Are Older Adult German Women Satisfied with Their Lives?
On the Role of Life Domains, Partnership Status, and Self-Construal
Isabelle Albert
1,Katrin Labs
2,and Gisela Trommsdorff2
'University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 'University of Konstanz, Germany
Abstl'act. Along with increased life ~xpcctancy, sllccessful aging and possibilities for increasing well-being in old age have become important research topics in recent years. T!1(~ present study (a) examines the relationship between satisfaction in several life domains (\vith respect to family. friendships, and health) and general life satisfaction of oldcr adult women in Germany. and (b) dctermines which factors moderate the importance of satisfaction in thcse ditTcrent life domains for the evaluation of genera! life satisfaction. More precisely, wc examine the role of partnership status and self-construa!. The sample consisted of 98 German women between the age of 58 and 83 years (AI::;: 69.6 years: Sf)::;: 5.9 years) who wert~ interviewed in the framework of the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural Value of Children S!Udy. Results showed that for women living \vith a parttlC!'. satisfaction with family was most important for their general life .<;atisfaction, whereas for women without a partner. satisfaction with friendships and with socioeconomic statlls had prominent roles. In addition, the kind of self-construal moderated the relations between (I) satisfaction with family and general life satisfaction and (2) satisfaction with health and general life satisfaction. Family satisfaction was less important for the general life satisfaction of \vomen who were highly independently oriented; for women who had a strongly pronounced sdf-collstrual (either independent or interdependent).
satisfaction \vith health was less important for general life satisfaction.
Keywords: independence. interdependence, life domains, life satisfaction. older adult wom~~n, sclf-construai
Introduction
The study of subjective well-being in the context of aging has becomc an important research topic in recent years.
Along \vith increased life expectancy. successful aging and possibilities for increasing well-being in old age and the associated policy implications <Ire studied (e,g., Baltes &
Smith. 2003: Bowling & Dieppe. 2008: Easterlin. 2003:
Sehulz & f-Ieckhauscn. 1996).
Subjective weJ!-being has often been referred to as an umbrella term (Perring & Filipp, 1997: Veenhoven, 2000),
5'ati,~r(lcti()1l with !(re can be seen as the cognitive compo- nent of subjective well-being and the result of the subjec- tive evaluation of onc's own life: this definition refers to cogniti ve judgmental processes that compare achievements and aspirations of an individual. Accordingly, a dynamic adaptation or one 's life satisfaction is possible by changing the actual !ife circulllstances ("is'") or the personal standard ("ought") (Diener. 1(84). Other aspects such as happi ness or positive and negative emotions refer to affective COlll-
ponents of subjective well-being (Diencr, Suh, Lucas. &
Smith, 1999: Fcrring & Filipp, 1997). A related concept is DOl IO.I()24/1(i«~-%-17/;1(l(](l(102
(!{{({lity (~rt{fe. illcluding both subjective and objective liv- ing conditions (c,g" Chappell. ! 991; Vccnhovcn, 2(00).
Bccause aging is typically associated with Illultiple losses slIch as the death of a partner or close friends, or \vith poor health. early researchers supposed that well-being is reduced in older age (e.g .. \VilsoIl, 19(7). However, the individual's
~ubjective perception may diverge from the objecti\'e reality (Kahneman & Krueger. 20(6). Cross-sectional studies have not provided clear evidence for differences between younger and oldcr persons regarding their subjecti ve \vell-being ("ag- ing paradox") (e,g., Diener et at.. 1999: Ferring et ai.. 2004;
Kunzl1lann, Little, & Smith, 2000: Pinquart t 997), In psychological research, researchers identified a mul- titude of factors that influence subjective well-being either directly or indirectly as intervening factors and regulativc mcchanisms (e.g .. Bralldtstiidter & Rcnner, 1990: Chap- pe!L 1991: Fcrring & Hoffmall!l, 2007: Hcy!. W'ahL & Mol- lcnkopL 2007: Trol11t11sdorff. 2(09). These factors do not exist independently from each other. Further. the interac- tion of environmental. social, and psychological factors over thc lifcspan has to be taken into account (Caspi &
Elder. 1986).
(!crnP\}Th 23 (!) (i) 2010 hy f[ogrcfc Puhii!>hing Konstanzer Online-Publikations-System (KOPS) URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-opus-115319 URL: http://kops.ub.uni-konstanz.de/volltexte/2010/11531/
First publ. in: GeroPsych 23 (2010), 1, pp. 39-49
40
I. Albert et al : Life Satisfaction of Oldcr \Vomen in GcnllanyIn the present study. \ve address the importance of satis- faction in different life domains for general life satisfaction and consider the role of partnership status and sclf·constru- al for older adult women in Germany.
General life Satisfaction and life Domains
Onc can distinguish bet\,veen gcnera! life satisfaction and satisfaction with specific life domains (e.g .. Argylc & Mar- tin. 1991; Diener & Diener. 1995: Ferring et al .. 20(4). The
bottom-up/top~dO\vn controversy deals with the question of causal direction (c.g .. Headey. Veenhoven, & \Vearing.
