“Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been”: a path analysis of the associations between happiness and health, sleep, physical activities for older people in Abu Dhabi

BMC Geriatrics

Research

Guang Yang¹  Mugheer Alkhaili¹  Saad Yaaqeib¹  Asma Alrashdi¹  Hamad Aldhaheri¹  Masood Badri²  Muna Albahar² 

[1] Department of Community Development, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates;United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates;Department of Community Development, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates;

关键词: Happiness;    Sleep;    Sport;    Health;    Older adults;    Path analysis;    Abu Dhabi;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-023-04244-y

 received in 2023-05-31, accepted in 2023-08-19,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe study aimed to identify the associations of happiness and factors related to physical and mental health, leisure, and sports activities amongst older adults in Abu Dhabi. The sample comprised 1,004 participants in the third Abu Dhabi Quality of Life survey administered in 2019–2020.MethodsThe analysis used path analysis to develop a model incorporating the specified variables. The path model highlighted all direct and indirect associations between the variables. We also used variance analysis to test the differences in gender, marital status, and education attainment with happiness.ResultsResults show that sleep quality is most associated with happiness and subjective health. In addition, sleeping hours did not show any association with subjective health; but were associated with happiness. The result also confirms that mental health is negatively associated with happiness and subjective health. How often an elderly gets involved in sport and activities for at least 30 min significantly affects subjective health and happiness.ConclusionsHappiness of older adults is best understood when we look at both direct and indirect effects using a path model. Their happiness is significantly associated with their subjective health, mental health, participation in sport and activities and sleep quality, Implications of the study were highlighted, along with future research directions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 3