Productive Activities of Older People and Their Influence on Life Satisfaction

Abstract

This study examines the meaning of productive activities by the aged population to heir actual living based on the relevance between types of productive activities and characteristics of older individuals. It focuses on the relations between the aspect of social involvements by older people and their subjective assessment of life satisfaction, with a purpose of clarifying whether the active engagement in various activities by older people can bring themselves satisfaction and whether they are really productive. This study examines that the various involvement in the world of older people significantly affects their life satisfaction. Furthermore, it shows that the degree of life satisfaction is differentiating according to the pattern of their productive activities. Classifying the groups by the category of economic situations and motivations like paid work, homemaking, carework, as well as satisfaction from a family relationship further reveals that all groups seem identical in terms of productive activities, but they significantly differ in life satisfaction.