! 991). According to the hottom-lIp Il/odel, individuals' evaluations of their current li re COllste lIations are the source of their satisfaction with life domains, which contributes to generallifc satisfaction. According to the !o{)-do\\,1l mode/.
individuals tend to have a particular means of evaluating experiences: General life satisfaction is seen as a trait-like basis for satisfaction \vith specific life domains and not as their rcsult. As Sclnvarz and Strack (199 I) state. the assess- ment of one's satisfaction in single life domains might be data-driven (i.c .. bottom-up). because information about single life domains that is needed for illter- and intraindi- vidual comparison processes is rather easily available. The evaluation of general life satisfaction constitutes a more complex task. as many different dimensions have to be in- cluded and integrated in the judgmental process. Therefore, the assessment of genera! life satisfaction might be more concept-driven (i.e .. top-down) and be influenced by judg- ment heuristics. Both bottom-up and top-down models have found empirical support and both processes may work together over time (e.g .. Scherpenzeel & Saris. ! 996:
Schimmack.2(08).
The following focuses on thosc life domains that are considered in the present study. namely. social relations (with partners. friends. and family) and health.
Social relationships represent an important life domain related to life satisfaction because significant others pro- vide social support, give material help, share leisure time activities. and provide company (Adams, 1971; Larson.
Manllell, & Zuzanek. 1986). As proposed in sociocmo- tional selectivity theory. as people age, their social net- works are oftcn reduced. It is assllmcd that older people concentrate more on existing relationships. which they try to improve in quality: thus. social relationships within the closer network remain highly important in older age (Car- stel1scn. Isaacowitz. & Charles. 19<)<)). DilTcrent network members serve different functions in the \vell-being of older people (e.g .. Procidano & Helier. 1983). In the fol- lowing sections, we focus on the roles of partners. family.
and friends as close social network agents in the regUla- tion of weB-being in older adults.
Both marriage and living \vith a partner are positively related with li re satisfaction (Connidis. 200 I: Diener.
Gohm. Suh. & Oishi. 2000; Larson. 1978: \Vilson, 19(7).
Peop!e \vl1o lose their partner or split up often successfully
GewP~ych 23 (I) is) 2010 by Hngrcfe Pllb!i~hing
< / ' 0 > > Ikkk"k"'kk0k0.
adapt to widowhood or divorce to somc extent. but they tllay suffer more from lonelincss or a lack of social sup- port than do people who still have a partner (Diener &
Diener ivIcGavran. 20(8). Regarding the quality of part- nership, Hcac!ey et a!. (199 I) found an effect of marital satisfaction on general life satisfaction in their longitudi- nal study. HmI/ever. in a top-down perspcctive. people who are more satisfied in general should also have more satisfying relations with their partners (Diener et aI.,
1999).
The famil)-' is generally - and in very different cultural contexts - a place of close bonding. emotional benefit. and functional support (e.g., Bengtson. 200 I; Sch\varz.
TrommsdorfL Kim, & Park. 2006; TrommsJorlT. 20(6).).
Older people have to cope with the loss of their closc friends and relatives of their age. Thus. their relationships with family members such as children and grandchildren become even 1110re vital (Trommsdorff & SChWafl. 1(07).
Older parents may feel an increasing dependence 011 the support of family members, Apart from their spoLlse, chil- dren are the most important providers of family care in old age (Connidis. :2OOl). On thc other hand. support pro- vided by older parents to adult children can give them a sense of purpose in life and self-esteem (Schwal'z et al..
in press). Further. older people have certain expectations for the future of their offspring and their children's achievements may be another source of family satisfac- tion (Efklides, Kalaitzidoll, & Chankin. 2(03). Accord- ingly, satisfaction with family relations and with family members might influence older persons' !ife satisfaction (Diener & Diener McGavran. 1008; Schwarz, Tromms- dorff. Albert. & Mayer, 2005; Sch\varz ct al.. in press).
Relationships with friends have often been described as less strong than those \vith family members (such as children) (ChappelL ! 991: Diener & Diener McGavran, 200S). However. close friends are important members or individuals' social networks over their lifespan and oftcn gain importance \vith increasing age as children start hav- ing their own families and spend less time with their par- ents, Friends can provide support and serve as confidants and are especially important for the experience of positive affect and immediate well-being by providing enjoyment during activities and leisure time (Larson et al.. ! 986;
Rcinhardt & Fisher. 1989). In older age, the number of contacts with friends seems to be even more related \vith life satisfaction than contact frequency with family mem- bers (Pinquart & Sc)rensen, 2000).
Apart from the social domain. the life domain of health is of prime importance for older people as health problems genera!!y increase with age (Molarius & Janson. 2(02).
