The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that influence the life satisfaction of retirees in order to consider functions that can be fulfilled in the field of social welfare. To this end, 2113 respondents, who identified themselves as 'reti...
The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that influence the life satisfaction of retirees in order to consider functions that can be fulfilled in the field of social welfare. To this end, 2113 respondents, who identified themselves as 'retired', were selected from the second wave data of KLoSA; their answers were then analyzed to investigate health, economic and social factors that influence life satisfaction of retirees. For data analysis, SPSS 18.0 was used to implement frequency analysis, descriptive analysis, T-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and hierarchial multiple regression analysis.
The major findings were as follows:
First, life satisfaction appeared to be higher among retirees who are of lower age: with higher level of education: with religion: with living spouse: who exercise regularly and receive regular medical check-ups: who own their housing: and who belong to social gatherings.
Second, among six social gatherings, the greater numbers of respondents were found to be participating in informal gathering for friendship and religious gathering. However, it was among the respondents who participate in volunteer work that life satisfaction was the highest.
Third, when social factors were added into the final model of hierarchial multiple regression analysis, the R change was the greatest. This shows that social factors have the strongest influence on the life satisfaction of retirees. The variables that appeared statistically significant in the final model of hierarchial multiple regression analysis were subjective health condition, regular exercise, whether they benefit medical check-ups, whether they own their housing, net asset, monthly pocket money, satisfaction in relationship with their spouse and children and whether they participate in any social gathering.
In particular, that satisfaction in relationship with their spouse and their children appeared to have the strongest influence on the life satisfaction of retirees means that the relationship with family members is important to the life satisfaction of retirees. On the other hand, CES-D showed a significant result in the second and the third model but not in the final model. This implies that the social factors that were added in the final model had relatively stronger influence on life satisfaction than CES-D.
According to the major findings of this study, implications are as follows:
First, as the influence of subjective health condition on life satisfaction is strong among health factors, it is suggested that retirees can increase their life satisfaction by better assessing their health condition.
Second, among the economic factors, housing ownership, net asset and monthly pocket money were all statistically significant. This shows that when individuals own their housing and economically stable, the life satisfaction of retirees can be increased.
Third, social factors made the greatest contribution to the life satisfaction of retirees. In the family welfare field, programs, which enable families to participate and socialize together, are needed to enhance the life satisfaction of retirees. In addition, participation rates for other gatherings other than informal gathering for friendship and religious gathering were low. Network within community should be formed to raise participation rates for other gatherings. In particular, it was found that life satisfaction was higher among retirees, who participate in volunteer work gathering, than those, who participate in other gatherings. The benefit of participating in volunteer work is not just for the society as a whole, but also to the retirees themselves in greater life satisfaction.