Life satisfaction determinants in older adults: Do different living arrangements count?

Life satisfaction is a person’s global assessment of subjective quality of life, and an indicator of successful psychological adaptation to the changes and losses a person usually experiences in later life. The study aims to explore the contribution of psychosocial factors to the interpretation of life satisfaction in older persons residing in retirement homes in comparison to the community dwelling older adults. There were 202 participants, of whom 101 were retirement homes’ residents in Zagreb, Croatia, 81 years old on average, and 101 were community dwelling persons, on average 79 years old. Participants were mobile and not diagnosed with dementia. The measured variables were the following: sociodemographic, self-perceived health, functional ability, social participation, sleep quality, and life satisfaction. Participants in both groups reported high levels of life satisfaction. No statistically significant differences were observed in life satisfaction nor in self-perceived health between participants’ groups. Significant differences were found in sociodemographic variables, functional ability, sleep quality, and social participation, with retirement homes participants scoring worse than the community dwelling participants, except for better social participation score. Regression analyses confirmed that the observed predictor variables contributed significantly to the explanation of 37% and 30% of life satisfaction variance in retirement homes participants and community dwelling participants, respectively. Different structure of life satisfaction predictors was observed in two participants’ groups. The study findings point to the potential improvement of older adults’ quality of life, providing psychosocial interventions to enhance the potential of older persons to adapt to challenges of well-being.