Subjective well-being of older adults and its relationship with depression, educational level and economic dependence

Introduction. Subjective well-being is self-assessed and refers to how you feel about your life and is often used as a measure of happiness and can be defined as the evaluation that people make of their lives. Multiple factors have been described that affect the perception of well- being and the importance in identifying these lies in the increase in aging and the need to provide quality of life to this age group. Objective. To identify if there is an association between depression, educational level and economic dependence with subjective well-being in the elderly. Methods. Observational, descriptive, prospective longitudinal study with 296 elderly people from the Usicayos de Ayaviri Health Center in Peru. Patients with physical/mental conditions that make it difficult to apply psychological instruments were excluded. Results. The mean age of the patients was 71 years, 57.4% were women, and 38.4% were married or lived with their partner. 25.7% of patients report low subjective well-being and 32.8% are depressed. The presence of depression, a low level of education and economic dependence on family members are significantly associated with low subjective well-being in older adults. Conclusions. Low subjective well-being predominates among older adults and is associated with depression, a low level of education and high economic dependence on family members.