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Assessing Subjective Well-being in Chinese Older Adults: The Chinese Aging Well Profile

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Abstract

Subjective well-being has increasingly been used as a key indicator of quality of life in older people. Existing evidence shows that it is likely that eastern cultures carry different life values and so the Chinese Aging Well Profile was devised for measuring subjective well-being in Chinese adults (50+). Data was collected from 1,906 community-dwelling Chinese (50+) in Taiwan in six sequential stages, involving qualitative interviews and psychometric testing. Seven key dimensions of subjective well-being identified in the interviews provided an item bank for instrument construction. The 31-item Chinese Aging Well Profile comprised seven subscales–’physical’, ‘psychological’, ‘independence’, ‘learning & growth’, ‘material’, ‘environmental’, and ‘social’ well-being. The study indicated that elements of subjective well-being are common across western and eastern cultures but are interpreted and weighted differently. This new instrument has demonstrated preliminary evidence for reliability and validity and that it is suitable for use in the Chinese speaking older population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Sports and Health, National Changhua University of Education, No.1, Jinde Rd., Changhua City, Changhua County, 500, Taiwan

    Po-Wen Ku

  2. Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TP, UK

    Kenneth R. Fox

  3. Carnegie Research Institute, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, LS1 3HE, UK

    Jim McKenna

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  1. Po-Wen Ku
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  2. Kenneth R. Fox
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  3. Jim McKenna
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Correspondence to Po-Wen Ku.

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Ku, PW., Fox, K.R. & McKenna, J. Assessing Subjective Well-being in Chinese Older Adults: The Chinese Aging Well Profile. Soc Indic Res 87, 445–460 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9150-2

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