Working Group Epidemiology of Demographic Change, Institute for Public Health and Nursing Sciences (IPP), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2021 Sep 22;16(9):e0257048. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257048. eCollection 2021.
Life satisfaction is associated with many important health outcomes among older adults and is an indicator of successful ageing. The present study aims to replicate earlier findings regarding relationships between satisfaction with various life domains and life satisfaction in older adults. The study furthermore explores how parental status is associated with satisfaction with different life domains and how two types of intergenerational contact (contact with own children; post-retirement work in childcare) relate to life satisfaction.
Participants were 1978 older adults, aged 65-75 year (51.7% female), who live in Bremen and took part in the OUTDOOR ACTIVE study. 82.6% of the participants had one or more children. All participants completed a questionnaire, which among others comprised items assessing life satisfaction as well as satisfaction with six different life domains (satisfaction with living situation, financial situation, leisure time, health, family, neighbors and friends).
LS is significantly related to all of the investigated life domains, independent of sex and age. For the participants with children, life satisfaction had the highest association with satisfaction with family (β: 0.202; 95%CI: 0.170-0.235), followed by satisfaction with neighbors and friends (β: 0.151; 95%CI: 0.111-0.191), and health satisfaction (β: 0.148; 95%CI: 0.120-0.176). In comparison to that, participants without children had the highest association between life satisfaction and satisfaction with health (β: 0.193; 95%CI: 0.135-0.252), followed by satisfaction with family (β: 0.175; 95%CI: 0.114-0.236) and satisfaction with neighbors and friends (β: 0.154; 95%CI: 0.077-0.232). In participants with children, there was a non-significant negative association between life satisfaction and work in childcare (β: -0.031; 95%CI: -0.178-0.116), while life satisfaction was statistically significantly positively associated to work in childcare in participants without own children (β: 0.681; 95%CI: 0.075-1.288).
The results suggest that the domain-specific approach to life satisfaction can elucidate differences in the correlates of life satisfaction and well-being between older adults with and without children. They further suggest that the benefits of working with children for life satisfaction may be more pronounced in older adults without children than older adults with children.
生活满意度与老年人的许多重要健康结果相关，是成功老龄化的指标。本研究旨在复制先前关于老年人对各种生活领域的满意度与生活满意度之间关系的研究结果。该研究还探讨了父母身份与不同生活领域的满意度之间的关系，以及两代人之间的两种接触方式（与自己孩子的接触；退休后在儿童保育工作中的接触）与生活满意度的关系。
参与者为 1978 名年龄在 65-75 岁之间（51.7%为女性）的老年人，他们居住在不来梅并参加了 OUTDOOR ACTIVE 研究。82.6%的参与者有一个或多个孩子。所有参与者都完成了一份问卷，其中包括评估生活满意度以及对六个不同生活领域满意度的项目（对生活状况、经济状况、休闲时间、健康、家庭、邻居和朋友的满意度）。
LS 与所有调查的生活领域都显著相关，与性别和年龄无关。对于有孩子的参与者，生活满意度与家庭满意度的相关性最高（β：0.202；95%CI：0.170-0.235），其次是邻居和朋友满意度（β：0.151；95%CI：0.111-0.191），以及健康满意度（β：0.148；95%CI：0.120-0.176）。相比之下，没有孩子的参与者中，生活满意度与健康满意度的相关性最高（β：0.193；95%CI：0.135-0.252），其次是家庭满意度（β：0.175；95%CI：0.114-0.236）和邻居和朋友满意度（β：0.154；95%CI：0.077-0.232）。在有孩子的参与者中，生活满意度与儿童保育工作之间存在非显著负相关（β：-0.031；95%CI：-0.178-0.116），而在没有自己孩子的参与者中，生活满意度与儿童保育工作呈统计学显著正相关（β：0.681；95%CI：0.075-1.288）。
研究结果表明，生活满意度的领域特定方法可以阐明有子女和无子女老年人生活满意度和幸福感的相关性差异。研究还表明，与有子女的老年人相比，无子女的老年人从与孩子一起工作中获得的生活满意度的好处可能更为明显。
