Abstract
Gerontological literature has considered successful aging as a multidimensional concept. However, few studies have applied multidimensional profiles in the context of married couples. In this paper, applying the multidimensional definition of successful aging, we investigated the patterns of Korean baby boomers’ successful aging in four domains: 1) resources, 2) social relationships, 3) social engagement, and 4) psychological domains. The data for this study came from a nationally representative sample of 1,842 married couples aged 55 to 63 (M = 58.81, SD = 2.51) collected by the Korea Baby Boomer Panel Study. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was applied to identify the patterns of successful aging reflected in the four domains. To validate these identified dyadic profiles, we also ran MANOVA by examining differences in psychological well-being. The results from LPA yielded five profiles of dyadic patterns; two dyadic profiles showed more positive and balanced patterns in all domains compared to the other three dyadic profiles. We also validated the five identified profiles by examining the association between dyadic profiles and well-being outcomes. The findings indicated variability in the successful aging patterns, with disparities in engagement between couples and balanced patterns. Further, we found significant group differences in baby boomers’ psychological well-being and aging anxiety. The findings of this study shed light on patterns of Korean baby boomers’ successful aging in multidimensional aspects, and thus have important culturally relevant implications for interventions or policy addressing Korean older adults’ successful aging.