RESEARCH PAPER

Do Social Resources Explain the Relationship BetweenOptimism and Life Satisfaction in Community-DwellingOlder People? Testing a Multiple Mediation Model

Cristina G. Dumitrache • Gill Windle • Ramona Rubio Herrera

� Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Abstract Psychosocial resources such as optimism and social resources are associated

with adaptation, age-related changes and life satisfaction (LS) maintenance. The rela-

tionship between optimism, social resources and LS is unclear as this issue has not been

addressed by many studies. The present study analyzes the direct and indirect effect of

optimism on LS in older people among older people with and without restrictions due to

illness. The indirect effect was tested using a multiple mediation model of network size,

emotional, instrumental and affectionate support, subjective evaluation of social relations

and satisfaction with family life for each group while controlling for variables that have

been found to have an impact on LS (age, self-rated health and the number of illnesses).

The sample comprised 406 community-dwelling older adults (M = 74.88, SD = 6.75)

from urban areas in Granada, southern Spain. Health status was modestly related to LS

while optimism and social relations variables were positively and strongly associated with

LS. Among the proposed mediators network size, tangible support and satisfaction with

family life mediated the relationship between optimism and LS in the group of people

without restrictions due to illness, while for the participants who reported restrictions due

to illness only network size and satisfaction with family life mediated the relation between

optimism and LS. Optimism and social resources are important factors that are linked to

well-being in old age. Network size, tangible support and satisfaction with family life

partially explain the relationship between optimism and LS.

C. G. Dumitrache (&) � R. Rubio HerreraDepartment of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Granada, Campus de CartujaS/N, 18071 Granada, Spaine-mail: cgdumitrache@ugr.es

R. Rubio Herrerae-mail: rrubioh@ugr.es

G. WindleDementia Services Development Centre, Institute of Medical and Social Care Research, PrifysgolBangor University, 45 College Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales, UKe-mail: g.windle@bangor.ac.uk

123

J Happiness StudDOI 10.1007/s10902-014-9526-3

Keywords Old age � Life satisfaction � Health problems � Optimism � Social

support

1 Introduction

Despite facing stressful health challenges, many older people manage to maintain high

levels of life satisfaction (LS) or a positive subjective assessment of their lives when

comparing achieved goals with previous expectations (Diener et al. 1985). It is suggested

that this is possible due to the existence of psychological resources that protect people from

the negative consequences of stressful events (Greve and Staudinger 2006).

One psychological resource that is associated with LS maintenance in old age is opti-

mism, that is the tendency to be hopeful and confident about the future and to expect good

outcomes (Carver et al. 2010; Scheier and Carver 1985).

Although optimism has been found to be positively associated with LS in old age

(Baldwin et al. 2011; Heo and Lee 2010; Ju et al. 2013; Minton et al. 2009; O’Rourke

2004), this association is not fully understood (Daukantait _e and Zukauskiene 2012).

Several explanatory mechanisms, such as positive affectivity, coping, meaning in life,

activity, mastery and constraints beliefs, have been hypothesized and tested, but these

mediators only partially explain the link between these two variables (Benyamini 2005;

Chang and Sanna 2001; Herero and Extremera 2010; Ju et al. 2013; Kapikiran 2012;

Sherman and Cotter 2013).

Other possible explanatory mechanisms for this relationship could be social resources.

There is evidence on one hand of how optimism is linked with social resources, and on the

other that shows how social resources are related to LS. Studies have indicated that

optimists have better social resources (Dougall et al. 2001; Geers et al. 1998; Segerstrom

2007; Srivastava et al. 2006), in the sense that they have wider social networks, they are

more satisfied with their social interactions and have more social support than less opti-

mistic people (Carver et al. 2010). At the same time, social resources have been identified

by both some researchers and many older people as the most important condition for LS

(von Faber et al. 2001).

In the following sections we review the association between health, social resource,

optimism and LS in old age and then we propose how optimism, different social resources

and LS are linked when considering health-related restrictions.

1.1 Health Problems and Life Satisfaction in old Age

How individuals evaluate their lives, or their LS, seems to be associated with many

variables, among them health status stands out as an important one.

Several studies show health deterioration is related to a decrease in older people’s LS

(Bishop et al. 2006; Enkvist et al. 2012; Karatas and Duyan 2008; Kunzmann et al. 2000).

For example in a longitudinal study, Enkvist et al. (2012) found that a higher percentage of

complaints such as tension, depressive, musculo-skeletal and gastrointestinal symptoms

predicted lower levels of LS even three years after the initial illness outbreak.

Furthermore it has been found that when comorbidity increases, LS declines, specifi-

cally for the oldest-old, for whom chronic multi-morbidity constitutes an unfavorable

circumstance associated with negative judgments about one’s life (Friedman and Ryff

C. G. Dumitrache et al.

123

2012; Schilling et al. 2013). Moreover, because functional ability can be seen as a fun-

damental need (Schilling et al. 2013), an impaired ability for performing everyday tasks

could be linked to a decrease in older people’s LS (Karatas and Duyan 2008; Schilling

et al. 2013).

Additionally it was found that perceiving health status as bad was associated with a

lower level of LS, specifically reporting poor self-rated health was linked to nineteen times

higher probability of low LS (Borg et al. 2006). Meanwhile higher self-rated health could

increase LS by almost 0.5 points (Gwozdz and Sousa-Poza 2010).

Health is also indirectly associated with LS. According to Angelini et al. (2012) older

adults facing health and mobility limitations tend to experience more negative emotions

such as uselessness and insufficiency and more changes in mood leading to depression

(Bozo et al. 2009; Gleicher et al. 2011; Kunzmann et al. 2000). In turn, these negative

emotional states are related to more negative judgments about one’s life (Angelini et al.

