The Effect of Social Support on Life Satisfaction Among Elderly Persons Living Alone: The Mediating Effect of Subjective Health Status

This study aims to examine the mediating role of subjective health status in the relationship between social support and life satisfaction of elderly persons living alone, providing fundamental data for policies and practical measures to improve their life satisfaction in a super-aged society. For this study, data from 1,052 elderly persons living alone who participated in both the 8th(2020) supplementary survey and the 9th(2021) main survey of the Korean Retirement Income Study(KReIS) were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 and SPSS Process Macro. The results showed that social support had the greatest impact on the subjective health status and life satisfaction of elderly persons living alone compared to other control variables. Additionally, subjective health status was found to mediate the effect of social support on life satisfaction. These findings indicate that higher levels of social support and subjective health status lead to higher life satisfaction among elderly persons living alone. Moreover, social support enhances subjective health status, which in turn increases life satisfaction.