Supporting Older Adults’ Mental Health Against Suspected Mental Health Problems: The Moderating Role of an Age-Friendly Neighborhood

Abstract

This study examined how compensatory and enabling domains of an Age-Friendly City (AFC) moderate the relationship between suspected mental health problems and depressive and anxiety symptoms among older adults. Four thousand six hundred and twenty-five Hong Kong Chinese aged ≥60 years completed a telephone survey between April and July 2022, including PHQ-2 and GAD-2. AFC indices sourced from prior territory-wide study. Linear mixed models showed that enabling AFC domains, namely, social participation, respect and social inclusion, and civic participation and employment, alleviated the effects of suspected mental health problems on respondents’ depressive and anxiety symptoms (b = −0.40 to −0.56). Three-way interaction models revealed that the protective effects of all compensatory and enabling AFCC domains (b = −1.23 to −6.18), except civic participation and employment, were stronger in old-old (70–79 years) and oldest-old (≥80 years) than young-old (60–69 years). AFCC-based interventions should focus on compensatory and enabling domains to support older adults’ mental health.