Age-friendly environment, social support, sense of community, and loneliness among middle-aged and older adults in Korea

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between age-friendly environment, social support, sense of community, and loneliness of Korean adults aged 45 and above.

Methods

A total of 590 participants from a cross-sectional and secondary data from an age integration survey conducted in 2018 was used for analysis. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping method were applied to examine the mediating role of social support and sense of community on the relationship between age-friendly environment and loneliness.

Results

Age-friendly environment was positively associated with social support ($\mathrm{\beta }=.310,\mathrm{ }p<.001$) and sense of community ($\mathrm{\beta }=.479,\mathrm{ }p<.001$). Social support was negatively associated with loneliness ($\mathrm{\beta }=-.190,\mathrm{ }p<.001$). Full mediation effect of social support was observed in the pathway from age-friendly environment to loneliness (95% CI: −0.135 to −0.036).

Conclusion

Social support was fundamental in lowering loneliness in an age-friendly environment. There was no significant association linking age-friendly environment, sense of community, and loneliness. The results support the adoption of AFE to protect people at risk of loneliness with social support mediating this relationship.

Keywords:

• Age-friendly environment
• social support
• sense of community
• loneliness
• structural equation model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2020S1A5C2A03092919].