فعالیت های روزانه زندگی به عنوان واسطه ارتباط بین متغیرهای شخصیتی و رفاه ذهنی در میان افراد مسن

The purpose of the present study was to examine the mediational role of participation in daily life activities on the relationship between personality variables, such as self-esteem and optimism, and subjective well-being in Spanish older adults. Two hundred and fifty people (150 retirees and 100 workers) from late adulthood to old age were interviewed to complete the Rosenberg Scale, the Optimism Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, the satisfaction with life scale and their frequency of participation in daily life activities (social activities, mass communication use, building knowledge, home activities and hobbies, creative activities, activities outside home, community service activities and games). Results from mediational analyses revealed that social activities partially mediated the relationship between personality variables – self-esteem and optimism – and subjective well-being. Implications of these findings for future research on subjective well-being and the role of participation in daily life activities in old age are discussed.

Growing evidence has demonstrated that engaging in leisure activities is associated with positive outcomes in later life. For example, daily participation in activities has been associated to reduced mortality risk, reduced risk of cognitive impairment, and improved physical health (Dawson et al., 1999 and Silverstein and Parker, 2002). Similarly, life task participation have also been linked to better indicators of psychological adjustment such as greater life satisfaction and positive affect, lower levels of stress and lower scores in depressive symptoms (Park, 2009 and Zimmer et al., 1995). According to models of successful psychosocial aging, life satisfaction and well-being are major determinants of successful aging (Lupien & Wan, 2004). Subjective well-being has been defined as an individual’s evaluation of his/her life as a whole (Diener, 1984). It is often regarded as consisting of three partially separate components: life satisfaction (a cognitive component), positive affect and negative affect (affective components). According to Suldo and Huebner (2006), individuals who report high levels of life satisfaction and more positive than negative affect, have high levels of subjective well-being. It has generally been found that personality dispositions are strongly associated with subjective well-being even more than other factors. According to Diener, Suh, Lucas, and Smith (1999) personality factors account for a large portion of the variance in individual differences in happiness – as much as 40–50% – and appear to be critical to well-being. Along with extraversion and neuroticism, a substantial body of research has demonstrated that personality variables are significantly related to subjective well-being and happiness (Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996). In this sense, both optimism (expectations of success) and self-esteem (generalized feelings of self-acceptance) have typically been shown to be two strong predictors of well-being (Diener and Diener, 1995 and Scheier et al., 2001). Scheier et al. (2001) defined optimism as a dispositional tendency of an individual to hold generalized positive expectancies even when people confront adversity or difficulty in their lives. In contrast, those with a pessimistic life orientation have negative outcome expectations, withdraw effort and become passive, and potentially give up on achieving their goals (Scheier & Carver, 1985). Dispositional optimism–pessimism has been shown to be a relatively stable disposition across time (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) and in different contexts (Park & Folkman, 1997). There is growing evidence showing that dispositional optimism and pessimism have contrasting effects on psychological and physical well-being (Scheier et al., 2001). Self-esteem is described as generalized feelings of self-acceptance, goodness and self-respect (Rosenberg, 1965). Numerous evidences show that self-esteem is positively related to emotional functioning including several predictors of life satisfaction (Diener & Diener, 1995) and subjective happiness (Lyubomirsky, Tkach, & DiMatteo, 2006). In general, believing that the self is good and worthy provides a setting for effective personal functioning in young and older adults (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). Several authors have underlined that, although relatively immutable intrapersonal, temperamental, and affective personality dimensions account for a large portion of happiness variance, there still exist up to 40% of the variance in individual differences in happiness that is not accounted for by circumstances and dispositions, suggesting that it may be linked to intentional strategies and behaviours (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005). In our research, particular emphasis was placed on the importance to well-being of participation in daily life activities in older people. Harlow and Cantor (1996) suggested that daily life participation enhances well-being independently of social-structural variables that promote well-being in any context and at any time. The authors found that, from the eight activity clusters considered (social activities, mass communication use, building knowledge, home activities and hobbies, creative activities, activities outside home, community service activities and games), social participation, community service activity and mass communication use predicted life satisfaction in late adulthood. Similarly, Warr, Butcher, and Robertson (2004), replicating the finding of Harlow and Cantor (1996), found that Family and Social Behaviours activities were most significant predictors of well-being in British adults aged between 50 and 74 years. Tkach and Lyubomirsky (2006) found in a sample of university students that mood-increasing strategies, in particular, mental control (inversely related), direct attempts, social affiliation, religion, partying, and active leisure were related to higher self-reported happiness. Besides, these strategies accounted for 52% of the variance in self-reported happiness and 16% over and above the variance accounted for by personality traits. Other studies have found that adults who practiced more exercise showed higher levels of self-esteem and optimism and suffer from less distress, depression, and anxiety (Kavussanu and McAuley, 1995 and Liao et al., 1995). Therefore, the relation between personality and happiness seems not to be direct: happiness-enhancing strategies are inter-related with personality, such that personality predicts the use of certain happiness-increasing strategies, and both personality and happiness-strategies jointly predict happiness levels (Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006). These findings support the notion that whereas personality dispositions are related to subjective well-being, other variables more related to intentional activities may play an important role in the personality–well-being relationship. It is plausible that certain personality variables (such as self-esteem and optimism) might lead people to participate in more daily activities and this participation might account for, to some degree, their increased level of subjective well-being. In fact, there are also some reasons to consider a mediation model in which self-esteem and optimism influences subjective well-being through daily activities (Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006). First, daily activities have been found to be associated to healthy personality variables such as self-esteem and optimism (Kavussanu and McAuley, 1995 and Reitzes et al., 1995). Second, daily activities have shown to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being in older people (Harlow and Cantor, 1996 and Warr et al., 2004). So, these findings are according to the criterion necessary for daily activities to be considered a potential mediator (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Third, there is accumulative evidence to suggest that people with high optimism and self-esteem experience higher levels of subjective well-being (Diener and Diener, 1995 and Scheier et al., 2001). Therefore, analyzing this hypothesis is important in understanding what leads older people to experience long-lasting subjective well-being while others not. Such knowledge is critical in developing interventions and providing appropriate support throughout older ages to improve overall psychological outcomes. Taking into account the above considerations, the purpose of the present study was twofold. First, we sought to examine the relations among self-esteem, optimism, daily life activities and subjective well-being. Secondly, consistent with the proposed mediation model, we examine the extent to which participation in activities might mediate the influence of personality variables on subjective well-being in older people.