Neighborhood Social and Physical Conditions Shape Older Adults' Everyday Safety

Momentary feelings of safety carry significant implications for well-being in later life. Yet the role of social and built environments beyond residential neighborhoods remains underexplored. We investigated how dynamic social, physical features and spatial knowledge of activity spaces affect older adults' in situ feelings of safety.

Using unique data from the Chicago Health and Activity in Real-Time (CHART) study, we analyzed 5,833 geolocated ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) from 93 older adults. We linked EMA locations to Google Street View Images to measure streetscape features and Advan mobility flows to capture spatial knowledge. We estimated race-stratified multilevel models with EMAs nested within respondents and used a within-between decomposition to distinguish momentary exposure from between-person differences in average exposure.

Momentary safety varied substantially across contexts, with distinct racial patterns. Being outdoors reduced safety for both race groups. White respondents reported lower safety in areas predominantly Black and of low socioeconomic status (SES) but greater safety in racially mixed, higher-SES neighborhoods. In contrast, Black respondents felt less safe in racially mixed and affluent White neighborhoods, reflecting varied experiences of being socially out of place. Physical disorder and built-environment cues predicted safety only among Whites, indicating that the meaning of disorder is socially conditioned rather than universal. Across both groups, spatial knowledge consistently increased perceived safety.

Findings underscore the situational and racialized nature of safety in later life. While White older adults' safety perceptions respond to visible streetscape cues, Black older adults' perceptions reflect broader structural and contextual neighborhood characteristics.