2012).

However some studies found that the variance in LS explained by physical health and

functional status is low when other predictors such as family relations are considered

(Bowling et al. 1993, 1996; Dai et al. 2013) or even insignificant if long-life physical

function trajectories are taken into account (Hsu 2009). Thus, it can be argued that for

some of the elderly experiencing several illnesses is not necessarily a barrier to positive

psychological functioning (Friedman and Ryff 2012) as they can maintain a stable level of

LS in spite of health challenges (Greve and Staudinger 2006).

Greve and Staudinger (2006) argue the stability of LS in old age denotes the presence of

‘‘mechanisms which buffer or completely absorb the impact of increasingly negative

influences’’ (p. 797). These mechanisms, according to the model of developmental adap-

tation, are psychological and social resources that contribute to adjustment when older

people experience negative events (Martin 2002). Therefore it can be assumed that older

people who adapt to health changes and manage to maintain their LS throughout old age

count on protective resources that allow them to preserve their well-being.

1.2 Social Resources and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

Both objective and subjective components of social resources such as network composi-

tion, social connectedness, satisfaction with social relations and social support are linked to

subjective well-being (Keyes et al. 2005; Hsu and Tung 2010; Huxhold et al. 2013).

Regarding objective aspects of social relations such as network size, Fiori et al. (2007)

found depression and subjective well-being to be predicted by the type of social network;

having a diverse social support network was associated with the highest level of subjective

well-being while having a small social support network and poor social contact was related

to the lowest level of subjective well-being.

The subjective aspects of social relations like satisfaction with the components of the

network, satisfaction with frequency of contact or perceived social support also seem to be

positively associated with LS (Krause 2006; Litwin and Shiovitz-Ezra 2006). Social

support for example explains between 11 and 20 per cent of the variance in LS (Berg et al.

2006; Chan and Lee 2006). Emotional support, defined as the provision of advice comfort

or empathy, encouragement and affection, has a constant positive effect on subjective well-

being (Huxhold et al. 2013), predicting LS maintenance over a period of 6 years and

contributing to effectively cope with stressful circumstances (Krause 2006). Furthermore,

instrumental support, or the provision of tangible help, impacts well-being when it is

received from family members (Buz et al. 2004). When older people require more external

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

support and assistance due to age-related health decline, family support becomes the most

relevant predictor of LS (Kim and Sok 2012).

1.3 Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

Optimism is another variable related to older people’s LS (Herero and Extremera 2010;

Heo and Lee 2010; Leung et al. 2005). It acts as defence against strain (Baldwin et al.

2011; Peterson 2000; Pretzer and Walsh 2001), offsetting the negative impact of different

age-related challenges, like stress associated with low socio-economic status, bereavement,

care-giving and health decline (Duke et al. 2002; Fry 2001; Hooker et al. 1998; Minton

et al. 2009; O’Rourke 2004; Schollgen et al. 2011) and contributes to resilience in old age

(Heo and Lee 2010; Sherman and Cotter 2013).

With regard to health decline, Duke et al. (2002) found that optimistic older adults who

had to adjust to illness tended to adapt to the new circumstance by replacing lost activities

with those that they could still perform, and in turn preserved positive affect. The suc-

cessful coping showed by optimists when dealing with health-related changes can be

explained by the association between optimism and a higher propensity of persevering in

achieving goals and control over events (Wenglert and Rosen 1995).

Another explanation of how optimism is linked to well-being when facing health

problems could be that optimists accumulate social resources (Segerstrom 2007). Even if

the evidence on optimism and social resources is not abundant (Carver et al. 2010), the

literature on this issue indicates that optimists have wider networks, and in particular more

friends (Dougall et al. 2001; Norem and Chang 2002), and that they are inclined to

establish harmonious and positive relationships, that is quality social relations based on

mutuality (Leung et al. 2005; Luger et al. 2009). Also, they tend to be more satisfied with

their social contacts (Carver et al. 2010) and report receiving more support than pessimists

(Dougall et al. 2001; Scheier and Carver 1992; Schollgen et al. 2011; Srivastava et al.

2006; Vollmann et al. 2011). More precisely optimism promotes emotional and tangible

support (Karademas 2006; Schollgen et al. 2011).

Thus it seems that optimists may attract more people and this might lead to higher social

embedding and affords them larger social networks, which in turn increases their possi-

bility of receiving more help and support from others (Ferguson and Goodwin 2010; Rius-

Ottenheim et al. 2012). Consequently social resources may be an important factor in

explaining the relationship between optimism and LS.

1.4 Linking Social Resources, Optimism and Life Satisfaction

Optimism and social resources coexist (Carver et al. 2010; Luger et al. 2009) and are both

related to well-being (Luger et al. 2009), yet the theoretical mechanisms through which

optimism and social resources on the one hand, and LS on the other, are related are still

unclear as the relationship between these two different predictors of the cognitive com-

ponent of subjective well-being has not been addressed by many studies (Marrero and

Carballeira Abella 2010).

Optimism was found to be linked to relationship harmony which together with self-

esteem mediated the association between optimism and LS in Chinese older adults (Leung

et al. 2005). In addition, social activities partially mediated the relationship between

optimism and subjective well-being in Spanish older individuals (Herero and Extremera

2010).

C. G. Dumitrache et al.

123

Furthermore, social support was found to mediate the relationship between optimism

and stress responding and between optimism and psychological well-being (Brissette et al.

2002; Dougall et al. 2001; Trunzo and Pinto 2003; Vollmann et al. 2011). Dougall et al.

(2001) found that emotional support explained the impact that optimism had on effective

coping.

