An Overview Of Life Satisfaction Literatures Social Work Essay

An Overview Of Life Satisfaction Literatures genial die EssayThis chapter begins with literatures about flavour blessedness and important somebodyal and situational soothsayers of purport story expiation in h unityst-to-god persons, then in order to generate a theoretical background for this study attempt to limit the wet to important comp whizznts of morphological and functional embolden. The next portion forgeting focus on the slipway in which monu cordial personal and situational characteristics might affect on morphological and functional comp mavinnts. The focus will then shift to the effect of structural and functional comp adeptnts particularally on liveness felicity. And finally specific theories and models that make been proposed to explain the role of structural and functional comp cardinalnts in the liveness satisfaction of senior(a) adults will be addressed.Over the past few long time, the worlds creation has continued on its remarkable transiti on from a state of high(prenominal) birth and shoemakers last rates to one characterized by low birth and death rates. At the heart of this transition has been the growth in the modus operandi and proportion of older persons. Such a rapid, large, and ubiquitous growth has never been seen in the autobiography of civilization (Norman Henderson, 2003). when the older population will be nearly 2 billion, surpassing the population of children for the jump time in human history (United Nations, 2006). For the first time in history, Asian populations and their governments atomic number 18 faced with increasing numbers of older adults, and this raise divers(a) friendly and economic issues, (Chan, 2005) specially issues concerning the life satisfaction (Wu Rudkin, 2000). 2.1 Life SatisfactionThe use of different monetary value such(prenominal) as psychological eudaimonia, inherent well-being, life satisfaction, delight and morale for the same downstairslying construct has le d to treatable confusion in the literature over just what is being measured, however, these suppositions and their descriptions atomic number 18 not identical, all of them involve a psychological response by the private to socio-environmental situation encountered in life and demonstrate no significant difference in meaning.(Cloutterbuck, 1987).Stock, Okun, and Benin (1988) defined prejudiced well-being as combining concepts together mood, happiness, life satisfaction, and morale. Factors such as morale, life satisfaction and happiness argon considered to be important in determining subjective well-being in the elderly (Kim, Hisata, Kai, Lee, 2000). internal well-being is composed of two elements cognitive and affective. Life satisfaction, the cognitive component of subjective well-being, refers to a planetary judgment of a life as a whole (Jin, 2001).Life satisfaction has also been defined in various ways, including happiness, valuation reserve, morale, somatic wellnes s, subjective well-being, and the balance between aspirations and achievements (Nutt, 2001).Life satisfaction has been defined two major(ip) ways in the literature first as an heading entity, usually the quantity of companionable interactions and reciprocal ohm as an internal and subjective perception, the one-on-ones evaluation of their lives, the second approach is now to a greater extent(prenominal) widely use (Miller, 1997). Life satisfaction is a real personal mind, one must decide ones own life satisfaction criteria. Two individuals whitethorn share very similar lives, and one whitethorn find life satisfactory and the other may not (Quadhamer, 1999). Havighurst proposed that measuring life satisfaction as an inner assessment was a better measure of successful ageing. Such a measure would accommodate individual differences in conceptions and values of growing older. Specifically, the individual whose personality most values an active life style could be as satisfied wit h his life as one who is more passive (Havighurst, 1961).Distinction between life satisfaction and character reference of life is not clear and the concepts are neartimes used interchangeably (Borg, Hallberg, Blomqvist, 2006). Jeffres and Dobos (1995) proposed that step of life consists of two distinct global concepts with underlying domains. The first concept, perceive quality of life or life satisfaction, is a consequence of satisfaction with the personal domains of life. These domains include satisfaction with family life, friends, wellness, checkmate in crime and oneself. The second concept refers to quality of life in the broader brotherly environment, environmental quality of life (Jeffres Dobos, 1995). Environmental quality of life domains include satisfaction with housing, schools, wellness services, safety and security, roads and transport (Evans, 1994) . Personal quality of life is associated with quality of life in the broader social environment (Jeffres Dobos, 1995), only the two domains are not identical (Fadda Jiron, 1999). For example, some individuals rate their quality of life as very good whilst maintenance under extremely arduous environmental conditions, whereas others rate their quality of life as poor