Old age has often been regarded as being related to a de- cline in life satisfaction due to reduced health. However.
although adaptation to impaired health conditions varies across individuals, studies 011 different age groups have shown that people usually adapt to a certain degree to a reduced health status and, after an initial decline. often return to their previous level or life satisfaction (sec Die-
I. Albert et al : Life Satisfaction of Older Women in Germany 41
ner et al.. 1999). Altogether. satisfaction with health in terms of the subjectivc appraisal and interpretation of the objcctive hcalth status might thus have i.l greater impact on general life satisfaction than objective health status per se (Smith, Borchelt, tvIaier, & Jopp. 2(02). Yet, impaired health may impede social contacts. Social relations seem to be most gratifying for persons who do not have diffi- culties in daily activities, compared with persons whose social contact is primarily related to thcir need for care (Lang & Baltes, 1997),
The same holds true for the influence or economic status on life satisfaction: Subjective appraisals seem to be Illore important than objective matcria! wealth, although adverse material conditions may reduce subjective well-being by impairing living conditions (e,g .. Kahncman. Krucger.
Schkacle, Schwarz. & Stone, 2006: Vecnhoven, 2(00), Em- pirical studies on the relation bet\vecn material wcalth and subjective well~being have documented moderate, curvi- linear corrclations that are stronger at lower ceonomic lev- els (Biswas-Diener. 2008).
Self-Construal and Life Satisfaction
As Diener and others argued. culturally based values such as an individualistic or co!!ectivistic orientation affcct the impacl of diffcrent factors on life satisfaction and well-be- ing (e.g .. Dicner & Diener. 1995: sce also Kornadt, 2009:
Suh et aI., 1998; Tromlllsdorff. 20(9). Diener and col- leagues (e,g .. Diener & Diener. 1995) stated that in indi- vidualistic societies, personal feelings influence evalua- tions of life satisfaction, \vhereas in collectivist societies, people evaluate their life satisfaction in relation to society, family, or friends. Such cultural differences arc cxplained partly by diffcrent self-construals which roughly corre- spond to cultural values 011 the individual level. Se((co!l- stnwl can be described as a system of thoughts, feelings.
and actions regarding the self and the role of others (]\itar- kus & Kitayama. 199 I). Markus and Kitayama differenti~
ated bet\vcen two types of self-construal: Indepcndcnt scU~
CO!lSlrlf(l/, typical of\Ycstern cultures, is based on the norm of being unique and autonomous, focusing on personal characteristics distinct from others: interdependent se((
cOflstrlwl, preciominantly found in Eastern cultures, is con- nected with the social context based on the norm of mutual reliance and connectedness with others. stressing the rela- tional aspects of the self. 'rhus, an interdependent person defines him- or herself through close relationships, and the development and maintenance of thesc relationships are consequently major goals (Cross & Morris, 20(3), Singclis (1994) assumed that the individual's self is characterized by both independent and interdependent aspects. Depend~
ing on the self-construaL different life domains might be more central for individuals, and individuals take different information into account when evaluating their overal! life satisfaction (Diener et aL 1999: Mollenkopf & Kaspar, 200S; Suh cl al.. 20(8). Recent findings by Suh, Diener,
and UpdcgratT (200S) indicate that persons characterized by a higher salience of independent self-aspects take infor- mation abollt their o\vn affective status into account when they evaluate their ovcralllifc satisfactiOJ1. [n contrast. per- sons who view themselves in relational terms also consider social information in evaluating their lives. This result oc- curred \vhen individual differences in independent and in- terdependent self-construals were cXHll1ined in a U, S, sam- ple and also when the salience of different self-construal aspects was manipulated in an experimental design com- paring a collectivist country (Korea) \vith an individualistic context (United States).
The differential importance or different life domains for life satisfaction depends on relational aspects of se!f (Ye- ung & Fung, 20(7). In a study on older Hong Kong Chincse individuals, Yeung and Fung found that those who scored higher on familisrn shmved a higher relation bet\veen in- strumental support of family members and life satisfnction, A study in Greece further shO\ved that for presumably in- terdependently oriented participants. satisfaction with fam- ily and gencrativity were most important for their well-be- ing (Efklides et ai., 20(3).
Depending on the self-construaL the salience of single life domains should thus differ between individuals: For interdependent persons, satisfaction \vith their families is presumably highly correlated to their general life satisfac- tion whereas for independent persons, the family presLlm- ably plays a less prominent role. For the latter. other aspects sHch as health status might be more irnportant \vhen eval- uating their general life satisfaction,
Aims of the Study
Our first aim \vas to examine the relationships bet\'\!ecll old- er \vornen 's satisfaction with di rrcrent life domains (family.
friendships, and health) and their general life satisfaction.
More precisely, we addressed the relative impact or satis- faction in these different life domains on genera! life satis- faction, The relationships between partnership and life sat- isfaction have often been documented in earlier studies.
Here. wc presume that marital status plays an important rolc with respect to the value attributed to single life do- mains. Similarly, Reinhardt and Fisher (1989) reponed that relationships with social nct\vork members such as childrcn and friends were more important for the well-being of wid- owed compared \vith nonwiclowed women, This may indi- cate compensatory adaptivc efforts of widowed women:
They may try to optimize their relations with close family members and friends in order to compensate for partner loss (Baltes & Carstensen, 1(96), To account for these dif- fercnces, wc studied the relative importance of single life domains for genera! life satisfaction (I) for the whole sam- ple and (2) separately for women with and \vithout a part- ner. Here. marita! status serves as a proxy for women's life situation, covering different regulative strategies of wid- owed and flol1widmvcd persons,
(;eroP"ych 23 (I} (i) 20!0 by /-!ogrei"e Publi\hing
42
1. Albeit ct al.: Life Satjst~lction of Older \Vomcn in GermanyRam:c
Full sample I'll '" (8)
With partner
(11;;;;. 54)
Without partller
(11::::: 4,+)
SuhgWllp di ITcn:ncc:.
