Perceived neighborhood characteristics and the health of adult Koreans.
This study examines the role of the perception of neighborhood quality with respect to its influence on adult health in Korea. Employing the Quality of Korean Life Survey 2001, we found that the extent to which respondents perceive their neighborhood quality selectively affects the health of adult Koreans. That is, how individuals are satisfied with overall neighborhood characteristics, with neighborhood safety and with relationships to neighbors is considerably and significantly associated with self-rated and emotional health status among Koreans, net of individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Although not statistically significant, the same direction of effect is found for daily activity limitation status, which may have been significant if a larger sample size were considered. This study also demonstrates that most individual demographic and socioeconomic risk factors are associated with health in a pattern consistent with that generally found in most Western societies, with the exception of the effect of education on psychological aspects of health.
Cho
Youngtae
Y
School of Public Health, Seoul National University, 28 Yeongun-dong, Seoul, Korea. ytcho@hotmail.com
Park
Gil-Sung
GS
Echevarria-Cruz
Samuel
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011788:Quality of Life; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires