In China, communities are the primary living environments for older adults, where the neighborhood environment is closely linked to their mental well-being (MW). Old urban residential communities commonly encounter problems including poor housing quality, inadequate public resources, and substandard living conditions. The association between such neighborhood environments and the MW of older adults is particularly worthy of examination. Therefore, based on empirical survey data from Nanjing, China, and from a subjective perception perspective, this study explores how the perceived neighborhood environment in old urban residential communities correlates with older adults’ MW. The findings indicate that both the perceived built environment (BE) and social environment (SE) are correlated with the MW of older adults. The BE has a stronger correlation with MW than the SE, which mediates the correlation between the BE and MW. The correlation between the neighborhood environment and MW is moderated by factors including age, residence type, and average monthly income. Among the component factors of neighborhood environment in old urban residential communities, housing quality, shopping convenience, neighborhood interaction, and community services show significant positive correlations with the MW of older adults. These findings provide valuable implications for the age-friendly renewal of old urban residential communities, the development of age-friendly communities, and the improvement in the subjective well-being of older adults in such communities.
Zhang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.