ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1659061
Environmental and Capacity Drivers of Health Function: A Full Perspective of the Healthy Aging Framework
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang Shuren Univeristy, Hangzhou, China
- 2Zhejiang Modern Service Industry Research Centre, Hangzhou, China
- 3Zhejiang Shuren University Shulan International Medical College, Hangzhou, China
- 4Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- 5Zhejiang Urban Governance Research Centre, Hangzhou, China
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Abstract Objectives: This paper explores how health capacity and environmental factors work together on health function among Chinese older adults. Methods: A total of 2788 Chinese older adults was randomly selected, with a valid response rate of 96.4% (n=2688). Individual, family and social environments were assessed as mediators or moderators in the relationship between health capacity and health function. Structural equation models (SEM) were used to examine the pathways of determinants to health function. Results: We found that an individual's capacities and environmental factors had associations with health function in ageing settings. Specifically, older adults who reported higher scores in health capacities, age-friendly family and social environment, and higher level of individual life expectation were more likely to experience higher level of health fucntion. Regarding the pathway to health function, age-friendly family (APGAR) and social environments acted as moderators in the relationship between health capacity and health function. The indirect way of health capcity (path coef. =0.269) is stronger than the direct way (path coef. =0.079). The role of social environment (path coef. =0.409) is the predominant in these pathways. Discussion: This study suggests that both capacity and environmental factors are vital to maintain older adults' health function. And the construction of an age-friendly environment, especially social environment, contributes a lot to healthy ageing. Keywords: Surrounding characteristics, Ability characteristics, Desired states, 65 Age-friendly environment; Social environment
Keywords: Surrounding characteristics, Ability characteristics, Desired states, age-friendly environment, social environment
Received: 03 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cai, Wang, Jiang, Zhu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lu Li, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
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