Determinants of life purpose and life satisfaction of elderly people in Greece

Abstract

With the aim to explore how demographic factors impact a subject’s life purpose and meaning and life satisfaction nowadays, especially among Greek elderly population, 272 individuals, aged 60-89 years were studied with Purpose in Life test (PIL Test – Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1964) and Satisfaction with Life scale (SWLS – Diener, 1984). The total sample was regrouped three times according to the participants’ gender (male and female), age (60-74 elderly and 75–89-year-old), and level of education (primary, secondary, and higher education), and the results of the groups were compared. Our findings showed that level of education, but not gender and age, was related to individual differences in subjective perception of both life purpose and meaning and life satisfaction. We found that 60–89-year-old with higher education demonstrated significantly higher level of meaning and purpose of life and higher satisfaction of life in comparison to 60–89-year-olds with primary or secondary education.