The Mediating Role of Death Anxiety on The Relationship Between Successful Aging and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

This study aimed to test the mediating role of death anxiety on the relationship between Turkish older adults’ levels of successful aging and life satisfaction. The study group consisted of 243 individuals (130 females, 113 males) aged 60 years and older. The Successful Aging Scale, Adult Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Death Anxiety Scale were used for data collection. The Pearson product-moment correlation technique and the standard multiple regression technique were used to analyze the data. Preliminary analysis showed the existence of significant relationships among the variables discussed in the study. The regression analysis results indicated that a significant relationship exists among elderly individuals’ levels of life satisfaction and death anxiety, with these variables significantly predicting their level of successful aging. Another important finding from this study was that the variables of death anxiety and life satisfaction together explain 36% of the total variance in successful aging. It was concluded that death anxiety was a mediating variable in the relationship between successful aging and life satisfaction. In this context, in order to obtain more detailed information, it is recommended to increase the studies in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods within the framework of the concepts of death anxiety, successful aging and life satisfaction.