The comparison of young adults and elderly' authenticity, meaning in life, happiness, forgiveness, and loneliness levels

The main purpose of this study is to compare authenticity, meaning in life, forgiveness, happiness, and loneliness levels across young adults and elderly. Moreover, these basic variables are compared in terms of some demographic variables such as gender, living city, rural-urban area (place to live in), income (socio-economic status), place of residence (housing type), and ideological tendincies in young adults and elderly. Participants in this study are university students (n=308) and elderly people (n=285). Age range was between 18 and 29 years old in young adults, and 65 and 78 years old in elderly. The data were collected by the Demographic Information Form, the Authenticity Scale, the Meaning in Life Scale, the Oxford Happiness Scale-Short Form, the Trait Forgiveness Scale ve UCLA Loneliness Scale. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t test, ANOVA, MANOVA are used to analyze the variables in this study. Besides, Logistic regression was used to examine and describe the relationship between a binary response variable (e.g., 'young adults' or 'elderly') and a set of predictor variables. The findings indicated the statistically significant differences between young adults and elderly people as related to authenticity, meaning in life, forgiveness, and happiness levels. However, comparison of the loneliness levels revealed no statistically significant difference between the groups. Elderly people are more authentic, forgiving and happier than young adults. The presence of meaning in life levels of the elderly are higher than young adults. In the search for meaning in life levels, there is a situation in favor of young people. Furthermore, in both young adults and elderly, authenticity, meaning in life, forgiveness, happiness, and loneliness levels are significantly different with respect to various demographic variables. For example, male elderly is happier than female elderly, while female elderly lonelier than male elderly. What's more, young adults who live in Agri are more authentic than young adults who live in Antalya. Both young and elderly people in Agri are less lonely than those in Antalya and Kutahya. Both young and elderly people living in villages (rural areas) are more authentic than those living in urban areas. The elderly people living in urban areas are lonelier than the elderly people living in rural areas. The elderly people living in nursing homes are lonelier than the elderly living in their own homes and/or with their children. Under the lights of the ageing theories and symbolic interaction, the results were discussed. The study has practical implications and recommendations for sociologists, social psychologists, and other researchers. For example, the reasons for the unhappiness and high loneliness level in elderly women should be investigated with qualitative studies.