Objectives: Life satisfaction is an important component of overall well-being. Decline in life satisfaction is related to many adverse health outcomes including mortality.
Methods: We investigate the association of various psychosocial and health-related factors to life satisfaction in 237 non-demented community-dwelling older adults.
Results: Lower levels of depressive symptoms, less perceived stress, higher levels of social support, and better self-perceived general health were significantly associated with higher life satisfaction. Social support buffered the adverse impact of depressive symptoms on life satisfaction where more depressive symptoms were associated with much lower life satisfaction at low levels of social support than at high levels of social support.
Discussion: We discuss study implications, future research directions, and possible interventions that involve boosting social support in at-risk older adults.
Keywords: aging; depression; quality of life; social support.