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Personal Wellbeing and Quality of Life of Older Adults

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Indicators of Quality of Life in Latin America

Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 62))

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Abstract

In recent decades, the study of living conditions under the paradigm of the quality of later life has shown increasing interest, both in a scientific context and in social policies and service providers, in observing the explanatory factors to establish standards and procedures for action to enhance the quality of life of older adults, as one of the most vulnerable demographic groups. Within the conceptual framework of quality of later life, this study aimed at exploring if there are changes in older adults’ personal wellbeing in 2008 and 2011 and look for associated factors among the most important quality of life domains. Two comparable data sources collected in 2008 and 2011 were used: the Quality of Life of Older Adults-Spain survey and the Ageing in Spain Longitudinal Study, Pilot Survey, respectively. The Personal Wellbeing Index, as a multidimensional measure of quality of life, was employed to evaluate subjective wellbeing. Personal, social and residential characteristics were considered as independent variables. Descriptive statistical analysis, analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc comparison and correlation statistical techniques were applied. The Personal Wellbeing Index reached 70.1 % and 74.6 % of scale maximum for 2008 and 2011, respectively. The highest-scoring wellbeing items were satisfaction with personal relationships, personal safety and feeling part of your community or group of people (community connectedness) in both years studied and achievements in life in 2008. Standard of living accounted for the lowest level in 2008 and was among the lowest in 2011. It has been shown that improved personal and contextual conditions affect quality of life. It would be desirable though to pursue this line from the longitudinal prospective to determine the causal factors that are influencing changes in personal wellbeing during the course of the life of older adults.

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Acknowledgments

The Survey on Quality of Life of Older Adults-Spain 2008 (“Calidad de Vida en Mayores-España”, CadeViMa-Spain 2008) was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (National R&D&I Plan: ref. SEJ2006-15122-C02-00, 01 and 02).

The Ageing in Spain Longitudinal Study, Pilot Survey (ELES-PS), has been carried out by the Research Unit on Ageing Process (Research Group on Ageing, GIE-CSIC, and the Matia Instituto Gerontologico) and supported by the “Acciones Complementarias 2009” Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CSO2009-06637-E/SOCI; CSO2009-06638-E/SOCI; CSO2009-08645-E/SOCI), the SAIOTEK 2009 Programme of the Basque Government, and the “Obra Social Caja Madrid” Foundation. The data analysis of this survey was founded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (“Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental No Orientada 2011”, Ref. CSO2011-30210-C02-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group on Ageing, Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography; Spanish National Research Council (IEGD; CSIC), Madrid, Spain

    Fermina Rojo-Perez & Gloria Fernández-Mayoralas

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  1. Fermina Rojo-Perez
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  2. Gloria Fernández-Mayoralas
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Correspondence to Fermina Rojo-Perez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, Buenas Aires, Argentina

    Graciela Tonon

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Rojo-Perez, F., Fernández-Mayoralas, G. (2016). Personal Wellbeing and Quality of Life of Older Adults. In: Tonon, G. (eds) Indicators of Quality of Life in Latin America. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 62. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28842-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28842-0_12

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