Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US Cities

There have been mixed findings on whether residential (spatial) age segregation causes better or worse health in older adults. These inconsistencies can possibly be attributed to two limitations in the previous studies. First, many studies have used statistical age composition to indicate the reside...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guangran Deng, Liang Mao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-08-01
Series:ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Subjects:
GWR
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/7/9/351
id doaj-6253cad6fce3405dbd76f3ba5610e161
record_format Article
spelling doaj-6253cad6fce3405dbd76f3ba5610e1612020-11-24T22:42:29ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642018-08-017935110.3390/ijgi7090351ijgi7090351Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US CitiesGuangran Deng0Liang Mao1Department of Geography, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117315, 3141 Turlington Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USADepartment of Geography, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117315, 3141 Turlington Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USAThere have been mixed findings on whether residential (spatial) age segregation causes better or worse health in older adults. These inconsistencies can possibly be attributed to two limitations in the previous studies. First, many studies have used statistical age composition to indicate the residential age segregation in a community, but this statistic does not consider the spatial arrangement of the residents. Second, many national scale studies have focused on averaged (or global) associations between age segregation and senior health and have assumed that these associations represent the situation in every part of a country. Little attention has been paid to local patterns of such association in different places. To address these previously identified limitations, we calculated a spatially explicit age segregation index for each United States (US) city to replace the conventional age composition index. We derived data regarding 92,560 respondents aged 65 and above in 185 US urban areas from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). We then examined global and local associations between spatial age segregation and the self-rated health of older adults across US cities. Our multilevel global analysis suggested that older adults living in age-segregated metropolitan areas experienced more mentally unhealthy days. On the other hand, the local regression analysis identified local clusters of positive associations between the age segregation and the elderly’s overall health status in western and southern metropolitan areas, but no significant associations in midwestern and northeastern cities. In short, we advocated for the use of a spatially explicit approach to deepen the understanding of the association between age segregation and senior health. The new age segregation metric and new analytic approach can offer new insights into the ongoing debate regarding aging in place.http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/7/9/351spatial age segregationself-rated healtholder adultsmultilevel analysisGWR
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Guangran Deng
Liang Mao
spellingShingle Guangran Deng
Liang Mao
Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US Cities
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
spatial age segregation
self-rated health
older adults
multilevel analysis
GWR
author_facet Guangran Deng
Liang Mao
author_sort Guangran Deng
title Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US Cities
title_short Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US Cities
title_full Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US Cities
title_fullStr Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US Cities
title_full_unstemmed Spatially Explicit Age Segregation Index and Self-Rated Health of Older Adults in US Cities
title_sort spatially explicit age segregation index and self-rated health of older adults in us cities
publisher MDPI AG
series ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
issn 2220-9964
publishDate 2018-08-01
description There have been mixed findings on whether residential (spatial) age segregation causes better or worse health in older adults. These inconsistencies can possibly be attributed to two limitations in the previous studies. First, many studies have used statistical age composition to indicate the residential age segregation in a community, but this statistic does not consider the spatial arrangement of the residents. Second, many national scale studies have focused on averaged (or global) associations between age segregation and senior health and have assumed that these associations represent the situation in every part of a country. Little attention has been paid to local patterns of such association in different places. To address these previously identified limitations, we calculated a spatially explicit age segregation index for each United States (US) city to replace the conventional age composition index. We derived data regarding 92,560 respondents aged 65 and above in 185 US urban areas from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). We then examined global and local associations between spatial age segregation and the self-rated health of older adults across US cities. Our multilevel global analysis suggested that older adults living in age-segregated metropolitan areas experienced more mentally unhealthy days. On the other hand, the local regression analysis identified local clusters of positive associations between the age segregation and the elderly’s overall health status in western and southern metropolitan areas, but no significant associations in midwestern and northeastern cities. In short, we advocated for the use of a spatially explicit approach to deepen the understanding of the association between age segregation and senior health. The new age segregation metric and new analytic approach can offer new insights into the ongoing debate regarding aging in place.
topic spatial age segregation
self-rated health
older adults
multilevel analysis
GWR
url http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/7/9/351
work_keys_str_mv AT guangrandeng spatiallyexplicitagesegregationindexandselfratedhealthofolderadultsinuscities
AT liangmao spatiallyexplicitagesegregationindexandselfratedhealthofolderadultsinuscities
_version_ 1725699750565511168