Perceived Community Environment, Sedentary Behavior and Health-Related Quality of Life among Chinese Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Developing age-friendly community environments is a key strategy in fostering well-being and addressing the needs of the older population. This study aimed to explore the links between perceived community environment, sedentary behavior, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Chinese older adults. Methods Cross-sectional data from the 2021 China General Social Survey was utilized ( N  = 1,001). Exploratory factor analysis was applied to measure perceived community environment. Mediation analyses were tested using the SPSS 25.0 PROCESS Macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples. Results Perceived community social environment (PCSE) and perceived community physical environment (PCPE) were both associated with HRQoL respectively (PCSE: b  = 1.118, p  < 0.001; PCPE: b  = 1.172; p  < 0.001). A significant indirect effect of sedentary behavior was observed in the association between PCSE and HRQoL ( B  = 0.094, SE  = 0.047, 95% CI [0.012, 0.197]), accounting for 7.76% of the total effect. Conclusions The findings suggest that perceived community environment affects HRQoL not only directly but also indirectly by reducing the duration of sedentary behavior, social environment as especial, highlighting the importance of developing age-friendly community policies that improve both social and physical community environments perception and reducing prolonged sedentary time to enhance the HRQoL of older adults in China.