Social Participation And Life Satisfaction Among Tai’an Old Adults

BackgroundThe situation of China’s aging population is grim.Coping with population aging has become a national strategy.Promoting the work related to active aging is the only way for China to cope with the high trend of aging growth,and it is also an important starting point and carrier to implement the healthy China initiative.Based on the actual situation of the surge of the elderly population,the waste of elderly human resources,and the inability to meet the demand for elderly care services,it is very important to actively develop the self-value of the elderly and encourage them to actively participate in the society to alleviate the pressure brought by the aging population in China.Social participation of the elderly is not only the need of social development for the skills and knowledge of the elderly,but also the internal demand of maintaining physical and mental health and improving the quality of life.It indirectly promotes the improvement of life satisfaction of the elderly by obtaining social support,enhancing the sense of social belonging and slowing down negative emotions.So,it makes sense to probe the relationship among social participation,social support,depression and life satisfaction of the elderly.ObjectivesTo understand the condition of social participation,social support,depression and life satisfaction of the elderly in Tai’an City,explore the relationship between social participation and life satisfaction of the elderly,and investigate the mediating role of social support and the moderating role of depression,so as to provide theoretical support for policy-making of relevant departments,and promote life satisfaction among old adults.MethodsThe data of this study was from the general project of National Natural Science Foundation of China:Optimizing Design and Strategy of Family Doctor Contract Service from the Perspective of Behavioral Economics:An Empirical Study on Urban-Rural Supply and Demand,and the samples were selected by multi stage random cluster sampling(71974118),and the samples were selected by multi stage random cluster sampling method.The number of residents in the survey was 8542.3896 elderly over 60 years old were selected as the subjects.The survey included the general demographic characteristics,social and economic status,physiological and mental health status,social support,life satisfaction,social participation and other relevant information.The data input data was established by EpiData 3.1,descriptive statistics,independent sample t test,single factor variance analysis and multiple linear regression were used to test the data by SPSS 25.0.The mediating/moderating effect test was conducted by using Bootstrap method using Hayes Process 3.4 plug-in.P<0.05 means the difference is statistically significant.ResultsThe results showed that there were significant differences between social participation and life satisfaction in gender,age,urban and rural areas,annual family income and self-rated health status(P<0.05);there was significant differences between social participation and education of the elderly(P<0.05),but there were no significant differences between life satisfaction and education of the elderly(P>0.05).Social participation and social support(r=0.18,P<0.001),life satisfaction(r0.18,P<0.001)were positively correlated,a significant negative correlation between social participation and depression(r=-0.23,P<0.001),and a significant positive correlation between social support and life satisfaction(r=0.34,P<0.001).Social support and depression(r=-0.31,P<0.001)were negatively correlated,and depression and life satisfaction(r=-0.46,P<0.001)were negatively correlated.Social support of the elderly played a partial mediating role between social participation and life satisfaction,the mediating effect value was 0.16,accounting for 30.19%of the total effect.Depression moderated the relationship between social participation and life satisfaction.Specifically,the higher the level of depression,the more obvious the positive predictive effect of social participation about life satisfaction among old adults,and vice versa;depression moderated the second half of the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between social participation and life satisfaction,namely there was a moderating mediating effect model.Specifically,the lower the level of depression,the stronger the positive predictive effect of social support on life satisfaction of the elderly,and vice versa.Conclusion and policy recommendationSocial participation could not only directly predict life satisfaction of the elderly,but also predict life satisfaction through the mediating role of social support;Depression had a moderating effect on the direct path(the relationship between social participation and life satisfaction)and depression had a moderating effect the second half path(the relationship between social support and life satisfaction)of the mediating effect.In order to improve the life satisfaction of the elderly,we put forward the following suggestions:(1)To enhance the life satisfaction of the elderly,focus on the problems of the elderly in all aspects,and provide specific services according to the needs of the elderly,so that they can have a basis for their old age.(2)Enhance the social participation of the elderly,enhance their awareness of social participation,make the concept of the elderly have a deep thought,actively organize the development of elderly activities,and participate in the society to the greatest extent.(3)To meet the social support needs of the elderly,build a good external support environment,give full play to the important role of family support,and improve the overall social support level of the elderly.(4)Pay attention to the mental health problems of the elderly,popularize psychological knowledge through health education,reduce the risk of depression,so as to promote the positive evaluation of life of the elderly.