Life satisfaction and social desirability across the late life span: what relationship?

Maria Chiara Fastame; Maria Pietronilla Penna; Paul Kenneth Hitchcott

doi:10.1007/s11136-014-0750-4

Life satisfaction and social desirability across the late life span: what relationship?

Maria Chiara Fastame, Maria Pietronilla Penna, Paul Kenneth Hitchcott

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

PURPOSE: The current study mainly aimed to investigate the impact of social desirability in predicting life satisfaction in cognitively healthy elderly people.

METHODS: One hundred and seventy-eight 65- to 99-year-old adults were recruited in Sardinia, an Italian Isle known for the longevity of its inhabitants, and were presented a battery of questionnaires assessing subjective well-being, metacognitive efficiency, depressive symptoms and socially desirable responding style.

RESULTS: An analysis of covariance and a hierarchical regression analysis showed that the social desirable style does have a marginal impact on self-referent measures of life satisfaction. Indeed, only 5 % of the variance in life satisfaction was predicted by self-rated social desirability.

CONCLUSIONS: Social desirability does not seem to bias the self-assessment of an important aspect of quality of life in late adulthood. That is, life satisfaction of Italian elderly people does not seem to be impacted by the tendency to present themselves in a more favourable way.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	241-244
Number of pages	4
Journal	Quality of Life Research
Volume	24
Issue number	1
Early online date	2 Jul 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-014-0750-4
Publication status	Published - Jan 2015
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Bias
Female
Humans
Italy
Male
Personal Satisfaction
Quality of Life
Regression Analysis
Self-Assessment
Social Desirability
Surveys and Questionnaires

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title = "Life satisfaction and social desirability across the late life span: what relationship?",

abstract = "PURPOSE: The current study mainly aimed to investigate the impact of social desirability in predicting life satisfaction in cognitively healthy elderly people.METHODS: One hundred and seventy-eight 65- to 99-year-old adults were recruited in Sardinia, an Italian Isle known for the longevity of its inhabitants, and were presented a battery of questionnaires assessing subjective well-being, metacognitive efficiency, depressive symptoms and socially desirable responding style.RESULTS: An analysis of covariance and a hierarchical regression analysis showed that the social desirable style does have a marginal impact on self-referent measures of life satisfaction. Indeed, only 5 % of the variance in life satisfaction was predicted by self-rated social desirability.CONCLUSIONS: Social desirability does not seem to bias the self-assessment of an important aspect of quality of life in late adulthood. That is, life satisfaction of Italian elderly people does not seem to be impacted by the tendency to present themselves in a more favourable way.",

keywords = "Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Bias, Female, Humans, Italy, Male, Personal Satisfaction, Quality of Life, Regression Analysis, Self-Assessment, Social Desirability, Surveys and Questionnaires",

author = "Fastame, {Maria Chiara} and Penna, {Maria Pietronilla} and Hitchcott, {Paul Kenneth}",

year = "2015",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1007/s11136-014-0750-4",

language = "English",

volume = "24",

pages = "241--244",

journal = "Quality of Life Research",

issn = "0962-9343",

publisher = "Springer Netherlands",

number = "1",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Life satisfaction and social desirability across the late life span

T2 - what relationship?

AU - Fastame, Maria Chiara

AU - Penna, Maria Pietronilla

AU - Hitchcott, Paul Kenneth

PY - 2015/1

Y1 - 2015/1

N2 - PURPOSE: The current study mainly aimed to investigate the impact of social desirability in predicting life satisfaction in cognitively healthy elderly people.METHODS: One hundred and seventy-eight 65- to 99-year-old adults were recruited in Sardinia, an Italian Isle known for the longevity of its inhabitants, and were presented a battery of questionnaires assessing subjective well-being, metacognitive efficiency, depressive symptoms and socially desirable responding style.RESULTS: An analysis of covariance and a hierarchical regression analysis showed that the social desirable style does have a marginal impact on self-referent measures of life satisfaction. Indeed, only 5 % of the variance in life satisfaction was predicted by self-rated social desirability.CONCLUSIONS: Social desirability does not seem to bias the self-assessment of an important aspect of quality of life in late adulthood. That is, life satisfaction of Italian elderly people does not seem to be impacted by the tendency to present themselves in a more favourable way.

AB - PURPOSE: The current study mainly aimed to investigate the impact of social desirability in predicting life satisfaction in cognitively healthy elderly people.METHODS: One hundred and seventy-eight 65- to 99-year-old adults were recruited in Sardinia, an Italian Isle known for the longevity of its inhabitants, and were presented a battery of questionnaires assessing subjective well-being, metacognitive efficiency, depressive symptoms and socially desirable responding style.RESULTS: An analysis of covariance and a hierarchical regression analysis showed that the social desirable style does have a marginal impact on self-referent measures of life satisfaction. Indeed, only 5 % of the variance in life satisfaction was predicted by self-rated social desirability.CONCLUSIONS: Social desirability does not seem to bias the self-assessment of an important aspect of quality of life in late adulthood. That is, life satisfaction of Italian elderly people does not seem to be impacted by the tendency to present themselves in a more favourable way.

KW - Aged

KW - Aged, 80 and over

KW - Bias

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Italy

KW - Male

KW - Personal Satisfaction

KW - Quality of Life

KW - Regression Analysis

KW - Self-Assessment

KW - Social Desirability

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

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DO - 10.1007/s11136-014-0750-4

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SN - 0962-9343

VL - 24

SP - 241

EP - 244

JO - Quality of Life Research

JF - Quality of Life Research

IS - 1

ER -

Life satisfaction and social desirability across the late life span: what relationship?

Abstract

Keywords

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