Social Integration and Terminal Decline in Life Satisfaction Among Older Japanese

Well-being typically exhibits pronounced deteriorations with approaching death, with sizeable interindividual variations in levels and changes. It is less well understood how psychosocial factors contribute to these individual differences. We examined whether and how social integration is associated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Vol. 75; no. 10; p. 2122
Main Authors: Nakagawa, Takeshi, Hülür, Gizem
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 01.12.2020
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Death
Family Relations - psychology
Female
Healthy Aging - psychology
Humans
Individuality
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Mental Health
Personal Satisfaction
Protective Factors
Quality of Life - psychology
Social Integration
Social Participation
Social Support
Successful aging
Well-being
End of life
Older adults
Social support
ISSN:1758-5368, 1758-5368
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:Well-being typically exhibits pronounced deteriorations with approaching death, with sizeable interindividual variations in levels and changes. It is less well understood how psychosocial factors contribute to these individual differences. We examined whether and how social integration is associated with terminal trajectories of well-being, indexed as life satisfaction. Data were drawn from 1,119 deceased Japanese participants of a 15-year longitudinal study (age at death: M = 79.2 years; SD = 7.7 years; 43.1% women). Life satisfaction, structural and functional features of social integration (e.g., frequency of contact with family and nonfamily, and perceived overall support, respectively), sociodemographic characteristics, and physical function were assessed. Social integration predicted individual differences in terminal decline in life satisfaction, after controlling for age at death, gender, education, and physical function: More diverse social relationships were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction at 1 year before death. In addition, individuals who exhibited more decline in social participation and perceived less support showed more pronounced decline with increasing proximity of death. This study suggests that social integration plays a protective role in late-life well-being and that sustaining an active social life and supportive social interactions may help mitigate terminal decline in well-being.
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ISSN:1758-5368
1758-5368
DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbz059