of Life? A Comparison of Perceptions from Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China

Author

Listed:
  • Jingyu Yu

    (School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China)

  • Guixia Ma

    (School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China)

  • Shuxia Wang

    (Suzhou University, Suzhou 234000, China)

Abstract

The aging population in rural areas of China faces serious challenges due to urban–rural disparities. In order to improve the active aging of rural older adults, the establishment of age-friendly communities is encouraged. However, globally, the focus is on age-friendly communities in urban areas, not reflecting rural communities. Hence, we addressed the importance of age-friendly rural communities (AFRCs) and aimed to investigate their impact on the quality of life (QoL) of older adults. We examined different perceptions of AFRCs among older adults (aged over 60) and middle-aged people (45–60) in rural communities with questionnaire surveys ( n = 470 and 393, respectively). Several statistical methods, such as Chi-squared test, t -test, reliability test, and multiple regression, were adopted to investigate and compare the perceptions of these two. The results indicated that (1) middle-aged people were more satisfied with AFRC components and had a higher QoL than older adults; (2) the QoL of middle-aged people was predicted by housing, accessibility, and outdoor spaces; (3) the QoL of older adults was affected by housing, outdoor spaces, social participation, and public transportation. These findings aid in our understanding of rural communities and the QoL of rural residents. They are helpful for urban planners and policymakers to improve the planning of AFRCs and supplement research on age-friendly communities in rural areas. Practical implementations are proposed for the planning of AFRCs, such as the passive design of residential housing, grouping of community facilities together, and improvement in the hygiene of outdoor spaces in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingyu Yu & Guixia Ma & Shuxia Wang, 2021. "Do Age-Friendly Rural Communities Affect Quality of Life? A Comparison of Perceptions from Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-13, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7283-:d:590273
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7283/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7283/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. van Leeuwen, K.M. & Malley, J. & Bosmans, J.E. & Jansen, A.P.D. & Ostelo, R.W. & van der Horst, H.E. & Netten, A., 2014. "What can local authorities do to improve the social care-related quality of life of older adults living at home?: evidence from the adult social care survey," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58022, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Yi, Fujin & Liu, Chang & Xu, Zhigang, 2019. "Identifying the effects of migration on parental health: Evidence from left-behind elders in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 218-236.
    3. Ao, Yibin & Zhang, Yuting & Wang, Yan & Chen, Yunfeng & Yang, Linchuan, 2020. "Influences of rural built environment on travel mode choice of rural residents: The case of rural Sichuan," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. I-Ming Feng & Jun-Hong Chen & Bo-Wei Zhu & Lei Xiong, 2018. "Assessment of and Improvement Strategies for the Housing of Healthy Elderly: Improving Quality of Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-32, March.
    5. Stephen Neville & Sara Napier & Jeffery Adams & Carol Wham & Debra Jackson, 2016. "An integrative review of the factors related to building age‐friendly rural communities," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(17-18), pages 2402-2412, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhiyu Feng & Longfei Li & Jingchun Zhang & Xinqun Feng, 2024. "Towards a Communication Ecology in the Life of Rural Senior Citizens: How Rural Public Spaces Influence Community Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Xue Yang & Doudou Yin, 2022. "The Protective Effect of Caring for Grandchildren on the Mental Health of the Elderly: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Li Guo & Ren-Jye Dzeng & Shuya Hao & Chaojie Zhang & Shuang Zhang & Liyaning Tang, 2024. "Exploring Stakeholders in Elderly Community Retrofit Projects: A Tripartite Evolutionary Game Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-22, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sung-Shun Weng & Yang Liu & Yen-Ching Chuang, 2019. "Reform of Chinese Universities in the Context of Sustainable Development: Teacher Evaluation and Improvement Based on Hybrid Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Hongjun Cui & Mingzhi Li & Minqing Zhu & Xinwei Ma, 2023. "Investigating the Impacts of Urban–Rural Bus Service Quality on Rural Residents’ Travel Choices Using an SEM–MNL Integration Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Yibin Ao & Ling Tan & Qiqi Feng & Liyao Tan & Hongfu Li & Yan Wang & Tong Wang & Yunfeng Chen, 2022. "Livelihood Capital Effects on Famers’ Strategy Choices in Flood-Prone Areas—A Study in Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-19, June.
    4. Linghan Zhang & Junyi Zhang, 2018. "Impacts of Leisure and Tourism on the Elderly’s Quality of Life in Intimacy: A Comparative Study in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Yingtao Qi & Xiaodi Li & Yupeng Wang & Dian Zhou, 2023. "Research on Indoor Thermal Environment Analysis and Optimization Strategy of Rural Dwellings around Xi’an Based on PET Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-25, May.
    6. Tianxiang Li & Beibei Wu & Fujin Yi & Bin Wang & Tomas Baležentis, 2020. "What Happens to the Health of Elderly Parents When Adult Child Migration Splits Households? Evidence from Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-14, March.
    7. Kay Shannon & Kasia Bail & Stephen Neville, 2019. "Dementia‐friendly community initiatives: An integrative review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(11-12), pages 2035-2045, June.
    8. Rajkumar, Vidya Bharathi, 2021. "Male Migration and the Emergence of Female Farm Management in India," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315329, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Tien-Li Chen & Chin-Chuan Chen & Yen-Ching Chuang & James J. H. Liou, 2020. "A Hybrid MADM Model for Product Design Evaluation and Improvement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    10. Jung-A Park & Byungsook Choi, 2021. "Factors Affecting the Intention of Multi-Family House Residents to Age in Place in a Potential Naturally Occurring Retirement Community of Seoul in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    11. Shen, Tonggaochuan & Cheng, Long & Yang, Yongjiang & Deng, Jialin & Jin, Tanhua & Cao, Mengqiu, 2023. "Do residents living in transit-oriented development station catchment areas travel more sustainably? The impacts of life events," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118813, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Marius Constantin PROFIROIU & Carmen Valentina RADULESCU & Sorin BURLACU, 2019. "Aspects Of Quality Of Life In Urban Areas Of The European Union," Proceedings of Administration and Public Management International Conference, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(1), pages 3-11, October.
    13. Lingchao Meng & Chun Zhu & Kuo-Hsun Wen, 2020. "Research on Constructing a Healing Environment for the Street Spaces of a High-Density City: Using Street Spaces in Macao’s Old City Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-24, July.
    14. Judy Blakey & Janet Clews, 2020. "Knowing, Being and Co-Constructing an Age-Friendly Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-27, December.
    15. Liu, Chang & Eriksson, Tor & Yi, Fujin, 2021. "Offspring migration and nutritional status of left-behind older adults in rural China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    16. Liu, Chang & Yi, Fujin & Xu, Zhigang & Tian, Xu, 2021. "Do living arrangements matter?—Evidence from eating behaviors of the elderly in rural China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    17. Huichen Gao & Shijuan Wang, 2022. "The Intellectual Structure of Research on Rural-to-Urban Migrants: A Bibliometric Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-19, August.
    18. Yuan, Dandan & Zhao, Pengjun & Yu, Zhao & Liu, Qiyang, 2023. "Villagers' travel burden and the built environment in rural China: Evidence from a national level survey," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    19. Wei, Min-Fang, 2022. "Does Migration Matter? The Impacts on Senior Food and Nutrition Security in Rural China," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 10(1), January.
    20. Haimei Li & Li Han & Yibin Ao & Yan Wang & Tong Wang, 2022. "Influences of the Built Environment on Rural School Children’s Travel Mode Choice: The Case of Chengdu," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7283-:d:590273. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.