Objective  The seventh national census of China reveals that the percentage of individuals aged 60 and above has surpassed 18%, highlighting the growing issue of population aging. At this stage, a significant incongruity between the limited progress in the development of leisure facilities for the elderly in urban parks and the relatively advanced aging population has emerged. In light of this, this research investigates the underlying mechanisms for well-being of the elderly within the framework of leisure activities in urban parks, in hope of providing a theoretical foundation for the improvement of the leisure quality and the elderly-oriented renewal of the recreation environment of urban parks.

Methods  Taking eight urban parks located in Fuzhou as an example, this research embarks upon an inquiry into the leisure involvement of the elderly. With recovery experience and positive emotion as co-mediating variables, and place attachment as moderating variable, the research constructs a moderated dual-mediation model. By doing so, the research reveals the influencing mechanism of leisure participation on the well-being of the elderly, with a particular focus on the mediating effects of recovery experience and positive emotion, as well as the moderating effects of place attachment on the aforesaid two mediating variables. By constructing a new theoretical framework, the research enriches existing perspectives on the well-being of senior citizens. In the aspect of data analysis, the research adopts SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0 to test the reliability and validity of the scale adopted, and to evaluate the fitness of the theoretical model mentioned above. Furthermore, the research assesses the relationship between variables by constructing a structural equation model based on the analysis of the moderated mediation model utilizing SPSS Process V3.5 component.

Results  Research results show that: 1) Leisure participation has a significant direct effect (β=0.273) on the well-being of the elderly. Additionally, the indirect effect with recovery experience as the mediating variable (β=0.091), the indirect effect with positive emotion as the mediating variable (β=0.137) and the total effect (β=0.502) are all significant when p≤0.001. These results suggest that leisure participation can directly or indirectly affect well-being through the mediating effects of recovery experience and positive emotion. 2) Both the mediating effects of recovery experience and positive emotion can be moderated by place attachment. When recovery experience serves as the mediating variable, the product of place dependence and recovery experience has a significant positive effect (β=0.171) on well-being, as does the product of place identity and recovery experience (β=0.125). These findings indicate that place attachment can considerably enhance the effect of recovery experience on well-being of the elderly, and thus positively moderate the mediating effect of recovery experience. In addition, the research identifies a threshold interval for the moderating effect of place attachment. When place dependence is less than 4.572 and place identity less than 4.669, the mediating effect of recovery experience fails to pass the significance test, signifying the disappearance thereof. 3) When positive emotion serves as the mediating variable, the product of place dependence and positive emotion has a significant negative effect (β=–0.181) on well-being, as does the product of place identity and positive emotion (β=–0.171). These outcomes suggest that place attachment can weaken the effect of positive emotion on well-being, and thus negatively moderate the mediating effect of positive emotion. In addition, when place dependence is greater than 6.141 and place identity greater than 6.229, the mediating effect of positive emotion fails to pass the significance test, signifying the disappearance thereof.

Conclusion  Based on the above results, it can be seen that urban parks should pay full attention to promoting the elderly’ s participation in leisure activities, which is crucial for improving the well-being of the elderly. Moreover, for the elderly with a higher level of place attachment, the mediation effect of recovery experience is stronger. Thus, to improve the well-being of the elderly, urban parks ought to prioritize the improvement of recovery experience. This may be achieved by capitalizing on the natural environment in park design to facilitate psychological recuperation and promoting physical exercise through appropriate spatial arrangements. In contrast, for the elderly with a lower level of place attachment, positive emotion plays a more significant role as a mediating variable. Therefore, the emphasis should be placed on creating positive emotional experiences for the elderly. Urban parks should bolster the appeal of leisure activities for the elderly by improving essential services. For example, urban parks can, in combination with the preferences of the elderly, carry out interesting activities such as chess and card games, music and dance, and theme photography, to improve the spiritual vitality and overall satisfaction of the elderly, ultimately achieving improved well-being.