The Effects of Age-Friendly Environment Factors on Aging in Place Intention of Older Adults: A Comparison of Age Groups

Abstract

This study investigates the Age-Friendly Environment(AFE) factors influencing the Aging in Place Intention(AIPI) by age group: young-old, old-old, and oldest-old. Also, it examines the level of AIPI and AFE differences between age groups. The study uses data from the 2020 Korea Older Adults Survey of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and analyses 5,977 young-old, 3,333 old-old, and 610 oldest-old cases. The main results are as follows: First, choosing to live in the home(community) proportion is 63.3% in young-old, 61.4% in old-old, and 59.0% in oldest-old. Second, the AFE factors score shows the highest in the young-old group, followed by old-old and oldest-old. Third, the AFE factors influencing AIPI show different results in age groups. In the young-old group, AFE ‘housing,’ ‘civic participation,’ ‘perception of social service,’ and ‘need of social service’ factors significantly affect AIPI. In the old-old group, AFE factors of ‘safety,’ ‘housing,’ ‘leisure activity,’ ‘social relationship,’ and ‘communication and information’ influence AIPI. In the oldest-old, only the ‘housing’ AFE factor affects the AIPI. Based on the results, the study highlights that most older adults prefer to stay in their homes and community during their later life. And it discusses the policy and practice for supporting the AIP in each age group by improving the age-friendly environment.