Does active ageing contribute to life satisfaction for older people? Testing a new model of active ageing

Abstract

Several debates have emerged across the literature about the conceptualisation of active ageing. The aim of this study is to develop a model of the construct that is focused on the individual, including different elements of people's lives that have the potential to be modified by intervention programs. Moreover, the paper examines the contributions of active ageing to life satisfaction, as well as the possible predictive role of coping styles on active ageing. For this purpose, a representative sample of 404 Galician (Spain) community-dwelling older adults (aged ≥60 years) were interviewed using a structured survey. The results demonstrate that the proposed model composed of two broad categories is valid. The model comprises status variables (related to physical, psychological, and social health) as well as different types of activities, called processual variables. This model is tested using partial least squares (PLS) regression. The findings show that active ageing is a fourth-order, formative construct. In addition, PLS analyses indicate that active ageing has a moderate and positive path on life satisfaction and that coping styles may predict active ageing. The discussion highlights the potential of active ageing as a relevant concept for people's lives, drawing out policy implications and suggestions for further research.

From Active Aging to Active Citizenship: The Role of (Age) Friendliness

“…The roots of the concept of Active Aging can be traced back to the socio-gerontological literature underlining the importance of an active lifestyle for the attainment of life satisfaction in old age, a theory that developed in the 40 s and 50 s known as 'activity theory' (Havighurst 1961). Its emphasis on activity and its association with well-being and life satisfaction has persisted until nowadays (Boudiny 2013;Walker 2013, 2015;Marsillas et al 2017). Additionally, Active Aging was developed in line with other concepts associated with the positive paradigm of aging, such as 'productive' or 'healthy' aging (Marsillas 2016).…”

Active Aging Program in Nursing Homes: Effects on Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

“…Furthermore, they do not focus on the individual interests of residents, but rather limit their capacity to decide on the activities to be carried out (Ors & Maciá, 2013). Results of previous studies carried out with community-dwelling older adults show that social participation and lifelong learning are linked with life satisfaction, psychological well-being, quality of life, and a lower risk of mortality (Jenkins, & Mostafa, 2015;Marsillas et al, 2017;Minagawa & Saito, 2015;Zhang & Zhang, 2015). This would explain why participants in the control group, who took part in a limited active aging intervention program that does not promote social participation and lifelong learning, did not increase or maintain their levels of psychological well-being and life satisfaction.…”

“…The participants of this study could decide themselves on activities to be carried out in the leisure workshop. Taking part in creative and leisure activities as well as physical activity is an important component of active aging and is associated with higher life satisfaction (Marsillas et al, 2017;Zhang, Feng, Lacanienta, & Zhen, 2017). Likewise, participants in the experimental group created useful products that could be sold for charity reasons or given as gifts.…”

“…On the other hand, some of the activities included in the intervention program had an educational dimension, another of the active aging pillar, that is associated with higher levels of psychological well-being and life satisfaction (Hammond, 2004;Jenkins & Mostafa, 2015;Marsillas et al, 2017;Yamashita, López, Stevens, & Keene, 2017). Finally, the activities carried out also increased social contact between the participants and actively promoted the importance of social support to cope with changes and losses, which ultimately encouraged them to participate and seek social support.…”

“…Subjective well-being can be defined as a positive orientation towards own life (Ní Mhaoláin et al, 2012), and includes several components, such as positive affective balance, with high positive affect and lower negative affect, and life satisfaction (Diener, 1984), defined as a global assessment that people carry out of their lives (Caprara, Steca, Alessandri, Abela, & McWhinnie, 2010). Marsillas et al (2017) found that active aging, conceptualized as a higher-order construct that comprises physical, psychological, and social health, functional status, leisure activities, social participation, employment, and lifelong learning, is positively linked to life satisfaction and explained 27 percent of variance in life satisfaction. Previous studies have shown that the different components of active aging, such as health, lifelong learning, or social participation, are important life satisfaction correlates (Jenkins, & Mostafa, 2015;Karata & Duyan, 2008;Zhang & Zhang, 2015).…”