Living Arrangements and Life Satisfaction of Korean Older Adults

Abstract

Living alone has been considered to be an important and negative predictor of life satisfaction in older adults. Less is, however, known if and how the transition to living alone makes changes in the life satisfaction of older adults, and whether it has differential effects across men and women. The 2006 (wave 1) and 2008 (wave 2) Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) is used to examine the relationships between living arrangements, along with the transition to living alone, and life satisfaction as well as gender differences. Residualized regression analyses demonstrate that Korean older adults who experienced a transition to living alone between waves 1 and 2 had a lower level of life satisfaction than those who remained living with someone at wave 2 even after controlling for their economic situation and health status at wave 2 and life satisfaction at wave 1. The effect of the transition to living alone, however, becomes non-significant after controlling for spousal loss between waves 1 and 2. Examining the interaction effects between living arrangements and gender also shows that the transition to living alone does not have a significant differential effect between men and women, but living alone at both waves is more harmful to men than to women. These findings suggest that older Korean men are more vulnerable when it comes to living alone for a prolonged period than women are. Older women might adjust better to a new living environment after the transition to living alone than men