To our knowledge two studies (Karademas 2006; Luger et al. 2009) have analyzed the

role of social support as a mediator in the relation between optimism and LS and

pessimism and life satisfaction respectively, nevertheless they do not agree with regard

to how these constructs are related. Cross-sectional analysis by Luger et al. (2009)

reports that pessimism was related to social support and social strain, which, in turn,

affected LS; more pessimistic subjects reported lower levels of social support and lower

scores in LS. However, subsequent longitudinal analysis one year later found no direct

effect of baseline pessimism on LS but an indirect effect through baseline social support.

Contrary to these findings, Karademas (2006) found optimism to partially mediate the

relationship between social support and LS and argued that positive future expectancies

could be a result of positive daily interaction that provide emotional support.

The different results of these studies might reflect differences in design, participants’

characteristics and measurement instruments. Karademas (2006) used a cross-sectional

design to study optimism and well-being in a community sample of middle aged adults

working in different insurance companies in Greece, whereas Luger et al. (2009) used a

longitudinal design to investigate pessimism and well-being in a small sample of American

older adults with osteoarthritis which comprised mainly women (80 %).

In addition, these two studies used different instruments for measuring LS and they

included different types of social support. While Karademas (2006) studied instrumental

and emotional support, Luger et al. (2009) assessed affectionate and positive interactions

dimensions of social support in addition to instrumental and emotional support. Fur-

thermore, in the study by Karademas emotional support was defined as affectionate and

warm interaction with others, while the emotional/informational support in the study by

Luger and co-authors’ referred to empathy and advice from others. Moreover, while

Karademas explored the effect of emotional and tangible support as separate mediators,

Luger and colleagues, due to power restrictions, investigated the role of global social

support. Therefore, although the findings of these two studies are important and sug-

gestive, they do not allow clarifying if receiving affection and establishing warm

interaction with others explains the link between positive outlook and LS, or if receiving

empathy, advice or instrumental help from others explains it. Because of these differ-

ences we believe it would be informative to test affectionate, emotional and tangible

support as different mediators.

Further comparison of these studies shows they have omitted important variables

like the size of social network, or satisfaction with family life, that might also con-

tribute to explaining the relationship between optimism and LS, as they were also

found to be associated with both variables (Carver et al. 2010; Fiori et al. 2007; Litwin

and Shiovitz-Ezra 2006; Srivastava et al. 2006). In particular, in the case of older

adults being satisfied with family is a key variable linked to LS (Kim and Sok 2012),

especially in countries such as Spain where for more than half of the elderly family is

the most valued aspect of life and constitutes the most important source of satisfaction

(IMSERSO 2012). Thus we consider that, apart from the different types of support, it

would be instructive to test the possible mediator role of other social relations variables

such as satisfaction with family life, satisfaction with social relations and network size.

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

Hence, in order to establish which social relations variables explain the association

between optimism and LS, mediators should be simultaneously tested.

Also the findings from these last studies do not allow a full understanding of how these

resources are linked in older people without an illness. Because health and functional

deterioration have many detrimental repercussions, such as undesired decrease in social

participation or interaction, self-care activities and difficulties in attaining goals (Duke

et al. 2002; Ekstrom et al. 2008; Gwozdz and Sousa-Poza 2010; Schilling et al. 2013), it is

reasonable to expect different patterns of social interactions and social support dynamics

between those with and without health-related limitations. For example receiving material

and instrumental support largely depends on the health condition of the elderly (Khan

2013), thus the association between optimism and social resources might be different

depending on the presence or absence of health-related restrictions in performing daily

living activities. We believe it is necessary to distinguish between people with and without

restrictions when studying the relationship between optimism, social resources and LS.

In addition, there are differences in the way exchanges of social support are perceived

depending to a certain extent on cultural contexts (vonDras et al. 2008). Seeking social

support from the social network depends on cultural norms and expectations about social

relations and this differs between individualistic to collectivistic cultures (Taylor et al.

2004).

With regard to Spain, although it is not a quintessentially collectivistic culture, it

has been rated as being more collectivistic than other Western cultures and it has been

described as a familialistic society (Goodwin and Hernandez Plaza 2000). A

nationwide representative survey on ageing in Spain indicates that partner and

children constitute the main source of support of the elderly (IMSERSO 2012) and

only 16 per cent of the Spanish elderly receive formal support (Bazo 2008). As

underlined by Rodrıguez-Rodrıguez (2005) in the Spanish culture caring for the

elderly is still seen as moral obligation. Thus the tangible support older people with

restrictions due to health impairment receive might depend on their health conditions

and cultural value of family members providing care, rather than on the older adults’

optimistic dispositions.

Consequently, in order to identify the underlying processes of well-being (Karademas

2006) and to clarify how positive expectations are connected to LS in this age group and in

the Spanish cultural context, in this study we explore the direct and indirect effect of

optimism on LS in older people. Building on the existing literature this study will examine

those with and without restrictions due to illness. The indirect effect will be tested using a

multiple mediation model of different social resources for each group while controlling for

variables that have been found to have an impact on LS (age, self-rated health and the

number of illnesses). The hypotheses are:

1. The number of illnesses, and restrictions due to illness will be negatively associated

with participants’ LS.

2. Optimism and social resources will be positively associated with LS.

3. Social resources consisting of network size, emotional, instrumental and affectionate

support, subjective evaluation of social relations and satisfaction with family life will

mediate the link between optimism on LS (Fig. 1).

4. The mediator variables of optimism on LS will vary according to whether or not

restrictions due to illnesses are reported (Fig. 1).

C. G. Dumitrache et al.

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2 Methods

2.1 Design

This is a cross-sectional survey using non-proportional quota sampling.

