Factors associated with active aging in Chinese elderly in rural areas of Xiangtan County, China

Dimensions	Physical self-maintenance	Instrumental activities	ADL	DIA-S
Physical vitality	−0.314^**	−0.369^**	−0.370^**	−0.378^**
Life satisfaction	−0.181^**	−0.283^**	−0.264^**	−0.603^**
Family support	−0.017	−0.066^*	−0.050^**	−0.188^**
Active participation	−0.179^**	−0.260^**	−0.244^**	−0.147^**
Total of PAEQ	−2.74^**	−0.377^**	−0.361^**	−0.495^**

Dimensions	Items	Mean scores of each item	Scores from Cao's study¹²	t	P
Physical vitality	6	3.28 ± 0.98	3.78 ± 0.62	−15.660	<0.001
Life satisfaction	7	3.70 ± 0.78	3.85 ± 0.48	−5.790	<0.001
Family support	3	4.40 ± 0.94	3.34 ± 0.83	34.392	<0.001
Active participation	5	2.81 ± 0.95	3.58 ± 0.75	−24.980	<0.001
Total of PAEQ	21	72.81 ± 13.63^*	77.60 ± 11.59^*	−10.744	<0.001

Variables	PAEQ mean scores	t/F	P
Gender
Male	73.86 ± 14.36	2.404	0.016
Female	71.72 ± 12.76
Age
60–69	73.12 ± 13.52	1.175	0.309
70–79	73.00 ± 13.88
≥80	71.01 ± 13.23
Education
Primary school or below	71.34 ± 13.30	15.348	<0.001
Junior school	76.28 ± 13.29
High school	81.79 ± 14.44
College or higher	84.56 ± 10.42
Marital status
Married and with spouse alive (A)	74.21 ± 13.246	13.687	<0.001
Single or widowed (B)	69.65 ± 13.989
Divorced or separated (C)	60.86 ± 11.639
LSD-t test
A vs. B			<0.001
A vs. C			0.009
B vs. C			0.088
Number of children
0	61.50 ± 15.74	11.484	<0.001
1	73.23 ± 15.17
2–3	73.84 ± 13.34
≥3	71.25 ± 11.87
Subjective economic status
Poor	66.76 ± 13.29	73.227	<0.001
Fair	74.25 ± 12.38
Good	81.66 ± 12.35
Number of chronic diseases
0	81.28 ± 11.728	61.257	<0.001
1	74.82 ± 12.83
2–3	70.71 ± 12.76
≥3	63.77 ± 12.19

Variables (theoretical ranges)	n	%
Gender
Male	477	51.0
Female	458	49.0
Age
60–69	437	46.8
70–79	381	40.7
≥80	117	12.5
Education
Primary school or below	718	76.8
Junior school	166	17.7
High school	42	4.5
College or higher	9	1.0
Marital status
Married and with a living spouse	662	70.8
Single or widowed	266	28.5
Divorced or separated	7	0.7
Number of children
0	40	4.3
1	94	10.0
2–3	643	68.8
≥3	158	16.9
Subjective economic status
Poor	318	34.0
Fair	477	51.0
Good	140	15.0
Number of chronic diseases
0	194	20.8
1	230	24.6
2–3	362	38.7
≥3	149	15.9

Items		n	%
1. I’ve been feeling down lately.		217	23.2
2. I’m worried about saying or doing something wrong.		50	5.3
3. It's hard for me to relax.		276	29.5
4. My life seems meaningless.		59	6.3
5. I have a hard time motivating myself.		147	15.7
6. I’m worried about my future.		167	17.9
7. When things get tough, I find it hard to continue to enjoy life.		157	16.8
8. Difficulties often overwhelm me.		76	8.1
9. I’m often immersed in anxiety.		124	13.3
10. I’m not very satisfied with my life.		104	11.1
Depressive symptom	Depression	184	19.7
Depressive symptom	No depression	751	80.3

Factors associated with active aging in Chinese elderly in rural areas of Xiangtan County, China†