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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION1

1.1Background2

1.1.1The situation of global aging2

1.1.2Hong Kong£ºA fast-aging society3

1.1.3Positive aging£ºA productive approach to wellª²being

in old age4

1.1.4Hong Kong elderly£ºLiving under a blending Chinese

culture5

1.2Research gap and research problems6

1.2.1What are the components of positive aging among the

community-dwelling elderly in contemporary Hong Kong?6

1.2.2What is the effect of social support networks and

coping on positive aging?7

1.2.3What is the effect of emotional closeness on positive

aging?8

1.2.4What is the role of domestic helpers in providing

social support to the elderly?9

1.3Rationale and significance of the study10

1.4Research objectives13

1.5Layout of the thesis13

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW15

2.1Overview of literature review15

2.2Research approaches of aging15

2.2.1Positive aging & successful aging16

2.2.2Subjective well-being &quality of life26

2.3Social support network33

2.3.1Definition of social support network33

2.3.2Concepts in relation to social support network36

2.3.3Dimensions of social support network40

2.4Coping48

2.4.1Coping£ºOrigins and definitions48

2.4.2Coping strategies£ºDimensions and theoretical

background50

2.5Domestic helper as a support provider55

2.5.1Introduction55

2.5.2The Hong Kong context56

2.5.3The Chinese mainland context57

2.5.4FDHs in Singapore & Japan58

2.5.5Summary59

Chapter 3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK61

3.1Theoretical background of the study61

3.1.1Convoy model of social support62

3.1.2Socioemotional selectivity theory65

3.1.3Hierarchical compensatory model66

3.1.4Strengths perspective67

3.2Conceptual framework67

3.2.1Conceptual framework of social support network68

3.2.2Conceptual framework of positive aging70

3.2.3Integrated conceptual framework of the study70

3.3Hypotheses71

3.3.1Hypotheses set 171

3.3.2Hypotheses set 273

3.3.3Hypotheses set 373

3.4Summary75

Chapter 4 METHOD77

4.1Research design£ºA mixed-method study77

4.2Pilot study£ºIn-depth interview80

4.2.1Sampling80

4.2.2Sample size determination81

4.2.3Informants recruitment83

4.2.4Construction of interview guidelines83

4.2.5Data collection84

4.2.6Data analysis84

4.2.7A review of the qualitative study85

4.3Main study£ºCrossª²sectional survey86

4.3.1Sampling86

4.3.2Sample size determination87

4.3.3Multi-stage sampling procedure88

4.3.4Data collection90

4.3.5Data analysis91

4.4Scale construction and validation91

4.4.1Scale construction91

4.4.2Scale validation99

4.5Summary105

Chapter 5 FINDINGS OF INª²DEPTH INTERVIEW107

5.1Case profiles107

5.2Thematic findings108

5.2.1Thematic findings on social support network108

5.2.2Thematic findings on positive aging111

5.2.3Thematic findings on stress112

5.2.4Thematic findings on coping113

5.3Summary114

Chapter 6 DESCRIPTIVE FINDINGS OF SURVEY117

6.1Sample Characteristics117

6.1.1Demographic factors and the sample features117

6.1.2Social-economic factors and indicators of elder

caregiving121

6.2Descriptive statistics of main variables122

6.3Correlations between main variables and demographic factors125

6.4Summary128

Chapter 7 HYPOTHESES TESTING129

7.1Hypotheses testing129

7.1.1Testing of hypothesis set 1129

7.1.2Testing of hypothesis set 2136

7.1.3Testing of hypothesis set 3142

7.2Summary144

Chapter 8 DOMESTIC HELPERS AS A SUPPORT PROVIDER147

8.1Support provided by domestic helpers147

8.1.1Descriptive statistics of respondents who

employ domestic helpers147

8.1.2Extent of satisfaction towards services provided by

domestic helpers150

8.2Employment of domestic helpers and positive aging150

8.3Pros and cons of employing household

domestic helpers151

8.4Discussion and summary153

8.4.1A variety of support provided by domestic helpers153

8.4.2The relationship between employment of domestic

helpers and positive aging154

8.4.3A large pool of employing domestic helpers in elder

care in the future155

8.4.4Summary156

Chapter 9 DISCUSSION157

9.1Overview157

9.2Expanded Positive Aging Index (PAI) as a validated tool to

measure well-being in later life157

9.2.1Expanded PAI as a validated measurement tool for

Chinese community-dwelling older adults158

9.2.2Expanded PAI as a tool to measure a twoª²factor model

of positive aging159

9.3The interpretation of social network composition and the

prevalence of peer support161

9.3.1The interpretation of social network composition

in the survey161

9.3.2The prevalence of peer support among community-dwelling

older adults163

9.3.3The preference of companionship support from peer

groups165

9.4The effect of social support networks on positive aging167

9.4.1The contribution of family and peer support networks

to positive aging167

9.4.2The interpretation of emotional closeness and its

effect on positive aging169

9.5The significant functions of social support172

9.6Coping in later life and its mediating effects on social support

network and positive aging174

9.6.1Age and coping174

9.6.2The mediating effect of coping on social support

network and positive aging176

9.7Summary177