Abstract
Aging of population has brought great challenges to many regions throughout the world. It has been demonstrated that interpersonal relationship is closely related to the experiences of aging for older adults. However, it still remains unknown how and under what conditions thwarted belongingness links to successful aging. This study examined the relationship between thwarted belongingness and successful aging and tested the mediating role of positive mental health and the moderating role of meaning in life. Community-dwelling older adults (n = 339) aged 60–75 years recruited in Chongqing, China completed self-measures of thwarted belongingness, successful aging, meaning in life, and positive mental health. Correlation analyses showed that successful aging was associated with less thwarted belongingness, better positive mental health, and higher levels of meaning in life. Positive mental health was found to totally mediate the negative effect of thwarted belongingness on successful aging. Moderated mediation analyses further revealed that two components of meaning in life (present of meaning and search for meaning) attenuated the indirect effect of thwarted belongingness on successful aging via positive mental health. This study highlights the protective roles of positive mental health and meaning in life and addressed cultural aspects in the process of successful aging among Chinese older adults.
Highlights
At present, the population aging is increasing with an irresistible trend, which is a huge challenge for many regions
Successful aging was negatively related to thwarted belongingness (r = −0.52, p < 0.001) and positively related to MLQ_P, MLQ_S, and positive mental health (r = 0.57–0.83, ps < 0.001)
Our results revealed that thwarted belongingness did not significantly predict successful aging (β = −0.05, t = −1.46, p = 0.146 > 0.05) after positive mental health was entered into the regression model, while positive mental health exhibited a positive impact on successful aging (β = 0.78, t = 20.98, p < 0.001)
Summary
The population aging is increasing with an irresistible trend, which is a huge challenge for many regions. China is one of the countries with the fastest growing population aging in the world (Huang, 2020; Luo et al, 2020). The population aged 65 and over was 190.64 million, accounting for 13.50%. The acceleration in the population aging would produce a series of problems, such as the decline of labor supply, the weakening of consumer demand, as well as the decline of household savings and economic growth (Dollar et al, 2020; Huang, 2020). It can increase the pressure on social security and public services (Wang and Zhou, 2020). Successful aging is defined as an individual’s perception of favorable adaptation to the cumulative physiological and functional alterations associated with the passage of time, while experiencing spiritual correctness and a sense of meaning and purpose in life (Flood, 2002; Troutman et al, 2011b)
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