The moderating effect of family socioeconomic status in the relationship between health-related behaviors and quality of life among the Hakka older adults in Fujian, China.

Purpose: This study examined the moderating effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) in the relationship between health-related behaviors and quality of life (QOL) among Hakka older adults from three levels: specific behaviors, the number of healthy behaviors, and behavior patterns.

Methods: A total of 1,262 participants aged 60 years or above were included in this study. The Chinese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-Older Adults Module (WHOQOL-OLD) with six domains was used to measure the QOL. Two-Step Cluster Analysis (TCA) was employed to determine the health-related behaviors patterns. The generalized linear regression models were utilized to reveal the relationship between specific behaviors, the number of healthy behaviors and behavior patterns, and QOL.

Results: Sleep regularity (β = 2.70, 95%CI 1.68, 3.72), physical exercise (β = 5.61, 95%CI 4.50, 6.72) were associated with higher QOL. Moreover, the higher number of healthy behaviors (from 4 to 5) were more likely to experience higher QOL, the β (95%CI) ranges from 5.08 (3.52, 6.64) to 5.82 (4.07, 7.57). Compared with the moderate-health pattern, risk-selective pattern (β = 7.432, t = 2.343, P < 0.05) and family SES (β = 4.691, t = 6.356, P < 0.001) were positively related to QOL. And the family SES exclusively moderated the risk-selective pattern (β = - 2.552, t = - 2.378 P < 0.05) on QOL.

Conclusion: Maintaining healthy behaviors is closely related to a better QOL. Potential benefits of the active management of healthy behavior may improve the QOL of Hakka older adults.