Associative participation of older adults and subjective quality of life: exploring self-selection bias

Active ageing policies seek to increase the quality of life of older people in three areas: health, security and participation. This paper focuses on a specific type of participation: associations. Its objective is to explore the possible self-selection effects of this type of participation, using g...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ahmed Mohamed, Karim, Rojo Pérez, Fermina, Fernández-Mayoralas, Gloria, Forjaz, María João, Martínez-Martín, Pablo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/109738
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/109738
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Associative participation
Active ageing
Subjective quality of life
Individual wellbeing
Satisfaction with life
Older adults
Spain
Descripción
Sumario:Active ageing policies seek to increase the quality of life of older people in three areas: health, security and participation. This paper focuses on a specific type of participation: associations. Its objective is to explore the possible self-selection effects of this type of participation, using global subjective quality of life indicators (satisfaction with life) and domain-specific indicators (satisfaction with leisure, community social integration and emotional resources). For this, a structural equation modelling analysis was conducted, taking into account bi-directional relationships between the variables of interest. The data come from a conditions and quality of life survey conducted in 2008 among a sample of 1,106 individuals aged 60 or over, living in community-dwellings in Spain. The results illustrate a complex model of relationships in which associative participation is not statistically significantly associated with the satisfaction measures used. This highlights the importance of self-selection effects and raises the issue of the effectiveness of associative participation as a tool to enhance the life satisfaction of older adults.