The Change of Social Capital on Well-being among People Aged 50 and above in Taiwan

[[abstract]]Objective:The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship of social capital and well-being of Taiwanese elders. Furthermore, the effect of the social capital’s change on the elderly’s well-being will be analyzed.Methods: The source of data used in this study was from the “Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan” of Year 2003 and Year 2007 , which were face-to-face interview surveys conducted by Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health. We chose totally 3,334 interviewees who completed 2003 and follow-up 2007 survey in person without assistance as our study samples. In our study, social capital encompasses social particiation, social support, and socio-economic status, while self-perceived well-being consists of self-rated health, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and life satisfaction scale. After controlling demographic , diagnostic health variables, and social capital of Year 2007 , we intend to find the impacts of social capital change from Year 2003 to Year 2007 on the well-being of people aged 54 and above in Year 2007.Results: The social capital is positively correlated with well-being. In other words, better social capital leads to better well-being for the same period of time. In addition, our study found that an elder, who maintained a steady level social capital form Year 2003 to Year 2007, would perceive better well-bing.Conclusions: For those elderly who expect to decreasing the social capital due to retirement, more involvement in social communities as well as social support programs are recommended to enhance their perceived well-beings