Fig. 2

Causal structure of long-term care needs with SES and physical health for the elderly women. There are nine observed endogenous variables (educational level, annual income, BADL score in 2001, IADL score in 2001, frequency of going out in 2001, BADL score in 2004, IADL score in 2004, frequency of going out in 2004, and long-term care needs in 2004), two unobserved endogenous variables (physical healthy in 2001 and physical health in 2004), and 12 unobserved exogenous variables (SES in 2001, d1, d2, z1, z2, e1, e2, e3, e4, e5, e6, e7). Arrows indicate their significant associations and their directions between variables, double curved arrows correlation between each factor. This model fit the data well with the high goodness of fit indexes which are showed in the figure. The LTC needs of elderly women are well explained by the three latent variables (R ² = 0.66)