Abstract
Background
China faces significant challenges due to its aging population, impacting economic, social, health, and employment sectors, as well as global trends. Active aging is both a new research paradigm and a national strategy in China. Although the WHO has defined active aging, its application and measurement in China remain difficult.
Methods
Through a literature review, we identified the concept and structure of active aging in China and developed an initial item pool using data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (N = 10,818). Those processes, including project analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and weight calculation, resulted in the development of the AAI-CHN. Additionally, we examined active aging levels in China from 2011 to 2018.
Results
The scale includes six dimensions: physical health, mental health, social participation, economic status, physical environment, and social security. It comprises 19 factors and 63 items, demonstrating good reliability and validity. Analysis from 2011 to 2018 indicated that active aging scores in China ranged from 39 to 48, showing a generally low level with significant regional differences. Scores across dimensions varied from 0.1 to 70, reflecting considerable heterogeneity.
Conclusions
The AAI-CHN is a reliable and valid scale. It provides empirical evidence on active aging in China and suggests policy directions. Despite being a national strategy, achieving comprehensive active aging for the elderly requires more effort.