Factors Affecting Subjective Well-being of Elders, Case: The City of Sabzvar

Due to demographic transition, aged people or elders in contemporary Iran constitute a considerable part of the Iranian population. The aim of this study is to evaluate factors that influence subjective well-being of aged people. This research has been conducted via survey method using questionnaire on 400 aged people (65+). According to the findings, there is significant relationship between subjective well-being of the elders and the following characteristics: age, gender, education, marital status, income, type of home, life facilities, religious beliefs, health, job, self esteem, and quality of life. Also, only life facilities, religious beliefs, self esteem, quality of life entered in multivariate regression equation and showed direct relation with it. These variables could explain 51 percent of dependant variable variance. Self esteem had the highest direct effect on subjective well-being of aging (0.60) and life facilities had the highest total effect on subjective well-being of aged people (0.36). Therefore, findings indicate that the elders’ basic needs have not been satisfied yet.