Path analysis of subjective health status, healthy lifestyle habits, and successful aging in Korean older adults: path differences by age

BACKGROUND: As the older adult population in South Korea is increasing, interest in successful aging is increasing. Related research is needed on this, and in particular, it is necessary to investigate the differences in the paths of factors related to successful aging between the older adults aged 65 years or older and prospective seniors under 65 years of age. This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of healthy lifestyle habits on the relationship between subjective health status and successful aging in older adults aged 60 and older, and to examine differences in pathways using multi-group analysis by age. METHODS: Descriptive survey using a structural equation model. The study included 6,040 participants from the 9th wave (2022) of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA), conducted by the Korea Employment Information Service (KEIS), South Korea. General characteristics of subjects, subjective health status, healthy lifestyle habits (exercise, meal frequency, smoking, drinking), and successful aging were measured in this study. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS·Amos version 27.0 program. RESULTS: The subjective health status of the older adults was found to have an indirect effect on successful aging through meal frequency (β = 0.001, p = 0.008) and drinking (β = 0.003, p < 0.001) as mediating factors of healthy lifestyle habits. Path analyses of subjective health status, healthy lifestyle habits (exercise, meal frequency, and drinking), and successful aging revealed differences in the paths between individuals under 65 years of age and those aged 65 and older. In particular, subjective health status and healthy lifestyle habits (exercise, meal frequency, and drinking) had a greater and more significant impact on successful aging in older adults than in those under 65. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that subjective health status and healthy lifestyle habits (meal frequency, drinking) are important for successful aging among older adults aged 60 and older. Specifically, subjective health status and healthy lifestyle habits (exercise, meal frequency, drinking) are more important for older adults aged 65 and older than for those under 65. To achieve successful aging among older adults aged 60 and older, it is necessary to enhance their subjective health status and positively promote healthy lifestyle habits, particularly meal frequency and drinking. Based on these findings, strategies can be differentiated to allocate limited social resources to areas with the greatest impact across age groups.