Measuring well-being in older adults: Identifying an appropriate single-item questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Global aging population necessitates consistent health and well-being measurement for effective support.
• Subjective well-being indicators like happiness, life satisfaction, and health overlap, requiring identification of a single, reliable measure.
• Local governments need a dependable indicator for assessing individual well-being in older adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the correlation between single-item well-being questionnaires and established psychometric scales.
• To determine which single-item indicator (happiness, life satisfaction, subjective health) best represents older adults' well-being.
• To validate the utility of simple survey questions for assessing well-being in the elderly population.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 1440 adults aged 65+ in urban and rural settings.
• Participants completed established scales (Happiness, Life Satisfaction, Quality of Life) and three single-item questionnaires.
• Data analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analyses to assess indicator validity.

Main Results:

• High positive correlations observed between single-item measures and established scales.
• Single-item life satisfaction and subjective health showed significant correlations with all tested scales.
• Single-item life satisfaction emerged as the strongest indicator, followed closely by subjective health.

Conclusions:

• Single-item life satisfaction and subjective health are effective measures for capturing older adults' well-being.
• These indicators demonstrate potential as optimal components for a comprehensive well-being index.
• The findings support the use of brief, validated questions in large-scale surveys for older adults.