Older adults' psychological and subjective well-being as a function of household decision making role: Evidence from cross-sectional survey

Background: There will be more than twice as many older persons as children under five years of age by 2050. As people get older, their everyday decision-making abilities seem to be under increasing scrutiny, contributing to low psychological health and low subjective well-being. Therefore, the present study examines the association of improving and declining household decision-making power of older adults with their psychological health and subjective well-being. Methods: Data for 9141 older adults from Building a Knowledge Base on Population Aging in India (BKPAI) was utilized. Psychological health and subjective well-being among older adults were the outcome variables. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis was used to find the preliminary results. Further, multivariate analysis has been utilized to confirm the findings. Results: Older adults whose role declined as decision-makers were 3.01 times and 2.35 times significantly more likely to have low psychological health (AOR: 3.01; CI: 2.66?3.41) and low subjective well-being (AOR: 2.35; CI: 2.08?2.66), respectively, as compared to those whose role as a decision-maker improved/remained same. Other characteristics, such as the respondent?s age, education, community involvement, and trust over someone, also improve psychological health and subjective well-being among older adults. Conclusion: This study provides first-hand information on the role of decision-making and its impact on psychological health and subjective well-being among older adults; however, additional studies that replicate, extend, and improve on this research are urgently needed. Evidence that community involvement positively affects psychological health and subjective well-being calls out for improving ways to increase social participation among older adults.

Automated summary

The study reveals a significant association between declining decision-making power and decreased psychological health and subjective well-being among older adults. Additionally, characteristics such as age, education, community involvement, and trust also play a role in improving psychological health and subjective well-being in the elderly. Further research replicating and extending these findings is urgently needed to enhance social participation among older adults.