even though their environmental conditions are excellent (Westaway, 2006).2.1.1 Life Satisfaction in elderlyAmong elders the predictors of life satisfaction were found to be comprehend level of activity (Osberg McGinnis, 1987), hop on, gender (Fadda Jiron, 1999 Kudo, Izumo, Kodama, Watanabe, Hatakeyama, Fukuoka, Kudo, Yaegashi, Sasaki, 2007), satisfaction with family life (Medley, 1976), the availableness of confidants (Strain Chappell, 1982), subjective health rating (Downe-Wamboldt Tamlyn, 1986 Gfellner, 1989 Spreitzer Snyder, 1974) , physical health status (Joia, Ruiz, Donalisio, 2007 Kudo et al., 2007 Bowling, 1990) , satisfaction with pecuniary status and socio-economic status (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007 Borg et al ., 2006 Spreitzer Snyder, 1974 Welsch, 2007), religious affiliation and private charm (Korff, 2006 Markides, Levin, Ray, 1987 Sagaza, 2004), marital status, and educational level (Subasi Hayran, 2005), subsisting environment (Subasi Hayran, 2005 Rehdanz Maddison, 2008), personal factors (Borg, Fagerstrm, Balducci, Burholt, Ferring, Weber, Wenger, Gran Holst, Hallberg, 2008 Sanchez, Jr., 2006) , social shop at (Abu Bader, Rogers, Barusch, 2003) and sociopolitical gravid (Abdallah, Thompson, Marks, 2008).Based on the International Study in 1994 and 1999, indicates that the level of satisfaction of the elderly is world-widely inflict in large cities, and lower for those who are in the first half of their 60s, who constitute single-person households, who are not in good health condition, who live in rented housing (Sagaza, 2004) another study showed that good health, high self-esteem, and the absence of worry were associated with life satisfaction (Borg et al., 2008).Anal yses of associations with life satisfaction in the study of elderly persons in Hong Kong showed significant associations between life satisfaction and a number of variables including age, education, marital status, self-rated financial situation, religious belief, living arrangement, social brave, social network, self-rated health status, functional capacity, number of chronic illnesses and activity level. Multivariate analysis substantiate that the strongest predictors of life satisfaction were self-rated financial situation, activity level and social concord (Chou Chi, 1999). Borg et al., (2006) identified several factors of greatness for life satisfaction among older batch with reduced ability to perform daily activities social contacts, health, activities, family, negatively losing family members (Borg et al., 2006). Recent work has identified a relationship between personality traits and life satisfaction (Thakral, 2006 Fogle, Huebner, Laughlin, 2002). Among muckle with reduced ADL capacity in 6 European countries, it was found that personal factors, rather than environmental factors such as social or financial resources, influence life satisfaction (Borg et al., 2008).Life satisfaction and sexuality Up to age 65, women tended to base higher rates of life satisfaction than men however, after age 65 men were more likely than women to report a high degree of life satisfaction (Spreitzer Snyder, 1974). Significant predictors of life satisfaction were found in fe young-begetting(prenominal) respondents age, financial strain and depression. In male respondents, the significant predictors of life satisfaction were education and financial strain (Chou Chi, 1999). Medley found standard of living to be a more important predictor of life satisfaction in women, whereas satisfaction with health was more important to men (Medley, 1976).Life satisfaction and Age As age increases there is a loosen up decrease in life satisfaction (Melendez, Tomas, Oliver, Navarro, 2005) Indeed, survey queryers have noted that older battalion show consistent increases in life satisfaction with age but a leveling withdraw of more affective characteristics such as happiness (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007).Life satisfaction and Income Previous studies have indicated that financial strain was consistently and negatively associated with life satisfaction and financial situation was a significant predictor of satisfaction (Chou Chi, 1999 Chou Chi, 1999) and satisfaction with financial status was a stronger predictor of life satisfaction than objective financial state (Spreitzer Snyder, 1974).Life satisfaction and Educational level Education is found to have a significant effect on life satisfaction. Higher education attainment is associated with improved socioeconomic status, higher wage rates, and better health, all of which lead to better living standards (Bukenya, Gebremedin, Schaeffeaer, 2003).Life satisfaction and EthnicBarger, Donoho, Wayment., (20 09) evaluated racial/ethnic disparities in life satisfaction, and explored the relative contributions of SES, health status, and social relationships to life satisfaction among two very large, diverse probability samples of U.S. adults. That was the first major evaluation of Hispanic life satisfaction in the U.S. and is the largest U.S. population based life satisfaction study to date. They found that Blacks and Hispanics have lower life satisfaction than Whites, but controlling for