The Impact of Changing Health and Socioeconomic Status on Life satisfaction for Elderly: Analysis of Panel Data in Taiwan

[[abstract]]Aging society is the most popular phenomena in all countries around the world. Retirement, physical recession, and death of spouse are major changes faced by each aging individual. All elderly have to go through different difficulties and changes, and learn how to live with them. To facilitate better life for the elderly, letting them feel valuable is an important task and challenge issue nowadays. Life satisfaction can be used to access whether the elderly can successfully adjust to their changes, and be served as the predictor and index of elderly total quality of life. This study adopted two waves of “Survey of health and living status of the middle aged and elderly in Taiwan” which conducted by the Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Executive Yuan (included waves of 1999 and 2003). People who aged 65 and above were selected, the sample size is 616. SPSS 12.0 was used to explore the associated factors of elderly life satisfaction. The results show: 1. over half of the elderly replied that they were satisfactory with their lives (9 scores and above); 2. for the whole group: female, those who had high school education level and above (vs. primary school and less), had higher life satisfaction in 1999, had good self-perceived health (vs. bad self-perceived health), and their life satisfaction in 2003 was higher. Those who already had depression and others from no depression to depression (vs. no depression) had lower life satisfaction in 2003. 3. for the male group: those who had higher life satisfaction in 1999, their health status became unhealthy to healthy, and stayed healthy (vs. had bad self-perceived health) their life satisfaction in 2003 was higher. Those who had depression and others from no depression to depression (vs. no depression) had lower life satisfaction in 2003. 4. for the female group: those who had higher life satisfaction in 1999, they stayed healthy (vs. had bad self-perceived health),and their life satisfaction in 2003 was higher. Those who had depression or others from no depression to depression (vs. no depression) had lower life satisfaction in 2003. The results of this study suggest more supports for elderly psychology; better elderly life satisfaction could be obtained, and the possibility of decreasing health cost and society burden could be achieved