Understanding Healthy Ageing in the Korean Rural and Urban Elderly: an Application of Rowe and Kahn’s Model of Successful Ageing

Abstract

Elderly people are recognised as the fastest growing population globally (Lutz, Sanderson, & Scherbov, 2008). Although older age can be a time of increased affluence for some, it is also linked with challenges related to health issues and costs, aged-care requirements and the relinquishing of long held responsibilities and freedoms (Bongaarts, 2004; Borsch Supan, 2003). These trends are evident in Korea, which has one of the fastest growing elderly populations as well as a higher percentage of the elderly in rural areas, compared to urban settings. Despite the Korean government’s efforts to enhance quality of life and wellbeing for the older population, existing government policies appear to have a limited capacity to cope with the rapidly increasing aged population and the context-specific needs of the elderly in rural and urban settings. One way to enhance current policies is by developing a comprehensive model of successful ageing. This is one of the most effective strategies to understand the health needs of the elderly. Among various successful ageing models, the one developed by Rowe and Kahn (1987, 1997) is one of the most influential conceptualisations. While this model overcomes previous restrictive biomedical views of ageing, it has some weaknesses, including limited consideration of psychological health and an overemphasis on physiological factors. In this regard, this study adapts this model to include psychological health as one of the dimensions and to test multiple definitions of ageing successfully. This extended model was used with the aim of examining the contributing factors of successful ageing in urban and rural Korean elderly and gaining a more in-depth perspective of how the elderly’s perceptions of ageing differ between these groups.