Residential environment and healthy aging: the role of physical activity and social participation

Demographic aging one of the major challenges of the 21(st) century. It raises the issue of "healthy aging", a process of helping elderly people remain in good health and independent as long as possible. The influence of environmental factors on this process can vary depending on individuals and their behaviour. The entanglement of these factors represents a theoretical as well as a methodological challenge. This paper aims to i) quantify the associations between the physical and social environment of elderly peoples' neighbourhoods with their healthy aging, and ii) assess if their physical activity and their social participation are mediating this relation. The results show that, although some characteristics of the neighbourhood relating to the reputation, access to services, and social cohesion are associated with healthy aging, there is limited support for the idea that behaviour mediates the relation between context and health.