The Mediating Effects of Personal Resources in the Relationship between Social Resources and the Successful Aging of Older Adults
AUTHOR : 정옥분,임정하,정순화,김경은
INFORMATION : page. 79~99 / 2013 Vol.20 No.1
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to examine how social resources (i.e. economic status, social support) and personal resources (i.e. physical functioning, cognitive functioning) relate to successful aging in later life. A sample of 315 participants (aged 61 to 91 years, 62.5% of whom were female) was interviewed in metropolitan city of Seoul, Korea. Structural equation models were developed based on the authors' hypothesized model, which proposed that personal resources have a mediating effect in the relation between social resources and successful aging. Data were found to provide a satisfactory fit for the hypothesized model. Economic status was found to have a direct effect on physical functioning but no direct effect on cognitive functioning and successful aging. Social support was linked to successful aging directly and indirectly through cognitive functioning but was not directly associated with physical functioning. Cognitive functioning was a key predictor and mediating variable of the relationship between physical functioning and successful aging. In the exploratory analysis, there were important differences in specific pathways from social resources to cognitive functioning according to gender, although there were similarities in pathways to successful aging for older men and women. That is, cognitive functioning was predicted by economic status and physical functioning for older men, while it was predicted by social support and physical functioning for older women. These findings offer the opportunity for greater understanding of the mediating role of cognitive functioning in successful aging and the different contribution of social resources to cognitive functioning for older men and women.