Research on the Influence Mechanism of Community Outdoor Environments on Physical Activity in the Elderly under Multifactor Coupling:An Empirical Analysis Based on Main Urban Area of Harbin

CHEN Yunfeng; LI Lingling

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-0232.2025.02.008

Abstract：As a vital platform for daily physical activities,leisure,and entertainment of the elderly,the outdoor community environment plays a crucial role in improving and maintaining their health.However,the current planning and design of community outdoor spaces often focus excessively on upgrading hardware facilities,leading to a lack of targeted facility provisions and insufficient exploration of the associated health benefits.This approach overlooks the individual diversity in needs and the positive impact of soft elements.Rooted in a socio-ecological framework of multiple factors influencing physical activity,this study investigates how outdoor space elements and other factors(e.g.,demographic attributes of the elderly population and soft factors)interact to affect the physical activity levels of older adults.It includes the extraction of influential elements and the construction of a theoretical model.During the qualitative analysis phase,a grounded theory is employed to examine how the community outdoor environment influences the physical activity of the elderly.The hard and soft elements are preliminarily classified,based on which a questionnaire is created and sent in for large-scale data collection.The validity and reliability of the collected data are tested,and the exploratory factors are extracted through factor-loading matrices and principal component analysis,which further optimizes the classification of influential elements.Finally,10 components are identified:F1:Facility equipment;F2:Leisure and resting facilities;F3:Safety and accessibility factors;F4:Natural and cultural elements;F5:Engaging participatory elements;F6:Emotional support;F7:Tangible instrumental support;F8:Informational connectivity support;F9:Self-assessment support;and F10:Total outdoor physical activity level of the elderly.Among them,F1,F2,F3,F4,and F5 correspond to five latent variables of spatial elements(independent variables),while F6,F7,F8,and F9 represent four latent variables of social support elements(mediating variables);F10 is the dependent variable. Based on the structural equation model(SEM),an empirical analysis of the causal relationship model of the influence mechanism under multi-factor coupling is carried out.After a series of steps—including model construction and fitting,model modification and inspection,and mediation effect analysis—the empirical results reveal the direct effects of spatial elements on outdoor behavior.Specifically,both F1 and F2 exert direct impacts.Additionally,spatial elements indirectly influence outdoor activity levels through F6,F7,F8,and F9.The social support elements(mediating factors)account for a total mediation effect of 0.571,constituting approximately 58.56％of the total effect of spatial elements on behaviors(c=0.975).This indicates the significant influence of spatial factors on the level of outdoor physical activities of the elderly through social support mechanisms.Based on the pathways and effects of outdoor spatial elements on the overall physical activity levels of the elderly,spatial elements are further divided into three types,including strong-carrying and high-relevance elements,easily activated participatory elements,and singular stable elements.This is conducive to determining the positioning of spatial elements in updating practices.Some targeted planning and design suggestions are proposed,and the results are beneficial for the multi-dimensional and multi-level distribution of resources in outdoor built environments.This can improve the outdoor physical activities of the elderly,and mitigate unhealthy behaviors like insufficient activity.Further,it can facilitate the construction and development of health-supportive outdoor environments in communities.