Latent class analysis on resilience characteristics of empty-nest elderly in community

Abstract

Objective To analyze the characteristics of resilience among empty-nest elderly in community with exploratory latent class analysis method and provide a basis for making targeted intervention measures according to different characteristics. Methods This study enrolled 203 empty-nest elderly people as the study respondents. The general information, resilience of empty-nest elderly were investigated using the general information questionnaire, Connor-Davidson resilience scale in Chinese version.Latent class analyze (Mplus 7.0) was used to discuss the characteristics of resilience among empty-nest elderly. Results The results showed that the resilience of empty-nest elderly had obvious characteristics and the statistical indicators(AIC, BIC, Entropy and so on) can support the three categories of potential model(P=0.006). Based on the conditional probability on the various items of the questionnaire in each category, they were respectively named high resilience group (54 cases (26.6%)) and low pressure resilience group (82 cases (40.4%)) and low resilience group (67 cases (33.0%)). Further study showed that high resilience and low resilience had a significant effect of age(P<0.05), low pressure resilience and low resilience had a significant effect of gender(P<0.05). Conclusion The resilience of empty-nest elderly in communities can be divided into three categories according to its characteristics.Each category has different proportion of gender and age. Key words: Empty-nest elderly; Resilience; Latent class analysis