SES and health status weakened these differences for Blacks and eliminated them for Hispanics. They also found a modest Hispanic arrive at for being very satisfied in multivariable models. The consistently higher explained life satisfaction variance among Whites could set substantive cultural variation in the types of delay relevant to well-being judgments (Barger, Donoho, Wayment, 2009).Life satisfaction and marital status Marital status was found to be incontrovertiblely cerebrate to life satisfa ction by some investigators (Markides et al., 1987 Strain Chappell, 1982) whereas others failed to show this relationship (Osberg McGinnis, 1987). Marital status importantly affects satisfaction, with being single having a negative effect on both(prenominal) health and quality of life satisfaction. Proponents of social role explanations conjure up that men derive great benefits from marriage than women do because mens roles are less disagreeable and more delicious compared to women (Bukenya et al., 2003). Hansen et al., (2004) in a study with title Age, marital status and life satisfaction found, having a partner (in the household) was strongly associated with higher levels of life satisfaction for both genders. The results showed no differential effect of having a partner by gender. However, for both genders, older cohorts without a partner had higher life satisfaction than their younger counterparts. No age-differential effect of having a partner was found. Interestingly, t he effect of having a partner decreased with age for both genders, and significantly more so amongst women (Hansen, 2004).Life satisfaction and Employment Researchers examining employment status and life satisfaction have found a positive relation between these variables. Results of several studies have further arouseed that persons 65 years of age and older who remain active in the labor force have higher levels of life satisfaction and morale than do retired persons in the same age cohort (Aquino, Russellc, Cutrona, Altimaier, 1996).Life satisfaction and Strata (rural/urban) Evans., (2005) analyse differences in the social takes of rural and urban elders to determine what those differences meant in terms of three markers of successful aging activity level, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. Results showed that urban older adults reported more depressive symptoms as compared to rural older adults. Furthermore, subjective level of social support (perceived satisfaction with support) was positively fit with life satisfaction and negatively correlated with depressive symptoms for both rural and urban older adults, however, there were no mediating do of social support in the relationship between residence and levels of activity, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms (Evans, 2005).2.2 Functional and Structural components of support In this section a broad overview of structural and functional components of support will be provide and each of these concept consider separately, because each has different properties that can potentially influence the life satisfaction.2.2.1 DefinitionsThe concept of social support has been a popular subject of research since the late 1970 and publications on social support increased almost geometrically from 1976 to 1981 (Phillips, Siu, Yeh, Cheng, 2008).The concept of social support has been variously addressed in terms of social bonds, social contacts, and availability of confidants (Johnson, 1996 Seeman, Bruce , McAvay, 1996) and early research patronizely unclear the distinctions between four concepts social relations, social network, social support, and social integration (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007). social support and social support resources such as social network, social interactions or social contacts, reported as related but distinct concepts (Seeman, Lusignolo, Albert, Berkman, 2001).Social support includes interpersonal parley and interaction, love and understanding, caring and concern, affection and companionship, financial care, and respect and acceptance (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007 Loue Sajatovic, 2008). Definitions of social support range from the authentic supportive acts that are exchanged between individuals to a personality-like factor based in early interpersonal experiences that then influences how an individual views the likelihood that someone is supportive. The concept of social support has been investigated by researchers in anthropology, epidemiology, medicine, nursing, psychology, and sociology. inclined the different backgrounds of researchers in these fields one can appreciate why reaching consensus for a definition of social support has been difficult (Rudkin, 2006). there is a lack of general consensus on how social support should be specifically defined. One useful way to conceptualize social support is that it has both structural and functional aspects, qualitative (subjective) and quantitative (objective) aspects, and social network-based and support-based aspects (Phillips et al., 2008). 