| Built Environment and Physical Functioning in Hispanic Elders: The Role of "Eyes on the Street" Scott C. Brown,1 Craig A. Mason,2 Tatiana Perrino,1 Joanna L. Lombard,1,3 Frank Martinez,1,3 Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk,3 Arnold R. Spokane,4 and José Szapocznik1,3 1University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA; 2University of Maine College of Education and Human Development/University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities,Orono, Maine, USA; 3University of Miami School of Architecture, Coral Gables, Florida, USA; 4Lehigh University College of Education, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA Abstract
Background: Research on neighborhood effects increasingly includes the influences of the built environment on health and social well-being. Objectives: In this population-based study in a low-socioeconomic-status (SES) , Hispanic neighborhood, we examined whether architectural features of the built environment theorized to promote direct observations and interactions (e.g., porches, stoops) predicted Hispanic elders' social support and psychological and physical functioning. Methods: We coded built-environment features for all 3,857 lots in the 403-block area of an urban Miami, Florida, community. We then conducted three annual assessments of social support, psychological distress, and physical functioning in a population-based sample of 273 low-SES Hispanic elders (70–100 years of age) . We used structural equation modeling analytic techniques to examine hypothesized relationships between the built environment and elders' social support, psychological distress, and physical functioning over a 3-year period. Results: After controlling for age, sex, and income, architectural features of the built environment theorized to facilitate visual and social contact had a significant direct relationship with elders' physical functioning as measured 3 years later, and an indirect relationship through social support and psychological distress. Further binomial regression analyses suggested that elders living on blocks marked by low levels of positive front entrance features were 2.7 times as likely to have subsequent poor levels of physical functioning, compared with elders living on blocks with a greater number of positive front entrance features [b = 0.99 ;  2 (1 df) = 3.71 ; p = 0.05 ; 95% confidence interval, 1.0–7.3]. Conclusions: Architectural features that facilitate visual and social contacts may be a protective factor for elders' physical functioning. Key words: aging, built environment, environmental measures, Hispanics/Latinos, physical functioning, psychological distress, social support. Environ Health Perspect 116:1300–1307 (2008) . doi:10.1289/ehp.11160 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 28 May 2008]
Address correspondence to S.C. Brown, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Center for Family Studies, 1425 NW 10th Ave., Room 210-B, Miami, FL 33136 USA. Telephone: (305) 243-4410. Fax: (305) 243-4417. E-mail: Sbrown@med.miami.edu We thank R. Verdeja, T. Clavijo, A. Marcos, M. Zarate, P. Thomas, and F. Newman for their assistance in this study. We thank L. Fleming for her comments on an earlier version of this article. This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant MH 63709, National Institute on Aging grant AG 27527, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant 037377 awarded to J.S. ; and by National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities grant L60 MD000884-01 awarded to S.C.B. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 12 December 2007 ; accepted 28 May 2008.
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