Gender Differences in the Relationship of Social Activity and Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Taiwanese Elders

Abstract

This study explores the gender differences in the relationship between social activity and quality of life (QOL). A cross-sectional survey of 220 community-dwelling elderly people was conducted in southern Taiwan. Social activity was classified into six categories. The brief version of the World Health Organization QOL (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to measure QOL. Findings revealed that the associations of six types of social activities with QOL were weaker among women than men. The regression analyses further showed that for women, only religious activity was positively related to total QOL, while for men only involvement in formal group activity was positively related to total QOL.

Measurement equivalence across gender and education in the WHOQOL-BREF for community-dwelling elderly Taiwanese

“…The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of National Cheng Kung University Hospital before the study began. The data were derived from a cross-sectional study with a convenience sampling design described elsewhere (Li et al, 2011). In brief, 256 community-dwelling elderly Taiwanese participated between October 2007 and May 2008.…”

The Association Between the Changes in General, Family, and Financial Aspects of Quality of Life and Their Effects on Cognitive Function in an Elderly Population: The Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, 2008–2016

“…Therefore, there might be cohort differences that shared different social and non-social events throughout the aging process. Despite the cohort effect on the elderly population, gender differences are easily found in a society that can possibly affect the quality of life and cognitive level [38][39][40][41]. Men and women tend to participate in different social activities which could influence their quality of life and/or cognitive level [39,40].…”

“…With regard to cognitive level, gender has a stronger association. Many studies have shown that women are at a higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease [14,40,41], and their study subjects were the elderly population of various ages. Their results were consistent with the investigations conducted on gender difference on dementia and Alzheimer's disease among elders [14,[40][41][42][43], and our results exhibited a higher OR of the low cognitive function groups in women.…”

“…Many studies have shown that women are at a higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease [14,40,41], and their study subjects were the elderly population of various ages. Their results were consistent with the investigations conducted on gender difference on dementia and Alzheimer's disease among elders [14,[40][41][42][43], and our results exhibited a higher OR of the low cognitive function groups in women. In addition, our study evaluated various aspects of quality of life and found that the effects of these aspects are different by gender [24,31,38] which is also interpreted as one part of gender effect.…”

Fatores associados às atividades física e social em amostra de idosos brasileiros: dados do Estudo FIBRA

“…In general, women are given the role of caring for their families and the home, while men are given the role of provider. Thus, it is correct to think that the elderly women tend to engage in milder intensity activities, of a social nature, that include household maintenance and that are closer to the family-neighbourhood nucleus, while the elderly men, although initially more reluctant to engage, are more likely to commit to higher intensity activities and further away from this nucleus 38,39 because they are more accustomed to being involved in labour and productive activities or having better functionality 36,37 .…”