Health and happiness among community‐dwelling older adults in Domkhar valley, Ladakh, India

Sakamoto, Ryota; Okumiya, Kiyohito; Norboo, Tsering; Wada, Taizo; Fujisawa, Michiko; Nose, Masafumi; Ishimoto, Yasuko; Kimura, Yumi; Fukutomi, Eriko; Chen, Wenling

doi:10.1111/ggi.12745

Cited by 13 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…According to Van Leeuwen et al [14], financial resources affect older adults' quality of life, feelings of independence, and access to a comfortable life. Additionally, the present findings were consistent with those of previous studies [7,14,21,22,23] that reported that depression and health status were closely related to happiness. Further, Kim, Song, Kim, and Park [22] reported that depressive symptoms were powerful predictors of happiness in older women living alone.…”

Section: Associations Between Subject Characteristics Depression Ansupporting

confidence: 93%

Association of Family Type with Happiness Attributes Among Older Adults

Hwang¹,

Sim²

2020

Preprint

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Background: This study used secondary data from the 2017 Korean Community Health Survey to compare the associations between depressive symptoms, present health status, socio-physical environment, social support networks, and social activities with happiness among older adults from three different family types. Method: The study employed a non-experimental, cross-sectional research design. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test, one-way ANOVA, and Logistic regression. Results: Findings revealed a significant difference in the happiness index among older adults living alone (6.22±2.11), older adults living with their spouse (6.76±1.99), and older adults living with their family (6.46±1.94) (F = 88.69, p < .001). As the result of logistic regression, older adults living alone (odds ratio (OR) = 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.57–0.99) and those living with their family (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.65–0.99) demonstrated greater happiness as the frequency of contact with their family increased. Older adults living with their spouse indicated an increase in happiness when their contact with friends was higher (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.56–0.84). Conclusion: It was confirmed that factors influencing happiness differed according to older adults’ family type, thus suggesting that older adults’ happiness could be facilitated through interventions that consider their circumstances, including family type. Keywords: family type; happiness; older adult; social activities; socio-physical environment

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Section: Associations Between Subject Characteristics Depression Ansupporting

confidence: 93%

Association of Family Type with Happiness Attributes Among Older Adults

Hwang¹,

Sim²

2020

Preprint

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“…The study results showed that older women living in South Korea had a moderate degree of happiness (3 on a scale of 5). The median level of happiness among the participants was lower than that in other Asian countries, such as Japan (61.0 on a scale of 100), Thailand (74% of participants reported moderate or high happiness), Hong Kong (7.4 on a scale of 10) and India (74.3 on a scale of 100) . However, the level of happiness in the present study cannot be directly compared with that in other countries, because these prior studies included all community‐dwelling older adults, not just women who were living alone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…The effect of economic status on happiness was also different from prior studies, because we focused on perceived economic satisfaction. A study comparing the levels of happiness in Japan and India showed that economic status was not associated with the level of happiness …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study comparing the levels of happiness in Japan and India showed that economic status was not associated with the level of happiness. 14 The current study has limited representativeness, because we recruited the participants from only one social welfare center located in an urban area. Furthermore, the quality and strength of the participants' social networks can influence their level of happiness, but we did not measure this factor, and therefore cannot compare the happiness of our sample with that of older women living alone and who are socially isolated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, in a study carried out in Japan, it was found that older women who actively participated in formal/informal social activities and were in an economically sound condition were likely to be happier than their counterparts who did not participate in such activities . By contrast, in a study comparing happiness between Japanese and Indian older adults, the level of happiness in geographically isolated and poor Indian older adults was higher than that of Japanese older adults . Therefore, happiness might be affected by various cultural, physical, socioeconomic and health‐related factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Predictors of happiness among older Korean women living alone

Kim

Song

Kim

et al. 2019

Geriatrics Gerontology Int

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Aim The level of happiness of older adults is associated with their psychosocial and physical health. Currently, little is known about the predictors of happiness among older women living alone in the community. The present study aimed to identify these predictors. Methods This was a cross‐sectional descriptive study of older women who were living alone and were registered with a social welfare center in an old urban area in South Korea. We designated various demographic factors along with health‐related information, perceived self‐esteem and depressive symptoms as independent variables predicting happiness. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were carried out. Results In total, 154 participants were recruited. They showed a moderate level of happiness. Furthermore, happiness was negatively correlated with the number of comorbidities, presence of pain and depressive symptoms, but positively correlated with self‐esteem. The final model in hierarchical regression showed that depressive symptoms were powerful predictors of happiness after controlling the covariates and accounted for approximately 76.7% of the total variances. Conclusions The happiness of older women living alone was associated with their self‐esteem and depressive symptoms. Interventions aimed at reducing depressive symptoms and improving self‐esteem should be developed and applied to this population. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 352–356.

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