The Relationship between Age Anxiety and Successful Aging in Middle-Aged Koreans: The Triple Mediating Effect of Social Support, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The purpose of study was to verify the triplet mediating effect of social support, self-esteem and life satisfaction in the effects of aging anxiety on successful aging.

Methods/Statistical analysis: A survey was conducted among middle-aged people living in the Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Seosan areas in December 2019. 200 copies of the survey were collected and used for analysis. Correlation analysis was performed using SPSS21.0, and the triple mediating effects of social support, self-esteem and life satisfaction in the relationship between aging anxiety and successful aging were verified with the use of the Model 6 of SPSS PROCESS macro.

Findings : Firstly, the relationships between aging anxiety, social support, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and successful aging were all statistically significant. In other words, the lower the aging anxiety, the higher the social support, the higher the self-esteem, the higher the satisfaction of life, and the higher the level of successful aging. Second, social support, self-esteem and satisfaction with life were found to have a full mediating effect in the relationship between aging anxiety and the successful aging of middle-aged individuals.

Improvements/Applications: In order to increase the successful aging of middle-aged people, various policies should be implemented in order to focus on increasing social support, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, rather than on the reduction of aging anxiety.