Park Kyunghye, Lee Yunhwan
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, Korea.
J Prev Med Public Health. 2007 Mar;40(2):137-44. doi: 10.3961/jpmph.2007.40.2.137.
According to Rowe and Kahn (1998), successful aging is the combination of a low probability of disease, high functioning, and active engagement with life. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between active engagement with life and functioning among the community-dwelling elderly.
Data were collected from Wave 2 of the Suwon Longitudinal Aging Study (SLAS), consisting of a sample of 645 persons aged 65 and older living in the community. A social activity checklist and social support inventory were used as measures of engagement with life, along with the Physical Functioning (PF) scale as a measure of functioning. The effects of social support and social activity on physical functioning, taking into account the covariates, were analyzed by hierarchical linear regression analysis.
Maintenance of social activity and social support were significantly associated with higher physical function, after adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related covariates. Social support appeared to be more prominent than social activity in predicting physical functioning.
Social support and social activity are potentially modifiable factors associated with physical function in older persons. Studies examining the role social engagement may play in preventing disability are warranted.
根据罗和卡恩（1998年）的观点，成功老龄化是疾病发生率低、功能良好以及积极参与生活的结合。本研究的目的是评估社区居住老年人中积极参与生活与功能之间的关系。
数据收集自水原纵向老龄化研究（SLAS）的第二波，样本包括645名居住在社区的65岁及以上老年人。使用社会活动清单和社会支持量表作为参与生活的衡量指标，同时使用身体功能（PF）量表作为功能的衡量指标。通过分层线性回归分析，在考虑协变量的情况下，分析社会支持和社会活动对身体功能的影响。
在调整社会人口统计学和健康相关协变量后，维持社会活动和社会支持与较高的身体功能显著相关。在预测身体功能方面，社会支持似乎比社会活动更为突出。
社会支持和社会活动是与老年人身体功能相关的潜在可改变因素。有必要开展研究，探讨社会参与在预防残疾方面可能发挥的作用。