2.2.2Functional Component of keepMore recent studies of social support conceptualize it as the functions that are provided by social relationships. Although the question of what exactly is provided by supportive individuals varies between researchers, many agree that supportive individuals provide or make available what can be termed worked up support, informational support, tangible support, and belonging support .These functional aspects of s ocial support are often highly related to each other and not easily separated in everyday life. stirred support, provides individuals with the belief that they are loved and cared for, emotional support involved such things as giving advice, expressing affection, and providing morale support (Johnson, 1996). unrestrained support is probably what most of us imagine when we think about a supportive individual. Emotional support is thought to be beneficial because it provides the recipient with a palpate of acceptance and may build up ones self-esteem during life challenges (Loue Sajatovic, 2008). Informational support can be a very powerful form of support to the extent that it provides useful direction. Such advice and guidance may also carry an emotional message, it is often the model that useful guidance from close friends can be seen as emotionally supportive in that the person cares enough to speak with you about important decisions (Cohen , Underwood , Gottlieb , 2000). Ap praisal supportincludes feedback given to individuals to second them in self-evaluation or in appraising situations. The intangible forms of support emotional, informational, and appraisal support, can be difficult to disentangle (Rudkin, 2006). unmistakable support, is conceptualized as the assistance from others in ones daily operate. Emotional social support contributed to positive affect, while tangible social support contributed to life satisfaction as well as decrease psychosomatic and emotional distress (Seeman et al., 2001). For older tidy sum tangible support may be as simple as providing a ride to the grocery store or mowing the lawn (Loue Sajatovic, 2008), involves being able to help with everyday jobs around the house, providing financial assistance, and helping in the process of taking care of children (Johnson, 1996). Research findings regarding implemental support are more mixed. Receipt of higher levels of instrumental support, specifically help with various ta sks, has been associated with greater declines in physical functioning. More moderate levels of instrumental support appear to promote recovery and slow decline in functioning. In many studies, however, the direction of causation has not been clearly established (Rudkin, 2006). be support is defined as the presence of others with whom to engage in social activities. An example of it would be a friend with whom to go shopping or to watch a basketball game. Belonging support may be beneficial because such positive social and leisure activities may enhance ones mood and common sense datum of acceptance by others (Cohen et al., 2000).Social support functions are often intertwined those who provide tangible support may also be providing reassurance and emotional support. Furthermore, different network members provide different types of support. People tend to produce to their families for instrumental support, friends for emotional support, and during times of illness, health care wo rkers for advice and aid (Loue Sajatovic, 2008). Higher levels of emotional support, both perceived and earnd, improve outcomes, whereas the effects of instrumental support have been questionable. Older individuals who have more interaction with others and who report more available emotional support, experience fewer and slower declines in cognitive and physical functioning (Rudkin, 2006).The effectiveness of any form of support will regard on the extent to which it meets the demands of the particular stressful caseful. For controllable stressful events, support such as informational or tangible is predicted to be more important. However, if the event is less controllable, then emotional or belonging support may serve to facilitate adjustment (Uchino, Cacioppo, Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996).2.2.2.1 Functional component perceived or receiveFunction components of support are usually organised along two dimensions what support is perceived to be available (available support) and what su pport is actually received or provided (received support) by others (Cohen, 2004 Kafetsios Sideridis, 2006). These measures are not highly related and are often associated with different effects on well-being. What is perceived as available may or may not correspond to what is actually provided (Kahna, Hesslingb, Russellc, 2003). Studies hint that received support is not related to the perceived availability of support in a unequivocal manner, one reason is that measures of available support are related to ones cognitive representation of social support, a person might perceive a high availability of support but decide not to utilize it because of concerns about network members perception of their competence (Cohen et al., 2000). when elderly individuals indicated that others were available to provide social support, they were more likely to report greater use of proactive coping (Greengalss, Fliksenbaum, Eaton, 2006). However, the benefits of social support are most strongly r elated to the perception that support is available. In other words, the highest levels of well-being are found among people who believe that they have a high level of social support, regardless of how much support they receive or how many people they know (Karademas, 2006 Kim et al., 2000 Phillips et al., 2008).National study of economically stressed older adults shows that those who believed that no one would come to their aid in the future had the greatest number of depressive symptoms (Loue Sajatovic, 2008) and a higher level of support was reported in those who perceived the provider as supportive (Pierce et al., 1992). 