Gcncrallifc salisf,Ktion Satisfaction with faml!y Sati,~ractiOI1 with friends Satisfaction with health Satisfaction with partner Independence
Intc]'(~~pen(kllcc
2 .. ,5 4.21-\ (0.67) 4.3[ (0.64) 4.23 (0.71) 0.(14 (9(1)
3-5 4A4 ((JAj) 4.44 (().60) -1.4,+ (().67) D.O:;; (95)
J~·5 .. 1..!.5 (0,62) 4.17 m.Cl:?) 4.1! ((l,b:?) OA7 (94)
l<'i 3.61 (0.85) 3.65 W.R()) 3.57 (0,90) OA6(96)
3-5 -L40 (0.58)
2.6-4.8 3.93 (0,46) 3.91 (0.50) 3.96 (OA!) 0.49 (96)
.... _._. _ _ ~.:_5 _ _ _ _ _ ... _ 4.2'±J.9,43) , ___ ~~~~J) ____ ~ _ _ 4:.! .. U,.~L:!:u.. ___ .J~~?~~~L .. ____ _
If wc combine bottom-up and top-down models of life satisfaction. different self-construals emerge within the person as trait-like aspects that moderate (top-down) the degree to which satisfaction with diffcrent life domains in- fluences gcneral life satisfaction (bottom-up). In a judg- ment-theorctical approach, evaluations of gencral life sat- isfaction are thus estimated "top" to "clown'· since sclf-con- struals are llsed to form a comparatively "parsimonious"
judgment, taking only information abollt personally impor- tant domains into account. Based 011 these assumptions, the second aim of the study \vas to analyze whether aspects of the se!f-construal, namely. independence and interdepen- dence. moderate the relationship between satisfaction in single life domains and genera! life satisfaction (i.c .. con- tribute to different importance of single life domains for general life satisfaction).
Method
Sample
The hypotheses were tested llsing the data of N :::: 98 Ger- man grandmothers who participated in the erosscultural
"Value of Children and Intergenerational Relations"
study (Trommsdorff & Nauck. 2005: Tromlllsdorff. Kim,
& Nauck, 200S), in which family members of three gen-
erations (adolescents, their mothers, and the maternal grandrnothers) participated. The maternal grandmothers were contacted via thcil' adult daughters. who also took part in thc study. and \\/ho had been recruited through res- idents' registration offices. AboLlt one-third of the re- spondents lived in Chemnitz (a middle-sized town in Eastern Germany). onc-third lived in Konstanz (a mid- dle-sized tmvn in Southern Germany). and onc-third in Essen (a larger city from an urbanized industrialized area in Northwestern Germany: sce J\IIayer. Albert. Tromms- dorff. & Schwarl.. 20(5).
Participants were intervicwed individually in their homes by trained female interviewers in a standardized face-to-face interview. The intervicws lasted between I h
GcwPsych 23 (I) (D 2010 by Hogrcfc Publishing
and 1.5 h. The respondents received a small gift at the end of the interview.
Participants were between 58 and 83 years old (AI ::::
69.6 years; Sf) :;::: 5.9 years). On average, participants re- ported having had 9 years (oS'/) :;::: 1.9 years)
or
schooling.Altogether. 14 older women were still gainfully em- ployed, and 9 \vomcn reported doing unpaid work outside the household. 54lJG were married (for three not the first marriage). 39Q, were widowed. and 7CJc were divorced.
Two of those widc}\ved or divorced had a nc\v partner.
Thus, altogether 1/ :;::: 54 women in the present sample had
a partner. and !l :;::: 44 women were \vithout a panner. On average. the women had given birth to 2.88 (5D:::;: 1.52) children. They were grandmothers of at least one adoles- cent grandchild (/'1/:::: 4.84, .5'D:::: 3.48. range:;::: 1-17).
Their average household size was 1.7 (S'f)::::: 0.7). Most
\vomen considered thcmselves to have a mid!evel socio~
economic status compared to others living in their coun- try, as rated on a 5-point Likert scale (I ;;;; low. 5 := lIpper):
women with <Ind without a partner did not differ in their appraisals (1(95) = 1.3 3. 1/5).
Measures
General Life Satisfaction and Satisfaction with Life Domains
Satisfaction in thc different life domains (family. friends.
and health) \vas assessed with one itelll each (sce Henrich
& Herschbach, 1995). \Vomen who stilt had a partner also rated their satisfaction with partnership. CJellcral life satis- faction was measured with the item "All things considered.
how satisficd are you \vith life as a \vhole these days?"
(Diener et al.. 2000: see also Schilling. 2006: Veenhovcn.
1996). Items \vcre rated on a 5-point Liken-scale ranging from 1 (V('lY wls({ti.~'Iled) to :) (very s({li4'iedj. Range.
means. and standard deviations for the fu\! sample and for the two subsnmples of \vomen \vith and without a partner are given in Table I. Differences ill satisfaction ratings be- tween participants with and without a partner were Ilot sig- nificant.
