Satisfaction with Life Among Persons Sixty-Five Years and Older: A Causal Model

Abstract

A fully recursive path model heuristically depicting a causative chain between financial situation, health satisfaction, satisfaction with standard of living, satisfaction with family life, and satisfaction with life as a whole was examined. The model was evaluated via path analysis, with parallel analyses conducted for each sex. The data used in this analysis were collected from a national probability sample of persons aged 18 and over living in noninstitutional dwelling units. This present study includes only those persons 65 years and older (N = 301). The model was shown to be an effective predictor of satisfaction with life for each sex. Satisfaction with family was found to make the greatest single impact on life satisfaction. Moreover, the model was determined to be generally consistent throughout.