Objective:To explore the chain mediating effect of self-rated health and aging attitudes on the relationship between life space and psychological distress of community-dwelling older adults.Methods:From August to November 2023, convenience sampling was used to select older adults from three communities of Baohe District in Hefei City as subjects. General Information Questionnaire, Life Space Assessment (LSA), Self-Rated Health (SRH), Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ), and 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) were used for the survey. Spearman correlation was used to analyze the correlation between life space and self-rated health, aging attitudes, and psychological distress. Process macro program of SPSS 25.0 software was used to test for mediating effects.Results:A total of 700 questionnaires were distributed and 669 valid questionnaires were collected, with a valid response rate of 95.57%. Among 669 community-dwelling older adults, the LSA, SRH, AAQ, and K10 scores were (74.35±19.39), (3.23±0.96), (80.66±13.43), and (19.29±6.26), respectively. Spearman correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between life space and attitudes to aging ( rs=0.568, P<0.01) and negative correlations between life space and self-rated health and psychological distress ( rs=-0.334 and -0.455; both P<0.01). The mediating effect test showed that self-rated health and aging attitudes had chain mediating effects on life space and psychological distress, with a mediating effect value of -0.053, accounting for 11.60% of the total effect. Conclusions:Life space can not only directly affect the psychological distress of community-dwelling older adults but also indirectly predict psychological distress through the mediating effect of self-rated health and aging attitudes.