I. Albcrt et a!.: I ,ife Satisfaction of Oldcr Women in Germany
n,h/c 2. Intercorrelation;; bet\vcen mcn;;ures of ;;ati;;faction and st.~lr~collstrllal (IV::: 98)
I, Ge!1erallifc satisfaction 2. Satisf;lCtitln with rallli!) . 1. Satisracti{lll
with frknd,~
4. Satisf,lcti,lll with health 5. Satisfaction
with p;lrtncr:
6. Imlcpcntlence
.10 .1;";
.05 .0 I .03
.3-1'·
,Z:._!!}[t'rtL~Ps_~!~_I_t?'~~S. __ -' . ____________________ . __ " .. ~ ... _. _ _ _ _ _ _
Independent and Interdependent Self-construal
Self-collstrual wa;; mea;;ured on the two dimen;;ions of independence and interdependence with five items each
from the Sclf-Construal Scale by Singelis (1994). Items
were rated on a 5-point Lif..:ert scale ranging from I (strongly disagree) to 5 (strollg/y agree). \Vordings of items of the original self-construal scale were modified to refer to one's family instead
or
social groups in gener- al. The interdependence scale (e.g .. "It is important to me to respcct decisions made by my family") had a good in- ternal consistency of Cl. :::: .77. The independence scale (e.g .. "I enjoy being uniquc and different from family members in many respects") had a lower internal consis- tency of Cl.:::: .60. Both scales were significantly correlat- ed with r::::: .34, p < .0 I.Both independence and interdependence as self-aspects were on average highty pronounced by the participants and did not differ significantly bet\VeCfl participants with and
\-vithollt a partner (sce Table I). Intcrcorrelatiolls of all mefl- sures are given in Table 2.
Results
Prediction of General Life Satisfaction
vVe carried out regression analyses to determine the relative impact of satisfaction in the! i re domai ns or rami I y, friends, and health on genera! life satisfaction: socioclclllographic variables sllch as age. educational level. socioeconomic status, and living with or without a partner (coded as a dum- my variable) \vere controlled for ill the regression analyses.
\-Ve first ran tllese analyses for the whole sample and ill a next step carried them out separately for married and wicl- owed/noHmarried women.
The mode! for the full sample was significant. Fn. 89) ::::
4.43. p < .0 I, and explained 2W)C' of the variance in gene!"al
life satisfaction. Among the sociodemographic aspects, on- ly socioeconomic status had a significant positive effect on general life satisfaction n3 ::::: .29. fI < .0 I). Regarding life domains. satisfaction with family' was most important in predicting general life satisfaction
d3::::
.27./) < .01): the other domains were not significant n3::::: .2(), I} < .10. for satisfaction with friendships: r~::::
.! 0, flS, for satisfaction with health) .Next. we repeated the regression analyses separately for women with and withollt a partner. For women with a part- ner. only satisfaction with family was a significant predic- tor of genera! life satisfaction (l):::: .49. /) < .(1). \-Vhcn sat- isfaction with onc's partner was added to the regressitHl.
the relationship betwcen family' s,ltisi"action and general
!ife satisfaction was reduced to ~ :::: .35./) < .05: however.
satisfaction with onc's partner itself did !lot significantly' predict genera! life satisi"action
d3::::
.24, liS). nor did satis- faction with friendships (f3 ::::: .04, liS) or satisfaction with health !J3:::: .17. liS). For people without a partner. only sat- isfaction with friends (f3 == .52, I) < .0 I) and socioeconomic status (f3::::: .40, I' < .05) were significant predictors of gell- eral life satisfaction: the predictive values of the other two life domains \vcrc close to zero.Moderating Effect of Self-Construal
\-VC then tested the moderating effects
or
imlcpendent and interdcpendent aspects of self-construalror
the relation- ship betwcen domain satisfaction and general life satis- faction using several hierarchical regression analyses for the full sample following the suggestions of Cohen, Co- hen, West, and Aikcn (200]; sce also Jaccard & Turrisi.20(3). Again. in thc, first step. wc introduced sociodemo- graphic aspects as control variables. In a second step. we added satisfaction with onc of the three life domains (family, friends. or health) as predictor alld one of the two sclf-construai variables (independent self or interdepen- dent self) as moderator to the regression to predict gen- eral life satisfaction. The interaction term of satisf~\Ctio!l
with the respective life domain (predictor) and self-con- ::.trual (moderator) W<I:; added in the third ~tev, thu:;. this last step included control variables, the respectivc predic- tor and moderator vnriables. as well as their interaction term. All variables were ~-standardi/.cd before the inter- action term \vas composed. F!.esults showed a significant interaction betwcen satisfaction with family and inde- pendent sell'-construal. L\R2::::: .08: FCh ;1Iltc';(' I. 83) ::: 9.74:
l) = --.31.1' < .01 (sec Table 3).
