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The issues concerning old age are increasing in developing countries. To have broader understanding of the current scenario in Pakistani society, the study investigated the relationship between resilience, wisdom, and life satisfaction among elderly adults living with their families and living in old-age homes. The sample consisted of 212 elderly adults with age ranging from 50 to 90 years (M = 61.93, SD = 9.85). Employing the technique of snowball and purposive sampling, data was collected from individuals living with their families (n = 124) and in old-age homes (n = 88). Urdu versions of Ego Resiliency Scale-89 (Aslam, 2007), Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale (Arzeen & Haq, 2013) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (Siddiq, 2001) were used to assess study variables. The findings showed that resilience and wisdom were positively related with life satisfaction among elderly adults. Wisdom and life satisfaction were found to be higher in the elderly individuals living with their families as compared to their counterparts. The results revealed that resilience mediated the relationship between wisdom and life satisfaction in elderly adults living with families. Implications and suggestions were given based upon the research conducted for similar researches in the field of gerontology.
Keywords. Ageing, old-age homes, elderly adults, life satisfaction, resilience, wisdom
The last century has noticed some drastic changes in the rapid increase of population of elderly individuals throughout the world as a result of modernization, globalization, and urbanization. These changes have attributed to number of factors such as increased longevity, age, and decreased death rates due to the enhancement of technology and medical research (Chatfield, 2015). Hence, it requires more facilitation and research in the field of gerontology and issues concerning ageism.
Ideally a good and successful life is considered accomplished when an individual looks back towards life experiences to endeavor good memories in his/her old age. The physical, psychological, and socio multi-dimensional processes that occur during the course of life define ageing (Sawin, Corbett, & Carbine, 2015). Maintenance of good health parallel to the respected place in a society and life full of accomplished goals is referred to as successful ageing (Jean, Shin, & Lee, 2012). The successful ageing process as described by Rowe and Kahn (2015) is the maintenance of good mental health along with good...