2.2 Participants

The sample comprised 406 older adults (62.1 % women) with ages between 65 and 99 years-

old (M = 74.88, SD = 6.75) that attended senior activity centres or belonged to elderly

associations, and live in urban areas of Granada, southern Spain. The total response rate was

81.75 %, 548 older people were approached, 42 of them were not interviewed because they did

not meet the age criteria of being 65 years-old or older, and 100 people refused to take part.

The reasons for refusals cannot be examined as they were not recorded.

Face-to-face interviews were individually conducted with older adults who volunteered

to participate in the study. After providing information about the study (the purpose, the

expected duration of the interview and the procedures) and the Informed Consent form was

b6a6

b5a5

b2,b3, b4a2, a3,a4

b1a1

c’X: Optimism Y: Life Satisfaction

M1: Network size

M2: Emotional/InformationalSupport

M3: Affectionate SupportM4: Tangible Support

M5: Subjective evaluation of social relations

M6: Satisfaction with family life

AgeNumber of illnesses

Self-rated healthCovariates

Fig. 1 Hypothetical model of the relationship between optimism and life satisfactionPossible mediating effects are: network size, emotional, affective and tangible support, subjective evaluationof social relations and Satisfaction with family life. The coefficients {ai} and {bi} are the indirect pathcoefficients for the effects of the predictor—X on mediator—M and of the mediator—M on the outcome—Y, respectively. The c’ is the direct path coefficient between X and Y

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

signed, the interviewer read each question aloud and marked into the answering sheet the

participant’s answer; participants had showcards with the answer options for each scale.

2.3 Procedure

2.3.1 Sampling Procedure

The sample size was calculated at a 95 % confidence level based on the population of

people with ages between 65 and 99 years-old living in urban areas of Granada. In order to

guarantee sufficient sampling of men and participants age 80?, a minimum number of

interviews was established for men and women by age subgroup (65–69; 70–74; 75–79;

80–84; 85–89; 90–94; 95–99) based on the proportion of age groups by gender in the

population of older people in the study area.

2.3.2 Data Analysis Procedure

One way ANOVA’s and T tests were used to examine differences in life satisfaction

depending on number of illnesses and restrictions in activities respectively. The results of

the tests were considered significant if p \ .05. For the interpretation of the effect sizes of

the ANOVA and T tests results, partial eta squared was calculated. An effect size of .0099

was considered small, .0588 was interpreted as medium and .1379 a large one (Richardson

2011). Bivariate correlations examined associations between continuous variables for each

group. For the interpretation of the effect sizes of the correlation Cohen’s rules of thumb

was used. In this way an r of .1 represents a small effect size, .3 represents a medium effect

size and .5 represents a large effect size (Field et al. 2012).

Multiple mediation, using the Bootstrapping methodology recommended by Preacher

and Hayes (2008), tests whether the different types of support, subjective evaluation of

social relations and satisfaction with family life mediate the relationship between optimism

and life satisfaction. Bootstrapping is a non parametric re-sampling method that involves

repeatedly extracting samples from the data by randomly sampling with replacement and

estimating the indirect effect in each re-sampled data set (Preacher and Hayes 2008). For

estimating the direct and indirect effects in multiple mediator models the use of Bias

Corrected and Accelerated (BCAs) Confidence Intervals are recommended. This is because

they include corrections for both median bias and skew (Efron and Tibshirani 1993). To

determine whether mediation happens, the BCAs Confidence Intervals are examined. If

zero is not contained between the lower and upper bound of the 95 % BCa Confidence

Interval, then significance is assumed and the indirect effect is not zero which suggests that

mediation occurs (Preacher and Hayes 2008; Shrout and Bolger 2002).

2.4 Measures

2.4.1 Physical Health

Physical health was assessed by asking the participants the number of health conditions

they had, and the overall number of illnesses was obtained by summing up the answers of a

checklist of 27 health problems (e.g. cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease and

rheumatoid arthritis/osteoarthritis/other joint complaints), higher scores indicating a worse

physical state.

C. G. Dumitrache et al.

123

2.4.2 Restrictions in Performing Activities Due to Health Problems

A single item was used to assess this aspect ‘‘Does any of your illnesses restrict your

activities?’’ (1 = no illness or no restriction due to illness; 2 = restriction due to illness).

2.4.3 Subjective Health

Subjective health was assed using one item ‘‘How do you rate your current state of

health?’’ The scale was measured on 5-points scale (1 = very bad 5 = very good).

2.4.4 Optimism

Optimism was measured using the Spanish version of the Revised Life Orientation Test

(Otero-Lopez et al. 1998; Scheier and Carver 1985) which consists of six items that

measure optimism/pessimism (e.g. ‘In uncertain times, I usually expect the best’) and four

which are filler items. Each item was rated on a 5-point scale (0 = strongly disagree

4 = strongly agree, a = 0.70).

2.4.5 Perceived Social Support

The Spanish version of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey Instrument

(MOS) was used (Revilla Ahumada et al. 2005; Sherbourne and Stewart 1991). This is a 20

items instrument (e.g. ‘‘Someone you can count on to listen to you when you need to talk’’)

that assesses emotional/informational (a = 0.94), tangible (a = 0.87) and affectionate

support (a = 0. 0.85) and gives a global measure of social support (a = 0.97). Participants

indicated how often each type of support was available using a five-point scale (1 = none

of the time, 5 = all of the time).

2.4.6 Network Size

Network size was obtained by summing up answers with regards to the number of family

members, friends, close friends and other people who participants mentioned they had

contact with.

2.4.7 Subjective Evaluation of Social Relationship

Subjective evaluation of social relationship was measured with the Positive Relationships

with Others Scale (e.g. ‘‘I often feel lonely because I have few close friends with whom to

share my concerns’’) extracted from the Spanish version of Ryff’s Well-Being Scales (Dıaz

et al. 2006). This is a six items scale rated on a six-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to

6 = strongly agree; a = 0.81).

