The Best Years of Life: A Study of Older Hong Kong Chinese

This study examines elderly respondents’ self-reported best years of life and the reasons to support their choices. A total of 842 Chinese people aged 60 and over participated in this cross-sectional study, giving an overall response rate of 91%. This study used information from an index entitled The Best Years of Life, which was developed in 1975 by the USA’s National Council on the Aging. The conceptual framework was informed by Daniel J. Levinson’s developmental theory. A little more than 50 percent of the respondents said the best years of life had been in pre-adulthood and early adulthood (ages 10–49), while about 23.5 percent the best years had been in late adulthood (age 60-plus). The patterns of the respondents’ self-reported best years of life showed considerable diversity, and no single pattern can be considered typical. The respondents’ unique personal experience may account for this.