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Predicting Life Satisfaction in the Oldest-Old: A Moderator Effects Study

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Abstract

The demographic aging of the older population itself has turned out as an issue of great scope, accumulating a large amount of research in recent years. In this context, the prediction or explanation is of much interest. However, little research has studied this prediction when some factors, such as age, gender, and perceived health are controlled, and also few studies have compared these effects in young old and oldest old populations. Thus, the purpose of this study is to test, in a multivariate context, the predictive effects of variables measuring social support, dependence/active perceptions, and generativity on satisfaction with life, while controlling for age, marital status, educational level, gender, and perceived health; examining young old and oldest old similitudes and differences in a little studied population, the Angolan elderly. The sample was formed by 1,003 participants, 737 were young old and 266 were oldest old. To test for the effects, a hierarchical regression was built up, in which age and predictor’s interactions were included. Results provide support for some differences in the pattern of relationships hold by young old and oldest old, with social support emerging as the major predictor of life satisfaction during the old age.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Methodology for the Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain

    J. M. Tomás, P. Sancho & L. Galiana

  2. Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain

    M. Gutiérrez

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  1. J. M. Tomás
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Tomás, J.M., Sancho, P., Gutiérrez, M. et al. Predicting Life Satisfaction in the Oldest-Old: A Moderator Effects Study. Soc Indic Res 117, 601–613 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0357-0

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