Enabling Factors of Subjective Well-being among Older Adults in Taiwan: The Welfare State and Beyond?

Given the increasing popularity of active aging agendas around the globe, the positive and sustainable impacts of welfare services on older adults attracted our attention. Previous studies based on social quality-related theories have examined the effects of different forms of social life mechanism on subjective well-being (SWB) as perceived by older adults. Yet, as evidence continues to emerge pointing to the positive relationship between quality of life and SWB, the present study aimed to incorporate the impacts of three enabling factors of active aging, namely social connectedness, economic support and technology acceptance, in explaining welfare service in terms of satisfaction, needs and awareness, a condition that may also facilitate SWB. The on-site face-to-face survey in Yunlin county was conducted through a rigorous systematic sampling method and ultimately received a valid sample comprising 600 Taiwanese older adults aged 65-101 years (mean age = 76.78 years). Our results showed that social connectedness, economic support and technology acceptance significantly and positively predict SWB among older adults. Moreover, SWB for older adults was found to be positively predicted by welfare satisfaction, which was also found to mediate the effect of economic support on SWB. Policy implications of these findings and future research recommendation are discussed.