The association between quality of life and subjective wellbeing among older adults based on canonical correlation analysis

Huanting Liu; Qihui Gan; Jianfeng Tan; Xiaoyuan Sun; Yuxi Liu; Chonghua Wan

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1235276

The association between quality of life and subjective wellbeing among older adults based on canonical correlation analysis

Front Public Health. 2023 Sep 19:11:1235276. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1235276. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Huanting Liu¹, Qihui Gan², Jianfeng Tan¹, Xiaoyuan Sun¹, Yuxi Liu², Chonghua Wan¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Quality of Life and Psychological Assessment and Intervention, Research Center for Quality of Life and Applied Psychology, School of Humanities and Management, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, China.
² Institute of Health Law and Policy, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, China.

Abstract

Introduction: The study explored the relationship between subjective well-being and the quality of life among older adults. It highlights the importance of understanding how these factors are interconnected in the context of an aging population.

Methods: Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the scores of general demographic characteristics, subjective wellbeing and quality of life. Simple correlation analysis and canonical correlation analysis were employed to analyze the relationship between subjective wellbeing and quality of life among older adults.

Results: Data from 892 older adults were collected. Canonical correlation analysis revealed four pairs of canonical variables, with the first four pairs of canonical correlation coefficients all being statistically significant (0.695, 0.179, 0.147, 0.121) (p < 0.05), and the first pair of canonical variables explaining 93.03% of the information content. From the canonical loading coefficients, Vitality and mental health contributed the most to the quality of life (U1) canonical variable. The canonical variable V1, which corresponded to subjective wellbeing, was reflected by a combination of positive affect, negative affect, positive experience and negative experience. X1 (physical functioning), X2 (role-physical), X3 (bodily pain), X4 (general health), X5 (vitality), X6 (social functioning), X7 (role-emotional) and X8 (mental health) were positively correlated with Y1 (positive affect) and Y3 (positive experience), negatively correlated with Y2 (negative affect) and Y4 (negative experience). Cross-loadings revealed that physical functioning, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning and mental health were the main factors reflecting the subjective wellbeing of older adults.

Discussion: As quality of life among older adults was highly correlated with subjective wellbeing, appropriate measures should be taken to account for individual characteristics of older adults, and various factors should be integrated to improve their subjective wellbeing.

Keywords: canonical correlation; happiness; older adult; quality of life; subjective wellbeing.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Canonical Correlation Analysis*
Humans
Mental Health
Pain
Quality of Life* / psychology

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Universities’ Young Innovative Talents Project of Guangdong Province (ID: 2021KQNCX024), Basic and Applied Basic Research Funding of Guangdong Province (ID: 2021A1515110436), Discipline Construction Project of Guangdong Medical University (ID: 4SG23032G), Guangdong Province Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project (ID: GD22YGL21), PHD Researcher Foundation of Guangdong Medical University (ID: GDMUB2021011), and Dongguan Science and Technology of Social Development Program (20211800905102).