A Study on Health Behaviors, Health Status and Anxiety about Aging for the Elderly: Focused on the Elderly in Senior Center

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study is conducted to survey and examine the relationships among anxiety about aging, perceived health status and health promoting behaviors in the elderly, and to provide basic data for health promoting interventions that would improve their successful aging. METHODS: Data in this study was collected from 333 elderly participants living in Busan. Descriptive statistics, t-test or ANOVA with Scheffe's test, Pearson's correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The major findings of this study were as follows. 1) The mean score of anxiety about aging was 2.67 +/- 0.30, perceived health status 2.46 +/- 0.37, and health promoting behavior 2.77 +/- 0.21. 2) There was a positive correlation between health promoting behavior and perceived health status (r = 267, p = .000). There was a negative correlation between anxiety about aging and health promoting behavior (r = -.163, p = .003). 3) Health-promoting behavior was significantly associated with perceived health and anxiety about aging, which explained 20.9% of variance in health-promoting behavior. CONCLUSION: In order to promote perceived health status and to decrease anxiety about aging in the elderly, it is necessary to develop supporting interventions to decrease anxiety about aging.