Getting Old Well in Sub Saharan Africa: Exploring the Social and Structural Drivers of Subjective Wellbeing among Elderly Men and Women in Uganda
Open Access
- 31 March 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Vol. 17 (7), 2347
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072347
Abstract
While literature attempts to explain why self-reported subjective wellbeing (SWB) generally increases with age in most high-income countries based on a social determinants of a health framework, little work attempts to explain the low levels of self-report SWB among older persons in sub-Saharan Africa. Using the 2013 Uganda Study on Global Aging and Health with 470 individuals, this research examines (i) direct and indirect effects of age on SWB through social and structural determinants, and (ii) how direct and indirect effects vary by gender. Results show a significant direct and negative effect of age on SWB (β = 0.42, p = 0.01). Six indirect paths were statistically significant and their indirect effects on wellbeing varied by gender. Providing support, education, working status, asset level, financial status and financial improvement were significantly positively associated with men’s SWB, whereas younger age, providing community support, participating in group activities, number of close friends/relatives, government assistance and all socio-economic variables were significantly positively associated with women’s SWB. Strategies to address gendered economic, social and political inequalities among and between elderly populations are urgently needed.Keywords
This publication has 79 references indexed in Scilit:
- An investigation of factors associated with the health and well-being of HIV-infected or HIV-affected older people in rural South AfricaBMC Public Health, 2012
- Subjective Wellbeing and Longevity: A Co-Twin Control StudyTwin Research and Human Genetics, 2011
- A snapshot of the age distribution of psychological well-being in the United StatesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Gender, aging, poverty and health: Survival strategies of older men and women in Nairobi slumsJournal of Aging Studies, 2009
- The Male–Female Health–Survival Paradox: A Survey and Register Study of the Impact of Sex-Specific Selection and Information BiasAnnals of Epidemiology, 2009
- Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?Social Science & Medicine, 2008
- Social Inequalities in Happiness in the United States, 1972 to 2004: An Age-Period-Cohort AnalysisAmerican Sociological Review, 2008
- Lost in translation: a genealogy of the "social capital" concept in public healthJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2006
- The Scree Test For The Number Of FactorsMultivariate Behavioral Research, 1966
- The Application of Electronic Computers to Factor AnalysisEducational and Psychological Measurement, 1960