scholarly journals Balance in time use and life satisfaction of older people in Korea

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Jiweon Jun

This paper explores the relationship between the way older people use their time and well-being in later life in Korea, applying the ‘life balance framework’. This framework was developed to examine how patterns of time use change across the life course in terms of the balance between constraints (constrained time), freedom of choice (discretionary time) and time spent on biological maintenance (regenerative time), this paper illustrates how the time use of Korean people aged 65 and older varies by gender, age, and economic activity status. Using data from the 2014 Korean Time Use Survey, the study shows that the balance in time use in Korea shifts towards having greater discretionary and less constrained time in later life as shown in previous studies in other countries such as the UK, yet with a considerably larger gender gap which persists even in very old ages. More importantly, the study found a negative relationship between having too much discretionary time and older people’s level of life satisfaction, which supports the assumption of the life balance framework that having too much free time can also be detrimental to well-being.

Author(s):  
Katja Pynnönen ◽  
Katja Kokko ◽  
Milla Saajanaho ◽  
Timo Törmäkangas ◽  
Erja Portegijs ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Although depressive symptoms are more common among older than younger age groups, life satisfaction tends to remain stable over the life course, possibly because the underlying factors or processes differ. Aim To study whether the factors that increase the likelihood of high life satisfaction also decrease the likelihood of depressive symptoms among older people. Methods The data were a population-based probability sample drawn from community-dwelling people aged 75, 80, and 85 years (n = 1021). Participants’ life satisfaction was measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale and depressive symptoms with the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Physical performance, perceived financial situation, executive functions, loneliness, self-acceptance, and having interests in one’s life were studied as explanatory variables. The data were analyzed using cross-sectional bivariate linear modeling. Results Better physical performance, not perceiving loneliness, having special interests in one’s life, and higher self-acceptance were associated with higher life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms. Better financial situation was related only to life satisfaction. Executive functions were not associated with either of the outcomes. Discussion The opposite ends of the same factors underlie positive and negative dimensions of mental well-being. Conclusion Further studies are warranted to better understand how people maintain life satisfaction with aging when many resources may diminish and depressive symptoms become more prevalent.


2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Ferring ◽  
Cristian Balducci ◽  
Vanessa Burholt ◽  
Clare Wenger ◽  
F. Thissen ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. postgradmedj-2021-141338
Author(s):  
Swati Parida ◽  
Abdullah Aamir ◽  
Jahangir Alom ◽  
Tania A Rufai ◽  
Sohaib R Rufai

PurposeTo assess British doctors’ work–life balance, home-life satisfaction and associated barriers.Study designWe designed an online survey using Google Forms and distributed this via a closed social media group with 7031 members, exclusively run for British doctors. No identifiable data were collected and all respondents provided consent for their responses to be used anonymously. The questions covered demographic data followed by exploration of work–life balance and home-life satisfaction across a broad range of domains, including barriers thereto. Thematic analysis was performed for free-text responses.Results417 doctors completed the survey (response rate: 6%, typical for online surveys). Only 26% reported a satisfactory work–life balance; 70% of all respondents reported their work negatively affected their relationships and 87% reported their work negatively affected their hobbies. A significant proportion of respondents reported delaying major life events due to their working patterns: 52% delaying buying a home, 40% delaying marriage and 64% delaying having children. Female doctors were most likely to enter less-than-full-time working or leave their specialty. Thematic analysis revealed seven key themes from free-text responses: unsocial working, rota issues, training issues, less-than-full-time working, location, leave and childcare.ConclusionsThis study highlights the barriers to work–life balance and home-life satisfaction among British doctors, including strains on relationships and hobbies, leading to many doctors delaying certain milestones or opting to leave their training position altogether. It is imperative to address these issues to improve the well-being of British doctors and improve retention of the current workforce.


A Child's Day ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 165-178
Author(s):  
Killian Mullan

This concluding chapter surveys the key findings and issues raised in the previous chapters. This study of a child's day provides the most extensive picture currently available in the UK, and elsewhere in the world, into how children's time use has changed over the past several decades. It identifies areas of expected change as well as other areas of surprising stability. It reveals how change and stability in children's time use blend together to comprise a child's day, uncovering also the multi-layered contexts of a child's day. Aspects of children's time use, and how this may have changed, will no doubt continue to surface in public debate in connection with their well-being. While welcoming this, it is necessary to always question and seek to understand how supposed changes actually fit within a child's day, the types of days where these changes are concentrated, among whom, and to seek out evidence on how such changes relate to other activities and the social contexts of daily life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (8) ◽  
pp. 1808-1817
Author(s):  
Matthew R Wright

Abstract Objectives Later life marital patterns have undergone shifts over the past few decades, including a rapid growth of cohabiting unions. Despite the increase in older adult cohabitation, research on this population has been slow to keep up. Intimate relationships are linked to well-being and relationship quality is especially important because high-quality relationships offer a number of benefits for well-being, whereas poor-quality relationships often are detrimental. This study compares cohabiting and remarried individuals on two measures of relationship quality. Method Using data from the 2010 and 2012 Health and Retirement Study, I investigate the positive and negative relationship quality of cohabitors relative to their remarried counterparts and whether the association of union type and relationship quality varies by race. Results Across both positive and negative relationship quality, I found few differences between cohabiting and remarried individuals. Black cohabitors report higher positive relationship quality than remarrieds, whereas White cohabitors and remarrieds do not differ. Discussion These findings suggest that cohabiting unions and remarriages are comparable among White older adults, but that Black cohabitors may gain more in terms of positive relationship quality than their remarried counterparts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 2029-2039
Author(s):  
Deborah J Morgan ◽  
Vanessa Burholt

