Social Activity Participation in Later Life

Abstract

고령화 사회와 함께, 어떻게 하면 잘 나이들 것인가(age well)에 대한 관심이 증가하였고, 노후 사회활동에 대한 깊이있는 통찰 및 실질적 프로그램 개발과 관련한 유용성으로 노년기 활동이론(activity theory of aging)이 적극적으로 수용되고 있다. 아울러, 최근 노인부부가구의 증가와 더불어 노년기 부부의 역동적인 관계를 살펴보는 연구들이 늘고 있는데, 배우자의 행동, 태도, 일상활동 등이 상대 배우자에게 미치는 영향을 고찰하는데 적용될 수 있는 상호의존이론(interdependence theory)의 발전도 함께 이루어졌다. 부부의 상호의존 맟 상호작용은 장기적으로 볼 때 더욱 중요하다는 연구결과들에 힘입어 상호의존이론이 노인부부에 대한 연구에 적극 활용되고 있다. 그러나, 오랫동안 함께해온 역사를 가지고 있는 노인부부와 관련한 연구는 다른 연령집단에 비해 상대적으로 적게 이뤄지고 있고, 그 중 노인부부의 사회활동과 그 영향을 상호의존의 관점에서 살펴본 연구는 더욱 부족한 실정이다. 따라서, 본 연구는 노인부부의 사회활동 참여와 긍정적·부정적 측면의 노후 웰빙, 즉, 삶만족과 우울증세와 관련하여, 개인(individual) 및 양자관계(雙; dyadic) 차원에서의 경험을 살펴보는데 그 목적을 두었다.

제6차 고령화연구패널(KLoSA) 자료가 활용되었고, 만60세 이상의 1,631쌍(3,262명) 노인부부가 연구대상자로 선별되었다. 특히, 부부의 상호의존성을 적절한 통계적 방법으로 검증할 수 있는 자기-상대방 상호의존 모델 (APIM)로 자료를 분석하였다. 노인부부의 사회활동 참여와 삶만족 및 우울증세와의 개인적·양자적 역동관계는, 연령, 교육수준, 현재 노동참여, 가구소득, 주관적 건강, 인지기능 수준, 자녀와의 동거유무, 비동거 자녀와의 만남빈도, 거주지역, 그리고 종교유무가 통제된 상태에서 분석되었다.

먼저 개인적 수준의 분석결과, 남편과 아내 모두에게서, 친구, 이웃, 친척 등과의 만남과 같은 비공식적 사회활동 참여는 높은 수준의 삶만족과 낮은 수준의 우울증세와 관련이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 그러나, 양자적(dyadic) 수준의 분석에서는 아내가 남편에게서 영향을 주로 받는다는 선행연구들과 달리, 남편이 아내의 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다. 특히, 예상과 달리, 아내가 종교집단 활동, 연고집단 활동, 친목집단 활동, 여가단체 활동 등 공식적 사회활동 참여에 적극적일수록 이것이 남편의 높은 우울증세와 관련이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 그러나, 이와 같은 반대방향의 결과는 오히려 한국사회에서 남편들이 가지고 있는 보수적이고 가부장적인 가치를 반영하는 것일 수 있다고 보고 이에 대해 논의하였다. 아울러, 노년기 활동이론과 상호의존이론에 대한 함의 및 개입방법 개발에 대한 함의가 제안되었다.

The present study aimed to examine individual and dyadic accounts of older married couple dyads, in relation to social activity participation and later life well-being. Along with the aging of our society, much focus has been on how to age well, and the activity theory of aging has provided valuable insights and been one of the most preferred theories adopted by social workers and practitioners due to its applicability. As well, a number of studies have started to investigate the dynamics of older married couples who have increasingly become a large part of the population in recent years. The interdependent theory argues that a spouses behavior, attitude, emotions, daily activities, etc. may be decided by his or her partner, and can evolve into a distinct mold of interpersonal regulation in the long term. Nonetheless, it appears that few studies have attempted to examine the interdependence of older married couples (who are likely to have a longer history of interdependent interactions than other age-group couples) with regard to their social activity participation and its impact. Therefore, the present study examined individual and dyadic experiences of older married couples in relation to social activity participation and later life well-being as in life satisfaction and depressive symptoms.

Using the sixth wave of Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) panel data, 1,631 dyads (3,262 individuals) of married older adults aged 60 years and above were selected for the study. In order to examine not only married couples individual experiences but also their dyadic accounts of social activity participation and its effects on later life well-being, Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was adopted for analyses. Older married couples social activity participation was examined with life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, while confounding variables such as age, educational attainment, labor force perspiration, household income, subjective health, cognitive functioning level, cohabitation with children, frequency of meeting with non-cohabitant children, residential area, and religion were controlled.

In the individual level analyses, the findings showed that higher levels of informal social activity participation such as meeting up with friends, neighbors, and relatives were indeed likely to be related to higher levels of life satisfaction as well as lower levels of depressive symptoms for both husbands and wives, as expected. In the dyadic level analyses, however, the results demonstrated that the wives were not likely to be affected by their husband, which has been a common direction of the findings in previous dyadic studies, albeit with different research questions. Interestingly, it was the husbands depressive symptoms that were linked to their wifes formal and informal social activity participation. Unexpectedly, though, the types of the social activity appeared to elicit the opposite results. That is, the wives higher levels of participation in informal social activities were related to their husband lower levels of depressive symptoms; but the wives higher levels of participation in formal social activities were related to their husband higher levels of depressive symptoms. While the wives meet-up with friends, neighbors, and others seemed to be associated with ameliorating their husbands depressive symptoms, the wives activity participation such as volunteering, joining religious group activities, sports clubs, political/interest groups, etc. appeared to be related to the worsening of their husbands depressive symptoms. Therefore, even though the results are seemingly the opposite from the previous studies, it was argued in the discussion that the findings of the husbands being affected by their wife represent the husbands conservative values in Korea.

Still, this finding should be taken with caution because the present study used the cross-sectional data and did not actively investigate causal relationships. The implications for the activity theory of aging and the interdependence theory as well as for developing intervention programs were discussed.