The Relationship between Heath-Related Lifestyles and Living Functions of Korean and Japanese Elders

Abstract

This study aims to review the relation between health-related life styles and living functions of the elderly empirically through structural equation modeling and to find common factors between Korean and Japanese seniors. The survey was targeted at Korean and Japanese seniors over 65(503 Korean seniors and 494 Japanese seniors), and for statistical analysis, data on 282 Korean seniors and 201 Japanese seniors who answered to all categories, were employed. After setting up a research model supposing that health-related life styles would affect each of three elements(functional · structural integrity, activity and participation), the goodness-of-fit of the research model for data and the relation among variables were considered using structural equation modeling. This time, acasual model was verified in order to seek common points between Korean and Japanese elders. When the goodness-of-fit of the research model for data was tested, CFI and RMSEA of the model in Korea and Japan were respectively, 0.914 and 0.064, and 0.941 and 0.049, and thus both countries met statistical acceptable standards. Moreover, it was found that three elements(functional · structural integrity, activity and participation) which form heath conditions of the elderly in both countries, were related to each other, and people who constantly practice heath-related life styles, have good mental and physical functions and are highly active and frequently participate in many activities. These findings were commonly extracted from both Koreans and Japanese. In conclusion, they imply that clinically, an intervention to lay stress on health-related life styles and academically, a review on factors to affect the continuity of health-related life styles are needed in order to improve the general health conditions of the elderly.