Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, USA.
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
BMC Geriatr. 2023 Jun 6;23(1):355. doi: 10.1186/s12877-023-04039-1.
Although the majority of existing literature has suggested positive effects of housework on older adults' health and survival rate, the underlying mechanisms of such effects remain unclear. To address potential mechanisms, the present study examined the association between older adults' housework engagement and days of survival across 14 years and tested three potential mediation pathways in this association.
Four thousand Hong Kong older adults (50% female; aged between 65 and 98 years) participated in a longitudinal study in which they reported initial housework engagement and health status across three domains (cognitive functioning, physical health, and mental health) at the baseline, and the numbers of days they survived over the subsequent 14-year period were recorded. Linear regression, Cox proportional hazard, and parallel mediation analyses were performed to examine the relationship between housework engagement and days survived, and the mediating effects of these three health factors.
The results showed a positive association between housework engagement and days survived after controlling for demographic variables (age, sex, education, marital status, subjective social status, and living alone). Physical health and mental health, but not cognitive functioning, partially mediated the relationship between housework engagement and days survived. The findings suggest that doing housework may contribute to longer survival by improving older adults' physical and mental health.
The current study confirms positive relations of housework with health and mortality among Hong Kong older adults. As the first study examining the relationships and mediation pathways between doing housework and survival in later life, the findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the positive association between housework and mortality and provide insights for future daily-life health-promotion interventions for older adults.
尽管大多数现有文献表明家务对老年人的健康和存活率有积极影响，但这些影响的潜在机制仍不清楚。为了解决潜在的机制问题，本研究考察了老年人参与家务与 14 年内存活天数之间的关系，并在该关系中检验了三个潜在的中介途径。
4000 名香港老年人（50%为女性；年龄在 65 岁至 98 岁之间）参加了一项纵向研究，他们在基线时报告了最初的家务参与情况和三个领域（认知功能、身体健康和心理健康）的健康状况，并记录了随后 14 年内的存活天数。采用线性回归、Cox 比例风险和并行中介分析来检验家务参与度与存活天数之间的关系，以及这三个健康因素的中介效应。
在控制了人口统计学变量（年龄、性别、教育程度、婚姻状况、主观社会地位和独居）后，家务参与度与存活天数呈正相关。身体健康和心理健康，但不是认知功能，部分中介了家务参与度与存活天数之间的关系。研究结果表明，做家务可能通过改善老年人的身心健康来延长寿命。
本研究证实了家务与香港老年人健康和死亡率之间的积极关系。作为第一项研究，检验了晚年做家务与生存之间的关系和中介途径，研究结果增进了我们对家务与死亡率之间正相关关系的潜在机制的理解，并为未来针对老年人的日常生活健康促进干预措施提供了新的见解。
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