2.2.2.2 Buffer against stressful life eventsSocial support may act as a buffer against stressful life events and, thus, reduce photograph to the resultant cumulative pathological effects of stress. Alternatively, social support may be a constant, more generally available resource, across time and situations (Alan, Alison, Martha, Lawrence, Ian, 2007 Antonucci Akiyama, 2007).The two type of support are not inversely exclusive and may be viewed as complementary, there is evidence to support both types of effects. It should also be emphasized that the particular pathways or mechanisms by which social relationships affect well being likely depend upon the characteristics of the individual, his or her socioeconomic situation, the health outcome of interest, and the measure of social relationships (Rudkin, 2006).Murrell and Norris (1984) postulated that social support may not only buffer individuals from stressful life events, but may actually be important for the general maintenance of psychological well-being and life satisfaction in old age, independent of adversity or stress (Tho , 2001). Social support can act as a buffer to soften the effects of negative life occurrences, this might explain why some people maintain good health when exposed to stressful life events which would be expected to have a negative effect on health (Bowung , Fa rquha , Browne , 1991) and those older adults who are going done the loss of a loved one and have a strong social support system report a higher sense of life satisfaction and well-being (Gray , 2007). Coleman suggests that social relationships can act as a form of social insurance, provide communication and information networks, and create norms and sanctions that facilitate social action (Celia Lenore, 2004).2.2.3 Structural Component of applySupport Network refers to objective characteristics of the network such as total network size (Janevic, Ajrouch, Merline, Akiyama, Antonucci, 2000 Antonucci, Lansford, Akiyama, Smith, Baltes, Takahashi, Fuhrer, Dartigues, 2002), the number of family members, age, sex, proximity, or frequency of contact with network members and living arrangements (Yoshida, Sauer, Tidwell, Skager, Sorenson, 1997). Social networks define as webs of relationships that link the individual directly and indirectly to other people. Social networks include fri ends and family, as well as familiarity. The size of a social network depends on the person , some people have large families and numerous friends, whereas others may have smaller families and smaller friendship networks (Phillips, 1986 Phillips et al., 2008 Quadhamer, 1999). The Properties of the person and situation significantly influence the structure of the individuals network. Since one occupies a large number of roles, such as child, spouse, and parent, it is natural that this is a time when there are numerous members of the support network, and that they differ widely in age and gender (Antonucci, Akiyama, Merline, 2001 Berke, 1991 Fiori, 2006).2.2.3.1 Formal social supportFormal social support is in many cases essential to an older adults well-being because it provides practical support that becomes increasingly dependent as a person ages. Formal support comes from those individuals and institutions one depends upon for services and assistance such as health care providers , social workers, case managers, shopkeepers, delivery persons, and others in institutional settings (Loue Sajatovic, 2008 Quadhamer, 1999).2.2.3.2Informal social supportThere are several aspects of the structure of social networks that have received much oversight in the literature on social relations and aging. Including family versus friend relationships, under the umbrella term of structural component is somewhat arbitrary, as this issue also touches on functional component.2.2.3.3 Family versus FriendsInformal Social Support systems are typically those supports such as family and friends and developed over a period of time through interactions with others (Nutt, 2001 Quadhamer, 1999). Informal support members are generally the primary caregivers to the older adult who removes assistance. Psychologically, social interactions with family and friends provide feedback to the individual regarding his/her social role and behavior (Rosenhand, 1999) and both of family and friends so cial support increase life satisfaction (Miller, 1997). The study of social relations must take into account that convoys of close friends and family members may be both pleasant