2.4.8 Satisfaction with Family Life

Satisfaction with family life was measured with the Spanish version of the APGAR Family

Test (Bellon Saameno et al. 1996; Smilkstein 1978). The five items of this instrument (e.g.

‘‘I am satisfied that I can turn to my family for help when something is troubling me’’) are

rated on a three-point scale (0 = hardly ever to 3 = almost always; a = 0.84).

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

2.4.9 Life Satisfaction

Life satisfaction was measured using the Spanish version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale

(Diener et al. 1985; Pons et al. 2000). The five items (e.g. ‘‘In most ways my life is close to my

ideal’’) are rated on a five-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree; a = .81).

3 Results

3.1 Health Status and Life Satisfaction

In this sample most common was informing of three illnesses. Participants were separated

into groups based on the number of illnesses using tertiles, thus 33 % of the participants

informed of having no illness or having less than three, 37.2 % informed of having three or

four illnesses and 29.8 % informed of having five or more. The most common health

problems were visual impairment (56 %), high blood pressure (42 %) and rheumatoid

conditions (41 %). Also 47.5 % of the participants reported restrictions in daily life

activities due to health problems. Similarly, more than half of the participants assessed

their health status positively (53 %) while 37 % considered that their health status was

regular and 10 % of the participants consider their health status as bad or very bad.

In relation to the impact of health status variables on LS, significant differences were

found by number of illnesses (F(2) = 4.55, p \ .05, gp2 = .02); participants reporting none

or less than three illnesses scored higher than participants reporting five or more illnesses

(mean difference = 0.29, p = .008). Restrictions in activities due to health problems were

associated with significant differences in LS (t(253.628) = 4.217, p \ .001, gp2 = .05),

people without restrictions scored higher in LS than people with restrictions (mean

difference = 0.34).

Table 1 illustrates the means and the standard deviation for the study variables for the

group of participants with and without restrictions due to health problems. Participants in

the group with health-related restrictions were older (t(404) = -2.590, p \ .05,

gp2 = .01), informed of a higher number of illnesses (t(404) = -11.338, p \ .001,

gp2 = .24), obtained lower scores on satisfaction with social relations (t(371.794) = 3.341,

p \ .01, gp2 = .02), satisfaction with family life (t(371.561) = 2.915, p \ .01, gp

2 = .02),

affectionate support (t(404) = 2.750, p \ .01, gp2 = .01), emotional/informational support

(t(367.634) = 2.890, p \ .01, gp2 = .02), tangible support (t(387.711) = 2.573, p \ .05,

gp2 = .01), LS (t(376.341) = 4.509, p \ .001, gp

2 = .05) and optimism (t(403) = 2.032,

p \ .05, gp2 = .01).

3.2 Social Resources, Optimism and Life Satisfaction for the Group of Participants

Without Restrictions

As seen in Table 2 for the group of participants without restrictions due to illness optimism

positively correlated with network size, subjective evaluations of social relations, satis-

faction with family life and with all types of support. Likewise LS positively correlated

with network size, subjective evaluations of social relations, satisfaction with family life,

all types of social support and with optimism.

The multiple mediation analysis revealed that for this group of participants, when

controlling for age, number of illnesses and self-rated health the paths from optimism to

the mediators (a1–a6) were all significant. Conversely only the paths from the mediators

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tangible support and satisfaction with family life to LS were significant (b4 & b6) while

the paths from the rest of the proposed mediators to LS were not (see Table 3).

The total effect of optimism on LS (c) (b = .42, p = .000) and the direct effect of

optimism on life satisfaction controlling for mediators (c’) (b = .32, p = .000) were both

significant and c’ was smaller than c. With regard to the control variables only the effect of

age on LS was significant (p = .03).

In relation to the total indirect effect of optimism on LS through the proposed mediators

it was statistically significant as the confidence interval did not contain a zero (point

estimate at .0930 and a 95 % BCA confidence interval .0384 to .1691). Only the specific

indirect effects of optimism on LS through network size, tangible support and satisfaction

with family life were statistically significant (see Table 3) and the proposed model

explained 36.1 % of the variance in LS of the participants without restrictions.

3.3 Social Resources, Optimism and Life Satisfaction for the Group of Participants

with Restrictions

For the group of participants with restrictions positive small correlations were found

between optimism and network size and subjective evaluations of social relations. In

addition, medium correlations were observed between optimism and emotional/informa-

tional support, optimism and affectionate support and between optimism and satisfaction

with family life. Also LS positively correlated with age, with self-rated health, network

size, all types of social support, with subjective evaluations of social relations, satisfaction

with family life and with optimism.

Regarding the multiple mediation analysis, in this group (controlling for age, number of

illnesses and self-rated health) all the paths from optimism to the mediators (a1–a6) were

significant except for the path from optimism to tangible support (a4). In contrast, only the

path from network size (b1) to LS was significant, while the rest of the paths from the

mediators to LS were not significant (b2, b3, b4, b5 & b6) (see Table 3). The total effect of

optimism on LS (c) (b = .43, p = .000) and the direct effect of optimism on LS con-

trolling for mediators (c’) (b = .22, p = .000) were both significant and c’ was smaller

than c. Regarding the control variables only the effect of age on LS was significant

(p = .002).

