Productive Activity and Life Satisfaction in Korean Elderly Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explain the effect of participation in productive activities on life satisfaction and its implications for social evaluation of productive aging. This study uses data collected from 1,250 elderly women living in urban areas. The regression model was used to examine the influence of elderly women's participation in productive activities on their life satisfaction. Elderly women who participate in volunteer work, learning, and social group activities commonly recognized their activities as meaningful, feeling like worthwhile members of society, and evaluated such activities as very positive. In contrast, elderly women who participated in household chores and family care activities expressed a negative life satisfaction. The difference in life satisfaction regarding productive activities stems not only from the physical and environmental differences but also from the gap between the official social value underpinned by the recognition of surrounding people, their support, and the value of productive activities.

Keywords:

• life satisfaction
• productive activities
• Korean elderly women

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government [NRF-2010-330-B00005].

Notes

1. The study limitation is that a single question was used to evaluate the entire life satisfaction. The questionnaire used in the survey had four questions designed to evaluate elderly people's health, economy, and relations with spouse/children and one combined question asking about the overall life satisfaction. The results revealed no significant difference between the satisfaction level across the four items and the overall satisfaction level or between the two analyses (when analyzed as dependent variables). Since the study includes controlled variables, such as health, family relation, and income, the question designed to evaluate the overall quality of life in elderly people was used as a dependent variable in the final analysis.