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Domain-specific life satisfaction among older adults with and without children: The role of intergenerational contact

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  • Friederike Doerwald
  • Birte Marie Albrecht
  • Imke Stalling
  • Karin Bammann

Abstract

Background: 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. Methods: 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). Results: 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). Conclusions: 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.

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  • Friederike Doerwald & Birte Marie Albrecht & Imke Stalling & Karin Bammann, 2021. "Domain-specific life satisfaction among older adults with and without children: The role of intergenerational contact," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0257048
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257048
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wencke Gwozdz & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2010. "Ageing, Health and Life Satisfaction of the Oldest Old: An Analysis for Germany," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 397-417, July.
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    4. Kamel Gana & Nathalie Bailly & Yaël Saada & Michèle Joulain & Daniel Alaphilippe, 2012. "Does Life Satisfaction Change in Old Age: Results From an 8-Year Longitudinal Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 68(4), pages 540-552.
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    6. Chang-ming Hsieh, 2003. "Counting Importance: The Case of Life Satisfaction and Relative Domain Importance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 227-240, February.
    7. Ed Diener & Ronald Inglehart & Louis Tay, 2013. "Theory and Validity of Life Satisfaction Scales," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 497-527, July.
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