Social Support and Participation as Factors Relating to Ikigai and Life Satisfaction in Lonely Older Japanese

Abstract

This study investigated associations among loneliness, social support, social participation, and well-being among the Japanese elderly. We predicted that the negative association between loneliness and well-being would be weaker in people with adequate social support and frequent social participation. We measured ikigai and life satisfaction as indices of well-being. Ikigai and life satisfaction both include satisfaction with a person’s current and past life, yet ikigai also includes unique concepts such as satisfaction with social interactions and positive expectations for the future. Data of 418 Japanese aged 75 and older were analyzed; findings demonstrated that loneliness was negatively related to ikigai but not life satisfaction. There was a significant interaction between loneliness and social support for life satisfaction and ikigai. The interaction between loneliness and the frequency of social participation was significant only for ikigai. Post-hoc analysis indicated that social support and social participation frequency were negatively related to the negative association between loneliness and well-being, especially ikigai. These results suggest that ikigai and life satisfaction have a differential relationship to loneliness and social interaction because the concept of ikigai uniquely included perceived social roles.