Relationship between lifestyle types and frailty among community-dwelling older adults: The mediating role of self-efficacy

OBJECTIVE: To explore latent profiles of lifestyles among community-dwelling older adults, analyze their relationship with frailty, and examine the mediating role of self-efficacy. METHODS: Convenience sampling was used to recruit 589 community-dwelling older adults in Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, and Zhangjiakou from June 2024 to June 2025. A general information questionnaire, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile, and the Frailty Screening Scale were used for the survey. RESULTS: Health-promoting lifestyles among community-dwelling older adults could be classified into 3 latent profiles: the multidimensional health-leading type (C1), accounting for 33.28%; the basic nutrition-maintaining type (C2), accounting for 14.43%; and the spiritual growth-dominant type (C3), accounting for 52.29%. Frailty differed significantly across latent profiles, with group C2 having the most severe frailty. With group C1 as the reference, self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between the basic nutrition-maintaining type and frailty and fully mediated the relationship between the spiritual growth-dominant type and frailty. CONCLUSIONS: Lifestyles among community-dwelling older adults exhibit marked heterogeneity, and frailty can be prevented by improving self-efficacy.