The association between activity and wellbeing in later life: what really matters?

This paper reports a study of the complex associations between older people's participation in activities and their wellbeing in later life using data from a national sample of 1,334 Jewish-Israeli retirees. Confirmatory factor analysis substantiated a division of the activities into solitary,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ageing and society 2006-03, Vol.26 (2), p.225-242
Main Authors: LITWIN, HOWARD, SHIOVITZ-EZRA, SHARON
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities
activity
Amos 4
Biological and medical sciences
Health
Health Care Utilization
Health status
Israel
later life
Life Satisfaction
Loneliness
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Older people
Personal relationships
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Quality of life
Retired people
Retirees
Retirement
Social Activities
Social Networks
social relationship quality
structural equation modelling
Well Being
Wellbeing
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Summary:This paper reports a study of the complex associations between older people's participation in activities and their wellbeing in later life using data from a national sample of 1,334 Jewish-Israeli retirees. Confirmatory factor analysis substantiated a division of the activities into solitary, formal and informal categories, as postulated by activity theory. The outcome measure, the latent construct wellbeing, was compiled from scores on the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), a global measure of life satisfaction, and a measure of satisfaction with the use of time. The analysis also examined the influence of socio-economic status, health status and the quality of inter-personal relationships. ‘Social relationship quality’, also a latent construct, was a composite of measures of satisfaction with children, friends and neighbours and a self-rated loneliness scale. Path analysis using structural equation modelling was employed. The results showed that when the quality of social relationships was taken into account, the amount of activity had no independent effect on the respondents' wellbeing. Moreover, it was social relationship quality, a facet of informal activity that has generally been neglected in activity research, that emerged as the most influential variable in the association between activity and wellbeing. Thus, the findings provide empirical backing for the assertion that the quality of social ties matters more than activity participation per se as predictors of a good old age.
ISSN:0144-686X
1469-1779
DOI:10.1017/S0144686X05004538