A Causal Model of Life Satisfaction Among the Elderly

Abstract

A path analysis model of life satisfaction is proposed and applied to data from interviews with 141 persons aged 60 years and over. Predictor variables examined are self-reported health, income, education and an activity index. The analysis was conducted separately for the two sexes. Health and activityemerge as strong predictors of life satisfaction while income influences life satisfaction indirectly via activity. The importance of investigating direct and indirect effects of variables via path analysis is discussed.

Ageing, Health and Life Satisfaction of the Oldest Old: An Analysis for Germany

“…In reality, the general finding of the large body of gerontological literature on the relationship between age and life satisfaction is that there is no age-related decline in life satisfaction (Larson, 1978;Herzog and Rodgers, 1981;Horley and Lavery, 1995;Diener and Suh, 1997;Smith et al, 1999 This section reviews some recent research on the relationship between health and life satisfaction: older studies include Markides and Martin (1979), Kushman and Lane (1980), Usui et al (1985), and Waters et al (1989).…”

The Development of a Social Network following Geographic Relocation

“…Network characteristics such as density, size, and range have been examined in the mentally ill (Dozier, Harris, andBergman, 1987: Pattison, DeFrancisco, Frazier, Wood, andCrowder, 1975;Sokolovsky, Cohen, Berger, and Geiger, 1978), in women undergoing major life changes (Hirsch, 1980), and in community-based adults (Fischer, 1982;Wellman, 1979). Although some studies document a significant relationship between structural network variables and wellbeing (George, 1978;Heller and Mansbach, 1984;Markides and Martin, 1979), other research does not support these results (Griffith, 1985;Israel and Antonucci, 1987;Israel, Hogue, and Gorton, 1983).…”

Contribution à une synthèse des connaissances sur la satisfaction dans la vie : regard psychologique sur une réalité plurielle

“…Bien que la prégnance des événements ainsi que leur contrôlabilité puissent affecter leur incidence (Guttman, 1978), il demeure qu'ils affectent, dans des proportions encore indéterminées, la satisfaction dans la vie (Sweeney, Schaffer et Golin, 1982 Dans une logique analogue, bien que plus comportementale, les activités de la vie revêtent une importance dans la compréhension de la satisfaction. Soutenue par la théorie des activités (Markides et Martin, 1979;Sauer, 1977), l'implication dans des activités diverses augmente le bien-être. Bien que possédant un certain nombre de détracteurs (Pierce, 1981;Hoyt et al, 1980), cette théorie trouve appui dans des études longitudinales (Graney, 1975;Maddox, 1963) démontrant la simultanéité des variations entre les changements dans les activités et les changements dans la satisfaction dans la vie.…”