and unpleasant, supportive and unsupportive (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007).Findings showed that, reliable alliance, or instrumental assistance, was more strongly related to well-being when provided by kin than by nonkin (Felton Berry, 1992). Surveys of elderly people have documented that the most frequently mentioned helpers are wives followed by daughters, particularly in the case of widowed parents (Bowung et al., 1991). Couples who do not have children may designedly develop strong relationships with relatives such as nephews and nieces because these relatives serve as informal support to them when children would otherwise engage support (Loue Sajatovic, 2008). Social support, especially from children and family members, had a significant positive effect on the life satisfaction of older adults when sup port was provided at a low level. However, excessive support was found to diminish the sense of well-being in the elderly as well as wear away their autonomy and emancipation (Silverstein Bengtson, 1994). In fact, increasing contact with family members could be viewed by older adults as a sign of upset independence (Fiori, 2006). Older people who are married are much less likely to need formal supports, such as home nurse care or Meals on Wheels, than unmarried people. Family relationships, under normal circumstances, make an important contribution to well-being (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007) however, if the relationship is not supportive and positive, the opposite is true. In fact, intimate relationships that are not supportive, trusting, and loving have negative influences on the physical and mental health and overall well-being of the elderly. Additionally, the very old tend to have smaller circles of social support as many people have outlived spouses, other family members, frie nds, and sometimes even children (Loue Sajatovic, 2008). Although it is clear that families play important roles in the lives of older adults, providing sometimes extraordinary care giving efforts and instrumental help, friends are also invaluable resources. Indeed, research initially designed to examine the impact of family members alone often finds that the friends are mentioned as a significant support source (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007).The need for friendships among the elderly is self-evident (Hanafy, 1992).When confronting loneliness or needing assistance with social issues, older adults prefer friendships to family Social Support ( specifically spouses and children). The reasons that older adults prefer friendships to family in cases of emotional support are primarily due to sense of continuity with the past that friends can provide (Loue Sajatovic, 2008). Older people obtained a sense of emotional support from having intimate friendships with neighbors and friends and at le ast one child living close by with whom they have frequent contact (Loue Sajatovic, 2008).Friendships have significant positive effects on the mental health of the elderly (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007) and tend to be a matter of choice rather than birth. People shoot friends because of shared interests and desire for contact and friendships share a form of reciprocity that may be rattlebrained in family relationships and reciprocity has a strong effect on the satisfaction level of seniors and their friendships (Loue Sajatovic, 2008).In one study of friendships among people over 60 year, 68% reported long-term friendship ties throughout their lives. There were some gender differences, with more than half the women reporting that they remained friends with a close friend from childhood or adolescence, whereas men showed high levels of continuity with close friendships developed at midlife. In one sample of people over 85 years old, it was found that more than half still had at least one close friend, and three-fourths were in weekly contact with people they considered their friends. Furthermore, almost half reported that they had make new friends after age 85, although the criteria for those friends tended to involve less expectation for intimacy or shared history than was common among younger people (Antonucci Akiyama, 2007).2.3 Functional and Structural Support in elderlyThe findings from several studies suggest that the social network of elderly adultsmay differ from those of younger persons on a number of dimensions. In modem societies the networks of the older are generally smaller than those of younger people. There is some controversy in the literature as to whether social networks of the aging decrease in size, frequency of contact with persons in the network, and degree of given and received support (Dorman, 2001).Gender It has been widely recognized that social networks among men and women differ in complex ways, particularly in relation to life sta ge (Antonucci et al., 2001). In terms of gender, women report providing more support, having more frequent contact with network members, being more satisfied with their friends, and having larger and more multifaceted social networks than do men (Fiori, Antonucci, Cortina, 2006). Male got more support from fa