Table 1 Means and standard deviation for the study variables

Without restrictions (n = 213) With restrictions (n = 192)

M SD M SD

Age 74.06 6.53 75.78 6.88

Number of illnesses 2.52 1.63 4.61 1.78

Network size 89.00 45.95 83.00 40.62

Emotional/informational support 4.13 .56 3.95 .70

Affectionate support 4.41 .78 4.18 .88

Tangible support 4.32 .96 4.06 1.06

Subjective evaluation of social relations 4.95 1.03 4.56 1.27

Satisfaction with family life 2.09 .50 1.93 .61

Optimism 3.05 .70 2.90 .77

Life satisfaction 4.00 .69 3.66 .82

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

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C. G. Dumitrache et al.

123

The total indirect effect of optimism on LS through the proposed mediators (when

controlling for age, number of illnesses and self-rated health) was statistically signifi-

cant, point estimate at .1882 and a 95 % BCa confidence interval .1017–.2889. Only

the specific indirect effect of optimism on LS through network size and satisfaction

with family life were statistically significant (see Table 3), while the specific indirect

effects of optimism on LS through the rest of the proposed mediators were not sig-

nificant (see Table 3). For this group, the proposed model explained 35.5 % of the

variance in LS.

In sum, the bootstrap analyses indicated that for the participants without restrictions due

to illnesses, their network size, tangible support and satisfaction with family life mediated

between optimism and LS, the proportion of the total effect due to the indirect effect was

.20. Thus, these mediators explained 7.22 % of the variance in the relationship between

optimism and LS of the group of participants. For the participants who reported restrictions

due to illness only network size and satisfaction with family life mediated the relation

between optimism and LS and the proportion of the total effect due to the indirect effect

was .47. For this group the percentage of variance in the relationship between optimism

and LS explained by the mediators was 16.68.

Table 3 Indirect effect of optimism on life satisfaction through, emotional support, affective support,tangible support and satisfaction with friends when controlling for age, gender and marital status

Mediator Effect ofX on M(a1–a6)

SE Effect ofM on Y(b1–b6)

SE Bootstrapestimate

SE BCa 95 % CI

Lower Upper

Participants who reported no restriction due to illness (n = 213)

Network size 13.20** 4.14 .001 .001 .0226 .0150 .0007 .0616

Emotional Support .24*** .05 -.05 .11 -.0214 .0353 -.0939 .0510

Affective support 1.38** .37 .02 .10 .0324 .0274 -.0085 .1043

Tangible support .23* .09 .10* .04 .0259 .0189 .0020 .0851

Subjective evaluationof social relations

.43*** .09 -.02 .05 -.0056 .0233 -.0593 .0348

Satisfaction withfamily life

.14** .04 .27** .09 .0391 .0220 .0076 .1016

Participants who reported restrictions due to illness (n = 192)

Network size 12.29** 3.60 .003* .01 .0394 .0174 .0146 .0867

Emotional support .37*** .06 .08 .10 .0309 .0463 -.0609 .1208

Affective support 2.20** .38 .01 .01 .0326 .0421 -.0459 .1230

Tangible support .17 .09 .02 .05 .0057 .0132 -.0135 .0423

Subjective evaluationof social relations

.46** .11 .05 .05 .0303 .0238 -.0082 .0873

Satisfaction withfamily life

.25*** .05 .19 .10 .0494 .0312 .0016 .1280

Based on 5,000 bootstrap samples

X optimism, Y life satisfaction, M mediator, BCa bias corrected and accelerated, CI confidence interval

Confidence intervals containing zero are interpreted as not significant. * p \ .05; ** p \ .01 *** p \ .001

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

4 Discussion

The aim of this study was to explore the direct and indirect associations between optimism

and LS in older people with and without restrictions due to illness. In order to test the

indirect effect a multiple mediation model of different social resources was tested for each

group while controlling for age, number of illnesses and self-rated health. The findings

suggest that while health status was modestly associated with LS, optimism and social

relations variables were positively and strongly linked to LS. Furthermore, it was found

that network size, satisfaction with family life and tangible support mediated the associ-

ation between optimism and LS. However, when older people experience health-related

limitations, tangible support no longer explained the relation between optimism and LS.

The results are now discussed in relation to the hypotheses.

In relation to the first hypothesis—the number of illnesses and restrictions due to illness

would be negatively associated with participants’ LS this research found the number of

illnesses and restrictions due to health problems were linked to significant differences in

LS. These results reflect previous studies which have identified health problems as an

unfavourable condition that significantly affects well-being (Bishop et al. 2006; Enkvist

et al. 2012; Karatas and Duyan 2008; Kunzmann et al. 2000). However, in this sample the

effect size of health-related variables was small which is in agreement with previous

studies which did not find physical health and functional status to be strongly related to LS

(Bowling et al. 1993, 1996; Dai et al. 2013; Hsu 2009). This implies that experiencing

heath-related problems is not necessarily a barrier to positive psychological functioning

(Friedman and Ryff 2012).

Secondly, we also hypothesized that optimism and social resources would be positively

associated with LS. This hypothesis was confirmed, with optimism, all types of support,

network size, subjective evaluation of social relations and satisfaction with family life

being positively and strongly correlated with LS. These results are consistent with previous

findings that identified important associations between optimism and LS and social

resources and LS respectively (Baldwin et al. 2011; Heo and Lee 2010; Hsu and Tung

2010; Keyes et al. 2005; Marrero and Carballeira Abella 2010; Minton et al. 2009;

O’Rourke 2004). In addition, we corroborated previous results that subjective aspects of

social relations are strongly associated with LS (Berg et al. 2006; Litwin and Shiovitz-Ezra

2006). These findings suggest that being hopeful about the future and expecting good

outcomes, while feeling supported and satisfied with one’s social relations is related to

positive evaluations about one’s life. Therefore optimism and social resources are valuable

resources for older people’s LS.

