Measurement Indicators of Age-Friendly Communities: Findings from the AARP Age-Friendly Community Survey

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Cities and counties worldwide have adopted the concept of "age-friendly communities."These communities aspire to promote older adults' well-being by providing a safe, affordable built environment and a social environment that encourages their participation. A major limitation in this field is the lack of valid and reliable measures that capture the complex dimensionality and dynamic nature of the aging-environment interface. Research Design and Methods: This study uses data from the AARP 2016 Age-Friendly Community Surveys (N = 3,652 adults aged 65 and older). The survey includes 62 indicators of age-friendliness, for example, outdoor spaces, transportation, housing, social participation, and community and health services. We randomly split the sample into 2 equal subsamples for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: CFA results indicated that both the 5-factor model and the second-order factor model adequately fit the data. In the SEM 5-factor model, outdoor space (β = 0.134; p =. 017), social participation (β = 0.307; p