Korean society is experiencing rapid population aging alongside the weakening of local communities, increasing social isolation, and the erosion of interpersonal relationships. In later life, daily activity spaces become increasingly centered on the r...
Korean society is experiencing rapid population aging alongside the weakening of local communities, increasing social isolation, and the erosion of interpersonal relationships. In later life, daily activity spaces become increasingly centered on the residential environment, making housing conditions a critical foundation not only for physical living arrangements but also for social interaction, emotional stability, and the maintenance of a sense of community. Despite this importance, previous studies have tended to examine residential environments primarily in terms of physical infrastructure or isolated satisfaction indicators, providing limited insight into the structural pathways through which residential environment satisfaction influences sense of community. The purpose of this study was to empirically examine the effects of residential environment satisfaction on sense of community among adults aged 60 and older, with particular attention to the mediating role of trust. Residential environment satisfaction was conceptualized as a multidimensional construct consisting of neighborhood satisfaction, facility environment satisfaction, and transportation environment satisfaction, while trust was specified as a mediating variable linking residential experiences to sense of community. Data were drawn from the 2024 Seoul Survey, and the final analytical sample consisted of 5,719 respondents aged 60 and older after excluding cases with missing values. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 31.0 and AMOS 31.0, including descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. The mediating effects were tested using a bootstrapping procedure with 5,000 resamples. The measurement and structural models demonstrated acceptable levels of model fit. The findings revealed several notable results. First, the effects of residential environment satisfaction on sense of community differed by sub-dimension. Neighborhood satisfaction and facility environment satisfaction had significant positive direct effects on sense of community, whereas transportation environment satisfaction showed a significant negative direct effect. Second, neighborhood satisfaction and transportation environment satisfaction exerted significant positive effects on trust, while facility environment satisfaction did not show a statistically significant association. Third, mediation analysis indicated that neighborhood satisfaction and transportation environment satisfaction had significant indirect effects on sense of community through trust. Notably, transportation environment satisfaction exhibited a negative direct effect but a positive indirect effect via trust, resulting in a counterbalancing total effect. These findings suggest that improvements in the residential environment alone do not automatically lead to stronger community bonds among older adults. Rather, residential environment satisfaction contributes to sense of community through trust as a key relational resource. While physical and environmental conditions may serve as necessary prerequisites, the formation and maintenance of sense of community require parallel efforts to promote social interaction and trust-building among residents. Although this study is limited by its reliance on secondary data from older adults residing in Seoul, it contributes to the literature by empirically identifying the structural relationships and operating mechanisms linking residential environment satisfaction, trust, and sense of community. The results further provide policy-relevant implications for community restoration in an aging society, emphasizing the need for trust-based, relationship-centered strategies alongside residential environment improvements in the development of housing welfare policies and community-based integrated care systems.
Keywords: Older adults, Residential environment satisfaction, Sense of community, Trust, Social capital, Mediating effect, Structural equation modeling