The third hypothesis, that social resources mediate the relationship between optimism

and LS was partially confirmed. The multiple mediation analysis indicated that of the

proposed mediators, network size, tangible support and satisfaction with family life were

significant. Optimism is associated with both larger networks and satisfactory and sup-

portive social relations which is in agreement with previous studies (Carver et al. 2010;

Norem and Chang 2002; Srivastava et al. 2006). In turn having larger networks, being

satisfied with family life and perceiving tangible support as adequate partially explain why

optimistic older adults are more satisfied with their lives. This result also confirms previous

research on the mediating role of social support between optimism and well-being and

between optimism and stress (Brissette et al. 2002; Dougall et al. 2001; Luger et al. 2009;

Vollmann et al. 2011) and reiterates the role of optimism as an important psychological

resource that is linked to LS in old age.

C. G. Dumitrache et al.

123

However, our results differ from those obtained by Luger et al. (2009), as they found an

indirect effect of pessimism on LS through baseline social support. These differences could

be explained by differences in the design, the samples studied and the measurement. We

used a cross-sectional design while Luger et al. analyzed the data both cross-sectionally

and longitudinally. Similarly, while we considered optimism–pessimism the two extremes

of the same dimension, in their study optimism and pessimism were measured as separate

dimensions and the optimism dimension could not be used due to inadequate internal

consistency of the items. Finally, in the Luger et al. study the sample included exclusively

older adults with osteoarthritis who were mainly women, while the sample of our study

was more diverse.

Contrary to our hypothesis, subjective evaluation of social relations, emotional/infor-

mational and affectionate support did not mediate the relationship between optimism and

LS. This finding could be determined by the presence of another explanatory variable that

has not been contemplated: namely the provider of the different types of support. Sri-

vastava et al. (2006) found that the link between optimism and relationship satisfaction was

explained by perceived social support. In view of this we can hypothesize that if perceived

social support is a relevant variable in explaining relationship satisfaction, then being

satisfied with family life would already illustrate the perceived emotional/informational

and affectionate support of the participants of this study. If the emotional/informational

and affectionate support providers are family members, then the effect of these two

variables would be suppressed by satisfaction with family life. Future research is needed in

order to clarify this aspect.

Another explanation of why emotional/informational support did not mediate the link

between optimism and LS might be the fact that this type of support is relevant when

adjusting to a stressful situation. Dougall et al. (2001) found that emotional support

mediated the relationship between optimism and adjustment to working and recovering at

an airplane crash site. We did not take into account how stressful health-related limitations

were for the participants who informed of having them or if they had already adjusted to

living with functional limitations.

We also hypothesized that mediator variables of optimism on LS would vary according

to whether or not restrictions due to illnesses are reported. This hypothesis was confirmed

as it was found that network size, tangible support and satisfaction with family life were

significant mediators between optimism and LS for the participants without restrictions,

while for the group of participants who reported restrictions, only network size and sat-

isfaction with family life were significant mediators. Not finding tangible support as a

significant mediator for those who reported restrictions might be explained by the fact that,

although optimism is associated with higher tangible support, when older people have

restrictions due to health conditions the instrumental support they receive might not depend

on their personality traits but on the cultural values of the support providers.

As previously discussed, exchanges of social support vary by cultural context (vonDras

et al. 2008). In Spain and particularly in Andalucia caring for the elderly is still seen as

moral obligation (Rodrıguez-Rodrıguez 2005) thus it is normative to provide instrumental

support to older family members when they have difficulties in performing activities. As

shown by a nationwide representative survey on ageing in Spain, family members con-

stitute the main source of support of the elderly (2012) and only 16 % of the Spanish

elderly receive formal support for instrumental activities (Bazo 2008), so family plays an

important role in older people’s lives. In this way optimistic older people without

restrictions would receive tangible support from their social network because of their

tendency to promote positive social interactions, while both optimistic and pessimistic

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

older people would receive tangible support when they have restrictions due to illness as a

consequence of their support providers’ values.

With regard to the proportion of the total effect explained by the indirect effect of

optimism through the mediators, it was smaller than the proportion explained by the direct

effect for both groups however the proportion of the total effect due to the indirect effect

was double for the group with restrictions than for the group without restrictions. The

amount of variability in the relationship between optimism and LS attributable to indi-

vidual differences in the social variables is very modest for the group of participants

without health restrictions. Therefore these results should be interpreted cautiously espe-

cially in terms of practical significance. Network size and satisfaction with family better

explain the indirect effect of optimism on life satisfaction for the group of participants with

restrictions. Whilst this variability is larger than that found in the participants without

health restrictions, and in terms of the analyses demonstrate the potential importance of

network size and satisfaction with family life, the effect is still only a modest one, and

should be interpreted with caution.

Finding the proportion of total effect due to the indirect effect being smaller is in

agreement with previous studies which conducted mediation analysis for optimism and

other outcomes, like affectivity (Chang and Sanna 2001; Daukantait _e and Zukauskiene

2012; Kapikiran 2012). Similarly previous studies that explored the mediating role of

coping, activity, meaning in life, control or constraints beliefs have found these variables to

partially mediate the associations between optimism and several well-being measures

(Benyamini 2005; Herero and Extremera 2010; Ju et al. 2013; Sherman and Cotter 2013).

These findings indicate that apart from social support, network size and satisfaction with

family life, many other variables play an important role in the optimism—LS relationship.

Consequently, in order to improve our knowledge of the underlying process of well-being

and better understand the mechanisms that link optimism and well-being in old age, future

studies should investigate the joint effect of all these mediators in order to ascertain which

of them has the strongest effect.