\Vc applied J1osthoc plotting procedures to test the direc- tion of crfects as suggested by Cohen ct a!. (2003. sec Fig- ure I). In this procedure, we plotted the three regressiotl lincs for the regression of general life sati.sfactio[l on a spe- cific domain satisfaction for low (onc.')"/) below' the mean).
medium (at the mean), and high (one.')"f) above the mean) levels of independence and interdepcndence, respectively'.
The post hoc analysis showed that the lower the intk>
44 l. Albcrt ct a!.: Life Satisfaction or Older \Vomcn in Germany
Tablc 3. Linear regression predicting general life satisfaction by satisfaction with single life domains, sclf-construaL and the interactions bet\veen the two predictors (N:= 98)
Life satisfaction Predictors
Step I i\I(
Step 2 !~{(
Step:\ !;..{(
Step:2 tJ.1(
Step 3 tJ.r(
Ycars of schooling Living with a partlleri Respondents age Econnlnic status
Satisfactintl with family Independent self
/J .09+
(J.OO 0.11 OJ16 0.22 -0.02 0.11
0,28 0.10 .14" ••
0.36 D.IO --0.06 0.10
.OW···
Satisfaction with family x ·_(U I ILl 0 Independent self
Satisfaction with friends Independent self
0.33 (J.IO -.(J,IS 0.10
.00 Satisfaction with friends x 0.00 n.os
Independent self
Satisfaction with health IndcpcndtrH self
.or
(US 0.10 -(J.IO 0.10
'()6';' Satisfaction with health x -0.22 (U)')
~~~ ___ .. J.J..l.~.~~knt .~elf._~~~~~~~~~_
.(lI .03
~·.()2
.3(/":- ,--,06
--.15
···.26*
Predictors
Step 2 L\f?'
Step.2 !1R"
Step 2 M(
11 SEjL ..
_.JL ____
.U9 +
Years of schooling:
Living with a pmtneri Respnndents uge Eeonolllie status
(l.OO 0.11 0.06 U.22 -IJ.02 0.11 0.28 0.10
Satisfaction with family 0.38 (J.IO Interdependent self -O.OS O.l!
.01
Satisfaction with fami- --0.09 O. II ly x Interdependent self
Satisfaction with friends 0.32 0.10 Interdependent self -0.02 0.11
Satisfauiol1 with friends x Interdependent self
Satisfaction with he,llth Interdependent self
.00 O.lll 0.10
'()6+
0.15 O.!O 0.02 O.!!
.OS';' Satisf<lCiion with health x -·0.11 n.IO Interdepcndcnt self
.cll .03
"".02 .29''''<'
-·.05
·-.08
.32~ ~,
'".02
.2.5'"
.02
-.22'"
Nore. !.il·;ng \I'ill! (/ jI(lrlllel" was dummy coded \vith () = no, I = yes. In all consecutive steps. the variables of previolls steps arc included. All
variables arc ~-stilnclardi7.ed, +1' < .10. *p < .05, '~'~p < .(ll.
0,8 0.6 c 0.4
0 0,2
'"8
..
0."
ro ·0,2~
~ ·0,4
'"
·0,6·0,8 -1
low
Independence as Moderator
Medium High Family Satisfaction
--High Independence
""Medium Independence low Independence
Figure I. Independence as i.l moderator of the relation be- t\vcen satisfaction with family and gencrallifc satisfaction.
pendent self, the stronger the relationship was between satisfaction with family and general life satisfaction (sim- ple slopes at 10\',:, medium, and high values of independ- ence were blow == .74, hmcdillll1 == .43, bhigh = .11 (see Fig- ure I).
Another moderator effect of an independent sclf-con-
GeroP~)""Ch 23 ( IllI) 201 () by llogrefc Publi:.hing
0.8 0,6
Low
Independence as Moderator
Medium High Health Satisfaction
--High Independence
""~'''''"Medium Independence low Independence
Figllre 2. Independence as a moderator of the relation be- tween satisfaction with health and general life satisfaction.
strual was found vvith respect to the relationship bet\veen satisfaction with health and general life satisfaction (8.R2 = .06: F,,,,,,,,,(1. 84) = 6.73: 11 = -.22, f! < .OS: see Table 3).
Contrary to expectations. the post hoc analysis showed that the !O\vcr the independent self of the person, the stronger the relationship was between satisfaction with health and
L Albert et a!.: Life Satisfaction of Older \Vomen in Germany 45
0,8 0,6 c 0,4
0 0,2
'£
]
0•
·0,2~
2 -0,4
:0 -0,6
·0,8
·1 Low
Interdependence as Moderator
Medium High Health Satisfaction
-High Interdependence
""Medium Interdependence Low Interdependence
Figure 3. Interdependence as a moderator of the relation between satisfaction with health and general life satisfac- tion.
general life satisfaction (bj(l\":::: .44. hmdiulll= .21. bhil!h=
-.01: see Figure 2),
Concerning interdependent self. there was a moderator effect on the relationship bet\veen satisfaction \vith health and general life satisfaction (!!..R~ = .05: Fcllllng';( [,84) :;;:
4.66: B :::: -.22. p < .c)5: see Table 3), The posthoc analyses shmvecl that the lower the interdependent self. the stronger the relationship was between satisfaction with health and general life satisfaction (b1o\\':::: .52. blll~di\llll:::; .30. b high :::;
.08: see Figure 3).
