Resilience and quality of life among empty nesters in China: the mediating role of the source of support

Abstract

This study aims to explore the correlations among resilience, social support, and quality of life (QOL) in empty nesters to comprehend whether various sources of social support indirectly affected the correlation between resilience and QOL. We used hierarchical multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling method in this study. Resilience and support from both family members and friends significantly correlated with the QOL. Besides, both types of support played vital roles in the mediating effects on the correlation between resilience and QOL among empty nesters residing in China. Hence, the hypothesis proposed was confirmed partially. Furthermore, this study offers a comprehensive understanding of overall mental and physical health among empty nesters.

Keywords:

• Empty nesters
• multiple mediation model
• quality of life
• resilience
• social support

Ethics approval

The survey conducted with oral informed consent and the approval of the ethics committee of the local government, in compliance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. And authors would take the interpretation and responsibility for results involving human subjects in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2018M632285], the Postdoctoral Research Funding Program of Jiangsu Province [1701078C], and the Jiangsu Province Social Science Fund Project [18SHC006].