Does a Good Home Make Older Adults Better off? An Empirical Analysis of the Associations between Age-Friendly Home and Older adults’ Subjective Well-Being

Abstract

Age-friendly housing, which lays the physical foundation for aging in place and constructing an inclusive society, is crucial for older adults’ healthy aging. This study investigates the associations between age-friendly home environments and subjective well-being (SWB) among Chinese older adults using a nationwide representative survey. We found that a more age-friendly home was associated with reduced depressive symptoms, better cognitive function, and improved life satisfaction. Additionally, older adults living in rural regions, living with family members, and ranking in the higher income group have significantly positive home–SWB associations. Our findings suggest that creating age-inclusive housing can better support older adults aging well.

Keywords:

• Older adults
• subjective well-being
• age-friendly
• housing
• aging

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 The Kaiser criterion is used to determine factor extraction in factor analysis. It suggests retaining factors with eigenvalue greater than 1 as they explain more variance than an average single observed variable. The eigenvalue represents the variance explained by each factor.