Although this study contributes to the resource-life satisfaction literature, there are

several limitations to this investigation that are worth mentioning. The use of non prob-

ability sampling might not allow extrapolating the results of this study to the general

Spanish population of older adults. However, if we compare the sample of our study with

the sample from a nationwide representative study on ageing in Spain (IMSERSO 2012),

our participants are very similar in terms of their distribution by gender, age groups,

marital status and health status.

In addition because our participants were members of associations and attended activity

centres from urban areas they were very likely to have a high level of psychosocial

resources. Moreover, despite a high percentage of them informing of health-related

functional restrictions, they can still engage in valued activities, which might indicate that

the limitations they inform of do not dramatically hinder their functional abilities. Thus we

can expect our results to be applicable at least to community-dwelling older adults from

urban areas in Spain without major functional restrictions while other patterns of associ-

ations should be expected between the study variables in the institutionalized older adults,

the elderly from rural areas, or older adults with very serious functional limitations.

What is more, the severity, time since diagnosed and pain symptoms of the health

conditions reported by the participants were not assessed. Similarly, even if the participants

were asked whether they had any restrictions due to illnesses, it was not distinguished

between functional restriction for basic, instrumental activities and for other types of

activities. As Piazza et al. (2007) emphasize, these are important variables to be considered

C. G. Dumitrache et al.

123

when studying health and well-being, since including them would allow a better under-

standing of how health influences well-being. Consequently, future studies should focus on

representative, more diverse samples of older adults and include more information on their

health status.

Furthermore, the cross-sectional design does not allow for distinguishing between

predictors and outcome variables. So the multiple mediation analysis we conducted only

had descriptive purposes and results should be received with caution since no inferences

can be made about the directionality between variables. Both optimism and social

resources influence each other (Carver et al. 2010) and it is possible for social support to

lead to a positive future outlook. Although more studies have identified social support as a

mediator between optimism and well-being or other positive and negative outcomes

(Brissette et al. 2002; Dougall et al. 2001; Luger et al. 2009; Srivastava et al. 2006; Trunzo

and Pinto 2003; Vollmann et al. 2011), Karademas (2006) found optimism to partially

mediate the relationship between social support and LS and argued that individual’s belief

that he or she deserves to be loved might lead to an optimistic outlook. Also it has been

suggested that mediation hypothesis should be tested with longitudinal data (Maxwell and

Cole 2007; Maxwell et al. 2011). In light of this, in order to clarify what the causal

relationships between social relations, optimism and LS are and whether social resources

mediate the effect of optimism or the other way round, future studies should test reciprocal

models using longitudinal designs.

Despite these limitations and the many aspects that are still unclear, optimism seems to

be an important psychological resource positively associated with LS in old age. In this

study we corroborated past evidence on the importance of both optimism and social

resources in the sense that we found that optimists have wider social networks, are more

satisfied with their social relations and report receiving more support from their social

network. Also, we identified unique indirect paths that partially explain the link between

optimism and LS when considering health-related functional limitations. In this way we

have contributed to extending the findings from previous studies by demonstrating that

mediators explaining the link between optimism and LS in the elderly differ depending on

the presence or absence of health-related limitations. Although social resource partially

explain the link between optimism and LS, it should be also taken into account that the

mediation model we propose explains a limited amount of variance and thus its practical

implications could be limited, at least for participants without health restrictions.

However we believe this study might be useful for understanding how optimists

maintain their life satisfaction when dealing with functional limitations and for increasing

the likelihood of ageing successfully of older adults with and without functional

limitations.

Interventions to increase optimism among older adults should be considered. Although

it is generally accepted that personality traits are relatively stable and are difficult to

change (Trunzo and Pinto 2003), Chapman et al. (2011) argue that traits can be modified

through psychosocial intervention that focuses on changing how people behave and think.

In particular optimism could be modified through adequate cognitive-behavioural therapy

(Carver et al. 2010; Peterson 2000; Pretzer and Walsh 2001). Pretzer and Walsh point out

that in order to be successful, these techniques should be adjusted so they approach those

aspects that are directly associated with optimistic cognitions.

Additionally, the finding that optimism is associated with all types of support and with

satisfaction with social relations and particularly with family, contributes to drawing the

psychological profile of older adults who are skillful in accumulating informal social

support. Understanding what this profile is could be informative for identifying older adults

Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Old Age

123

who lack informal support or who are dissatisfied with their social networks and need to be

included in support-based interventions (Krause 2006).

At the same time, the results of our study emphasize the importance of promoting

supportive and satisfactory social networks in order to maintain LS among the elderly.

Therefore it is crucial to reinforce existing resources like senior activity centres, elderly

associations or the University for the Third Age, and promote new initiatives that allow

older adults to increase their social networks by interacting with younger generations.

Finally the fact that in Spain older adults with restrictions due to health problems are

provided with tangible support mainly by their families reiterates the idea that formal

support should be provided to the carers in order to avoid negative consequences of long-

time caring, and especially to those families with a low socio-economic status for whom

providing instrumental support for long periods of time could become stressful. Carers

should not just be provided with economic support but they should also be included in

intervention programs that provide them with information on the needs of elderly and on

the available complementary formal resources would prevent caring from becoming

prejudicial.

Acknowledgments This research was supported by Secretarıa General de Universidades Investigacion yTecnologıa de la Junta de Andalucıa- Programa de Incentivos a los Agentes del Sistema Andaluz delConocimiento (convocatoria 2009—BOJA 47 10.03.2009) [The General Secretariat of University, Researchand Technology from Junta de Andalucıa—Program for the Incentive of the Andalusian Knowledge System(call 2009—BOJA 47 10.03.2009] and co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). We would like tothank the participants of this study for their cooperation and the committees of the senior activity centres andelderly associations whose cooperation was crucial to this research. Also we would like to thank the editorand the anonymous reviewers for their comments.

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