Discussion
The aim of the present study was to get further insight into the general life satisfaction of oldcr women \vith respect to the life domains of family. friendship. and health. Marital status. namely. living with or without a partner. was taken into account as a proxy for women's life situation, and we examined the role of self-construal as a moderator for the relation between satisfaction with specific life domains and general life satisfaction.
To summarize the results. all life domains included here were related to general !ife satisfaction. Regarding the rel- ative importance of life domains. social relationships with family and friends were most important factors influencing general life satisfaction. \vhcreas satisfaction \vith health
\vas less influential. Although the direction of effects could not he cstablished because of the cross-sectional data struc- ture, findings speak against a simple top-down model; rath- er. a bottom-up mode! or a more sophisticated top-down model allowing for distinct relationships het\vcen satisfac- tion in specific life domains and general life satisfaction seem more appropriate here (Schimmack, 2(00). The re- sults confirm the prominent role of social relationships for well-being in older age (see Lang. 200 I: Litwin & Shio- vit/-Ezra. 20(6). As shown hy Reinhardt and Fisher (1989), social relationships have different meanings for people depending on their lire situation. These authors re-
ported a higher salience of relationship quality to both daughters and friends for the I ife satisfaction of older wom- en \vho were widowed compared with \VOlllen who still had a partncr. In the present study. thc satisfaction of women without a partner with their friendships was most important for their general life satisfaction. whereas for \Vomcn who had a partncr satisfaction with family was most strongly related to general life satisfaction. The focus on friendships of women \vithout a partner may be onc \vay to cope with partner loss as described in theories on adaptation and per- sonal functioning in old age. such as the model of selective optimization with compensation (e.g .. Baltes & Carsten- sen, 1990). Friends may compensate to some ext(~nt for partner loss as they share leisure time activities. provide feelings of autonoIllY and positive emotional exchanges.
whereas family mcmbers may also represent obligations and stressful encounters. particularly in case of need for care (Lang, 2001: Pinquart & S()rensen. 20(0). In the ab- sence of a partner. friends are needed more as conversation partners and companions who share similar interests. A lack of satisfying friendships may thus be more detrimcntal to life satisfaction for women without a partner than for women with a partner. Our finding that family satisfaction was most important for thc general life satisfaction of women \vho still had a partner but not for women without a partner corrcsponds to the results of Larson et nl. ( 1986).
Thcy found in their study on retired U. S. adults that spend- ing time with both family members and partners together contributed to higher positive affect than did the presence of either independently.
Taken together, these results may reflect different strat- cgies of relationship regulation depending on the availabil- ity of net\vork partners (sec Lang. 2(01). Accordingly.
\vomen both with a partner and without a partner concen- trate their regulation efforts on distinct relationships that serve their specific needs. It has oftcn been assumed that satisfaction with onc's health gains in importance for !ife satisfaction with advancing age because health becomes more unstable (Bowling & Dieppe. 2(08). In the present study. howcver. the participants' satisfaction with health was only \veakly related with general life satisfaction, and it was less important than \vere social relationships. Many studies have shown that it is possible to adapt to a reduced health status to some extent (see Diener et aI., 1999), mak- ing satisfaction \vith health less focal for the life satisfac- tion of older peoplc, Also. comparisons with people who are worse off can lead to a positive personal balance (Fer- ring & Hoffmantl, 2007). Onc must also consider that the participants in the present study were a positively selected sample. Because of their readiness to participate in the study a certain degree of health can be assumed.
Among the sociodelllographic variables. only socioeco- nomic status had an impact on general life satisfaction. So··
cioeconomic status was measured by asking participants to compare themselves to other people living in their country.
Dmvnward comparisons could explain the correlation with genera! life satisfaction here (see FelTing & HolTmann.
GnoPsych 23 f!) iD ~O!O by l-l{lgrefe Pllb!i~hi!lg
l. Albert et al.: Lire Satisraction of Older \Vomell in Germany
20(7). The predictive value of economic status was espe- cially high for the life satisfaction of women without a part- ner. Older women often have a worse economic situation than do men of their age (e.g., iv'lotel-Klingcbiel. 200h).
Thus, for widO\ved or divorced women, economic status might be of higher salience in their dailv lives (sce Diener ' - ' - , , -
& Diener i\kCiavran, 200S)' Other objective factors such as age, education, and having a partner per se did not in- fluence lifc satbfactioll. which is in line viith the findings of Diener et a!. (1999) and Kahncman et a1. (2006), who underlined the importance or subjective interpretations of objective facts. Baltes and Smith (2003) argued that the so-called "fourth" age is prone to a decline in subjective well-being because this last stage of life is characterized by less plasticity and higher vulnerability compared with the
"third" age. which i~ seen more positively and character- ized by higher plasticity. \Vith a mean age of around 70 years. a mL~jor part or the pre,<;ent sample belonged to the gn)up ()f the "young old," whereas only a fifth of the sample was 75 years or older (Neugartc[1, 1974). Thus, the lack of age effects in the present ~tudy could be due to the compa- rably young age of participants.
