Table 2.

Clarification of clustering variables, profile description, and non-clustering external correlates.

Analytical component	Variables or evidence used	Role in the present study	How this avoids overinterpretation
Clustering variables	Three psychological dimensions: self-esteem and inferiority, loneliness and loss, and sensitivity and fear	Used to generate the exploratory psychological profiles through standardized K-means clustering	These variables define the profiles but are not treated as independent validation evidence.
Post-clustering profile description	Group differences in the psychological items reported in Table 9	Used to describe why PTA, PTB, and PTC show different relative psychological-score patterns	These differences are interpreted as profile separation and naming clarification, not as external validation.
Neutral profile labels	PTA, PTB, and PTC; descriptive terms: intermediate profile, higher-burden profile, and lower-burden profile	Used to avoid diagnostic or value-laden terms such as “normal,” “sub-healthy,” and “healthy”	The profiles are defined as relative questionnaire-score patterns within this sample rather than clinical categories.
Physical functional status	Vision, hearing, memory, limb mobility, appetite and digestion, and disease resistance	Used as non-clustering external correlates of the psychological profiles	These variables were not used to create the clusters and therefore help contextualize whether the profiles correspond to functional differences.
Medication-related care need	Long-term medication use and medication-related daily process	Used to examine whether psychological profiles are associated with health-management demands	Medication use provides external functional and care-related evidence beyond psychological questionnaire items.
Residential and environmental preferences	Bedroom color preference, residential space conditions, and perceived activity space	Used to examine whether psychological profiles correspond to differentiated environmental perception and spatial demand	These variables connect the typology to design-relevant residential conditions rather than only to psychological scale scores.
Activity participation	Internet use, fitness, reading, hobbies, shared entertainment, cooking, household chores, and daily rhythm synchronization	Used to examine whether psychological profiles correspond to different behavioral patterns at home	These variables support the interpretation that residential demand is linked to activity opportunity and autonomy.
Facility demand and facility ownership	Willingness to modify the dwelling, willingness to install barrier-free facilities, preference for grab bars, enlarged switches, safety handrails, non-slip tiles, shower seating, and actual facility ownership	Used to identify demand-supply mismatch in aging-friendly residential intervention	These variables translate the exploratory typology into practical design implications without claiming clinical diagnosis.
Methodological boundary	Absence of silhouette scores, elbow plots, cluster stability tests, cross-validation, and sensitivity analyses in the present study	Reported as a limitation and future validation agenda	This prevents the three-profile solution from being overstated as statistically optimal or universally reproducible.