Perceived Public Land and Water Recreation Opportunities and Place-Based Well-Being Among Older Adults in Nebraska: A Cross-Sectional Study

Public land and water recreation opportunities may shape how older adults perceive the places where they live. This study examined whether satisfaction with available public land and water opportunities is associated with satisfaction with living in Nebraska among White adults aged 65 years and older. We analyzed cross-sectional data from 644 respondents in the 2023 Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey, linked with county-level contextual measures of material community conditions, health-care infrastructure, and civic or organizational context from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. Associations were examined using frequentist ordinal logistic regression with adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, health, financial, and county-level characteristics. Bayesian ordered logistic regression was performed as a robustness check. More perception of public land and water opportunities was consistently associated with higher satisfaction with living in Nebraska. In the frequentist model, the odds ratio was 2.68 with strong statistical evidence. In the Bayesian model, the odds ratio was 2.61 with a 95% credible interval from 1.54 to 4.05. These findings indicate that perceived access to and quality of local recreation opportunities are relevant to place-based well-being among older adults. Incorporating such perceptions into recreation planning and age-friendly community development may improve residential satisfaction in aging populations.