Study on the quality of life and its influencing factors of empty-nesters

Objective To investigate the quality of life and its influencing factors of empty-nesters in Bengbu City of Anhui province to provide basis for improving the quality of life of empty-nesters and put forward relevant measures.

Methods A total of 186 empty-nesters over 60 years old in a community in Bengbu Citywere selected by simple random sampling method, and investigated using the the second version of the Health Status Questionnaire.

Results The total scores of physical health and psychological health of the empty-nesters were 42.90 and 47.54, respectively, which was low. The results of the single-factor analysis showed that the differences of total scores of physical health among empty-nesters with different ages, marital statuses, household annual incomes, and occupations were statistically significant(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01), and the differences of total scores of psychological health among empty-nesters with different marital statuses, educational levels and household annual incomes were statistically significant(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01). The results of multi-factor analysis showed that the young age and no partner were the independent protective factors of total physiological health score of empty-nesters(P < 0.01), and no partner, high education level and high annual family income were the independent protective factos of psychological health scores of empty-nesters(P < 0.01).

Conclusions The scores of physical and psychological health of empty-nesters are relatively low, so the quality of life of empty-nesters should be improved through various ways according to the influencing factors.