Short report: Chronic medical conditions and life satisfaction in the elderly

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of chronic disease on life satisfaction in community dwelling elderly. A total of 5279 research participants, mean age 69.57 (SD = 8.04) yrs, were asked to judge their life satisfaction on the Seven Point Satisfaction Rating Scale. They were also administered a checklist of 18 chronic medical conditions. The results indicate that the more chronic conditions elderly people have, the lower their life satisfaction gets. It is argued that these findings can be explained with the concept of downward comparison