Investigation of the relationship between the factors that affect life satisfaction and social support among elderly

The research is planned and carried out in order to investigate the relationship between life satisfaction and social support among elderly individuals. Survey model is used in the study. 400 elderly individuals who are relatives of the students in the Primary School titled Isa Alptekin which is located in Pendik District of Istanbul Province are drawn as the sample of the study. The ?Satisfaction With Life Scale-SWLS? which is developqed by Pavot and Diener (1993) and ?Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support MSPSS? which was developed by Zimmet et. al. (1988) of which the validity and reliability studies for Turkey are performed by Eker and Akar (1995) are used for this study. The effects of the alternatives including the life satisfaction, perceived social support, social support which is received from family members, social support which is received from friends, social support that is received from a special person, gender status, marital status, marriage duration, the presence of any illness as diagnosed by a medical doctor, age-group, whether the subject is widow or divorced, educational status of the subject, education status of his/her spouse, whether the income together with the spouse whom he/she live together are analyzed by Man Whitney-U Test and Kruskal Wallis H-Test. The relationship between life satisfaction of elderly individuals and their perceived social support are observed by Correlation Analysis. Regression Model is applied in order test the relationship between the life support, social support received from the family, social support received from friends, social support received from a special person and to test the relationship between life satisfaction and perceived social support.According to the research 51.0% of the elderly individual who are included into the sample were female, 27.8%, were within 70-74 age group, 26.5% were within 65-69 age group. 27.0% of the elderly individuals were not literate, 58.5% were married. 45.7% had less than 1.000.- TL family income per month. 30.2% declared that their monthly family income amount was insufficient, 22.3% declared that their monthly family income level was very insufficient, 58.8% are found to have at least one chronic disease as diagnosed by a medical doctor. It is observed that the percentages elderly individuals were dependent to their social environment either partially or entirely are found as: 43% for eating and drinking, 38.5% for dressing and undressing, 47.0% for bathing, 53.6% for doing the household works.Gender, age, marital status, the period of the widow or divorced status, marriage period, year of education are found to effect the perceived social support in life satisfaction including the perceived social support from the family, from the friends and from special persons, (p<0.005). In the correlation analysis made in order to observe the relationship between the perceived social support of the elderly individuals and their life satisfaction; positive and significant relationships are found at 53,4% level. (r=0.534; p=0.000<0.05). The Regression Model that is used in order to test the correlation in the life satisfaction of the elderly individuals with their perceived social support is found as statistically significant at: (F=64.170; p=0.000<0.05).Key Words: Elderly individual, life satisfaction, life satisfaction in old age, social support, social support in old age.