Environmental Factors Associated with Older Adult’s Walking Behaviors: A Systematic Review of Quantitative Studies

Hae Young Yun
Additional contact information
Hae Young Yun: Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119260, Singapore

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-45

Abstract: The aim of this study is to systematically review the relationship between neighborhood environments and all types of walking behaviors among older adults. Seventy peer-reviewed journal articles which met the selection criteria were examined. Research designs were summarized by geographical location and the associations of environmental characteristics and walking were calculated. Interactions between moderators and environmental characteristics for all types of walking were also categorized. Results have shown that transport walking is the most supported by neighborhood environmental characteristics. The positively related environmental characteristics are walkability, urbanization, land use mix-diversity and accessibility, walking amenities, and bicycle lanes. Total walking was positively associated with walkability and urbanization. Recreational walking was associated with neighborhood employment/income level, nearness to public transport/bus stops, and social cohesion. The most commonly used moderators were age and gender, but inconsistent moderating effects between neighborhood environments and walking were also found. In densely populated environments such as Hong Kong, older adults walked mostly for both transport and recreation. In contrast, American older adults in low density areas walked less for transport and more for recreation. Findings support a strong relationship between neighborhood environments and older adults’ walking. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies and comparison studies by geographic location.

Keywords: neighborhood environment; older adults; total walking; walking for transport; walking for recreation; moderator; systematic review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3253/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3253/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:12:p:3253-:d:239305

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().