Widowhood and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Elderly Adults: The Influences of Lifestyles and Number of Children

Frontiers in Public Health

Xixi Sun¹  Caiyun Yang²  Wenjie Duan³ 

[1] Political Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China;;School of Philosophy and Law &School of Social and Public Administration, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China;

关键词: widowhood status;    lifestyle;    life satisfaction;    number of children;    self-regulation theory;    moderated mediation;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2021.754681

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Our study examined how lifestyle and number of children influence the relationship between widowhood and life satisfaction based on self-regulation theory. A sample of 2,968 elderly respondents (male = 1,515, female = 1,453, mean age = 69.12 years, SD = 7.24) participated in Chinese General Social Survey. Our findings suggest that lifestyle is positively related to life satisfaction, and number of children is positively associated with life satisfaction but negatively related to lifestyle. The moderated mediation model demonstrated that lifestyle partly mediated the relationship between widowhood and life satisfaction. Moreover, number of children moderated the relationship between widowhood and lifestyle and between lifestyle and satisfaction with life. Widowed elderly individuals who have more children are likely to show a higher level of satisfaction with life. The present study has significance in practice because it provides empirical implications obtained from a national survey on the universal two-child policy in China as two children might decrease the negative impacts of widowhood on life satisfaction.

【 授权许可】

Unknown