Abstract Objectives While a great deal is known about the risk factors that increase vulnerability to loneliness in later life, little research has explored stability and change in levels of loneliness. Methods Narrative interviews were conducted with 11 participants who were identified as being lonely during Wave 1 of the Maintaining Function and Well-being in Later Life Study Wales (CFAS Wales). The interviews were used to explore stability and change in levels of loneliness from the perspective of older people themselves. The interviews focused on participant’s perspectives of the events that triggered loneliness, stability, and change in levels of loneliness over time as well as participant’s responses to loneliness. Results The findings show that participants experienced losses and loneliness as biographical disruption. How participants and their wider social network responded to these losses had implications for the individual’s trajectory through loneliness. Discussion Drawing on a biographical lens, the study reframed the events that triggered loneliness as disruptive events. This article discusses the utility of biographical disruption in understanding stability and change in loneliness. The findings suggest how drawing on valued identities may help lonely adults transition out of loneliness.


Author(s):  
Alisoun Milne

Chapter 5 is the first of three chapters exploring the impact of age related risks affecting particular sub populations of older people. Socioeconomic disadvantage in later life tends to reflect a lifecourse status. It amplifies what is already present. In 2016/17 one million older people were living in poverty; an additional 1.2 million were living just above the poverty line. These numbers are rising. Those aged 85 years or over, frail older people, older women and single older people are particularly at risk. Poor older people are also more likely to live in poor housing and be exposed to fuel poverty. Being poor - and its concomitants - compromises mental health in a number of profound ways. It undermines an older person’s capacity to make choices, retain independence, save for a crisis, maintain social contacts and be digitally included. It is linked with worry, loss of control over life and shame. Poor older people are at heightened risk of isolation and loneliness, stress, anxiety and depression. The UK has a weak policy record, compared with other developed countries, of sustainably and coherently addressing poverty in later life. One of the cornerstones of doing so is a continued commitment to the basic state pension as a fundamental building block of a secure old age. Addressing poor housing is also pivotal.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Grabovac ◽  
L Smith ◽  
D T McDermott ◽  
S Stefanac ◽  
L Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older people are an under-represented population in research, with limited research noting more depression, loneliness, rejection, overall poorer health and well-being outcomes. Our study compared well-being, defined as quality of life (QOL), life satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and depression, among LGB people with their heterosexual peers’. Methods Cross-sectional data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, collected 2012-2013. A total of 5691 participants were included in the analysis, with 326 (5.7%) self-identifying as LGB. We used CASP-19 questionnaire for well-being; the Satisfaction with Life Scale for life satisfaction; and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for depressive symptoms. The question “During the past three months, how satisfied have you been with your overall sex life?” was used for sexual satisfaction. T-test and chi-square tests were used for differences in sociodemographic characteristics between LGB and heterosexual participants. Regression models were used to test associations between sexual orientation and well-being outcomes. Results LGB participants reported significantly lower mean quality of life and life satisfaction, and had significantly lower odds of reporting satisfaction with their overall sex life and higher odds of reporting depressive symptoms in unadjusted models. After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related covariates, there remained significant differences between groups in mean QOL scores (B= -0.96, 95% [CI] -1.87 to -0.06) and odds of sexual satisfaction (OR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.38-0.82). Conclusions LGB older people report lower quality of life and lower sexual satisfaction than their heterosexual counterparts, possibly associated with experiencing lifelong social discrimination. Main message: Older lesbian, gay and bisexual people in England report significantly lower QOL and sexual satisfaction in comparison to heterosexual counterparts.


1995 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley J. Fisher

This article explores the meanings older people attach to successful aging and life satisfaction and how these concepts can be differentiated. Forty elderly employees of the Ozarks Area Foster Grandparent Program (ages 61–92) were randomly selected and interviewed using an open-ended survey questionnaire. These questions explored understandings of successful aging and life satisfaction, the factors essential for each, and the differences perceived between these concepts. Qualitative data were coded by two independent reviewers. Respondents' understandings of successful aging involved attitudinal or coping orientations nearly twice as often as those for life satisfaction. Descriptions of life satisfaction emphasized the fulfillment of basic needs and was viewed as a precursor to successful aging. Content analysis confirmed five features of successful aging: interactions with others, a sense of purpose, self-acceptance, personal growth, and autonomy. The findings suggest that generativity contributes to successful aging and remains a vital developmental task in later life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S128-S129
Author(s):  
Melanie S Hill ◽  
James E Hill ◽  
Stephanie Richardson ◽  
Jessica Brown ◽  
Jeremy B Yorgason ◽  
...  

Abstract Identity scholars have suggested that having a unified sense of past, present, and future is related to positive well-being outcomes (Whitbourne, Sneed & Skultety, 2009). One’s occupation can have a profound influence on an individual’s identity throughout the life course (Nazar & van der Heijden, 2012). Research has looked at career mobility among younger age groups (Baiyun, Ramkissoon, Greenwood, & Hoyte, 2018); however, less is known about the impact of career stability later in life. Consistency in career choice over the life course may have positive outcomes down the line as career becomes part of an individual's identity. The current study uses the Life and Family Legacies dataset, a longitudinal state-representative sample of 3,348, to examine individual’s careers at three points in the life course: high school (projected career choice), early adulthood, and later life. Results revealed that a match of desired career in high school and actual career in early adulthood was not predictive of life satisfaction or depressive symptoms in later life. However, a match of career in early adulthood and later life was significantly related to better life satisfaction and less depressive symptoms, which was explained through higher levels of job satisfaction. This study highlights the importance of acquiring and maintaining a career that is fulfilling to the individual over the course of early adulthood to later life.


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