The more independent the women were. the weaker the relationship was between their family satisfaction and gen- eral life satisfaction. A woman who defines herself as in- dependent rrOIll others is obviously also independent from family regarding her life satisfaction. Contrary to expecta- tions, there was no moderator effecl of interdependence:
nonetheless, a positive corn:lation bet\veen interdepen- dence and satisfaction with family occurred. People with an interdependent sclf-construal seem to be altogether more enthusiastic about their family than persons who do not define themselves through their relationship to their
t~l!nily. Thus. personality variablc~ are related to 1i tC satis- faction of a person directly and indirectly (Staudinger. Fre- und, Linden, & fvIaas, 1996).
The \veaker relationship between satisfaction \vith health and general life satisfaction or more independently oriented persons is in contrast to the assumption that health as an aspect of the individual person is especially important for these persons. Perhaps a strong, independent-minded person is better able to cope \vith health problems. In turn.
a woman \vho is not as independently oriented in her self- construal may be concerned about \-1,'110 will care for her in case of illness and need, and be afraid of becoming a burden to others.
The weaker relationship between health satisfaction and general lire satisfaction for more interdependent W(lnH.~n
indicates that. for a woman with a strong interdependent self-construaL relational factors are presumably more im- portant than health. She might be convinced that she can count on hC\' fami!y·s support in case of need. This inter- pretation is supported by research by Surason. Sarasoll, and Pierce (c.g .. 19(4). v.'ho showed that the perception of available social support depends on working 1110dels about self and otl1l:rs, and can hc seen as a trait. while it is only partially correlated to actual support.
In summary, it seems that persons with a self-concept that focuses strongly' on either independent or interdepen- dent aspects rely less on health satisfaction ['or their general
! i fe satisfaction. 'rhus, the more pronounccd aspects or se I/-'- construal arc, the lHore they override the effects of single life domains on general life satisfaction .. - something that seems to be true for independent as well as interdependent aspects. This may be also due to the earlier stated high in- terconncction between health status and the social domain.
The fact that the moderator effects of indepcndent and interdependent selr-collstrual were in the same direction was neverthe1css astonishing and unexpected. Caution is needed when interpreting the results. and alternative expla- nations should also be taken into account. It has to be kept in mind that the measurcs were reformulated to refer to family instead of social partners in general: therefore. this measure may be less sensitive in the context of health. Fur- ther, reliability of the independence scale was rather lmv:
Although originally conceptualized as two orthogonal cti- mensions, the positive correlntiotl bet\veen indepcndence and interdependcnce is in line with the assumption that both sclf-construal aspects might be present within a person and cannot be seen as opposites (Singelis, 1994). Feeling closel:y connected to family and valuing one's own person- al identity highly is obviously not mutually exclusive. The concept or self-construal might thus need additional clari- fication: for instance, one could consider aspects of self- construal such as context dependence (e,g .. KUhnen & Oy- serman, 20(2). Further elaboration that covers also aspects relevant for the domain of health as \vel! as the domain of friends where no moderator effects with the current mea- sure were found would be helpful here.
Nonetheless, the results regarding se!f-col1strual demon- strate that differences in t~tctors influencing the life satis- faction of older women cannot only be found between cul- tures as was, for instance, shown for the relation between social support provision of older mothers toward their daughters and mothers' life satisfactioll in Germany, Indo- nesia. and China (Schwarz et al.. in press). but rather dif- ferent salience of self-construal aspects for persons living in the same culture is related to intracultural differences in the regulation of subjective well-being.
Caveats
A more sophisticated measure for life satisfaction instead of single-item measurements would be desirable for future studies and other life domains such as \vork or voluntary
\vork should be considered, too. Because or selection cri- teria of the sample. the results cannot be generalized, but apply especially to older womell who have children and grandchildren. and who have at least a fair health status.
Finally. the sequence of questions can influence evalu- ations or general life satisfaction (Kahneman & Kruegcr.
20(6). Thus, by asking first about single life domains, sat- isfaction ill specific domains could have becollle more sa-
I. Albcrt ct aL: Lifc Satisfauion of Oldcr \Volllcn in Germany
47
lient when finally responding to the question on general lire satisfactiOlI.
Conclusion
The current study shows that satisfying social relationships are crucial for lifc satisfaction in older age, but that the importance of single-life domains for general life satisfac- tion varies. The study underlines the necessity
or
a differ- entiated view regarding the regulation processes of well- being in oldcr age that differ depending on living condi- tions and selr-construHl aspects between and within cultural contexts.Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant from the Deutschc Forsci1ungsgemcinschafl (DFG) erR 169/9-1-3) to the third author. The project is part of the study "Value of Chil- dren and intergenerational Relations" (Principal Investiga- tors: Gisela Trommsdorff. University of Konstanz. Gcrma- ny. and Bcrnhard Nauck, Technical University of Chem- nitz, Germany). The present article i5 based in part on the unpublished diploma thesis or the second author (Katrin MUller [20061: "Subjeklive Lcbcnszufriedenhcit von Gron- rniittern"
!
Life satisfaction of grandmothers!).Wc thank Holly Bunje for her editorial help with the manllscript. Wc also thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manu- script.
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