J Korean Geriatr Psychiatry.  2015 Apr;19(1):17-23. 10.0000/jkgp.2015.19.1.17.

The Effects of Stressors on Subjective Well-Being in the Elderly

• Kim SJ
• Noh JS
• Noh HW
• Jang KJ
• Chung YK
• Lee Y
• Lim KY
• Han C
• Kim J
• Park MA
• Hong CH
• Son SJ

• KMID: 2334677
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/jkgp.2015.19.1.17

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study aims to identify self-reported stressors in the Korean community-dwelling elderly and examine their effects on subjective well-being.
METHODS
The subjects of this research were 1,010 elderly people who lived in Suwon, Korea. Each subject was administered the questionnaires regarding the socio-demographic characteristics, self-reported stressors, Concise Measure of Subjective Well-Being (COMOSWB) consisting of life satisfaction, positive emotion and negative emotion, Mini-Mental State Examination for dementia screening and Short Form Geriatric Depression Scale-Korean version. Statistical analyses including the Pearson's correlation test and multiple linear regressions were performed in this study.
RESULTS
In our adjusted model for confounding variables, stress from physical problems (S-PP) (ss=-0.133, p<0.001), stress from loneliness or solitude (S-LS) (ss=-0.077, p=0.007), stress from family members (S-FM) (ss=-0.083, p=0.001) were negatively associated with the total score of COMOSWB. In subscale analyses of COMOSWB, we also found that S-PP (ss=-0.184, p<0.001), S-LS (ss=-0.077, p=0.014), stress from economic problems (ss=-0.072, p=0.021) were negatively associated with life satisfaction score. While S-PP (ss=-0.140, p<0.001) and S-FM (ss=-0.079, p=0.003) were negatively associated with positive emotion score, S-FM (ss=0.105, p=0.001) and stress from friends and neighbors (ss=0.072, p=0.016) were positively associated with negative emotion score.
CONCLUSION
Stresses from physical problems, loneliness, and family members might be associated with subjective well-being in the elderly. While life satisfaction appears to be affected by one's perceived physical health status, loneliness, and economic conditions, positive and negative emotions appear to be affected by relationships with family members, friends, or neighbors.

Keyword

Elderly; Stressors; Subjective well-being; Life satisfaction; Positive emotion; Negative emotion

MeSH Terms

Aged*
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology)
Dementia
Depression
Friends
Gyeonggi-do
Humans
Korea
Linear Models
Loneliness
Mass Screening
Surveys and Questionnaires