Development of an active ageing scale among the elderly in the eastern special development zone: Multiple group analysis

Abstract

The objectives of this study were: to develop an active ageing scale among the elderly in the eastern special development zone, to verify component invariance in both gender groups and in provincial groups, and to construct scale norms by using percentile rank and T-scores. The samples consisted of 1,200 elderly residents in an eastern special development zone, obtained through multi-stage random sampling; second-order confirmatory factor analysis and multiple-group analysis were undertaken by application of the Mplus computer program.

            The research findings were: 1) the developed active ageing scale consisted of four factors: health, participation, security, and enabling environment, with a total of 41 items. All items had I-CVI over .78. Item-to-scale correlations ranged from .31 to .69, scale reliability was .97. Empirical data were found to be consistent, having relative chi-square = 1.72, SRMR = .02, RMSEA = .02, CFI = 1.00, TLI = .99. 2) Second-order confirmatory factor analysis showed that there was variance in the gender groups, and in the province groups. 3) Scale norms were constructed and divided into two levels: percentile rank higher than 50 indicated high level, and percentile rank equal to or lower than 50 indicated low level. In conclusion, an active ageing scale was in accordance with the developed criteria and had variance of the compositional in both gender groups and provincial groups.