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Domain-specific life satisfaction among older adults with and without children: The role of intergenerational contact
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 9, p e0257048 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2021.
-
Abstract
- BackgroundLife 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.MethodsParticipants 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).ResultsLS 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).ConclusionsThe 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.
- Subjects :
- Male
Economics
Science
Social Sciences
Personal Satisfaction
Linear Regression Analysis
Research and Analysis Methods
Pediatrics
Interpersonal Relationships
Families
Elderly
Mathematical and Statistical Techniques
Sociology
Medicine and Health Sciences
Humans
Adults
Psychology
Public and Occupational Health
Child Care
Human Families
Statistical Methods
Child
Children
Aged
Statistics
Child Health
Biology and Life Sciences
Collective Human Behavior
Age Groups
People and Places
Physical Sciences
Linear Models
Medicine
Regression Analysis
Female
Population Groupings
Behavioral and Social Aspects of Health
Finance
Mathematics
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.pmid.dedup....47dc0419cbf6234820f5063b41c452a4