Mediating Role of Optimism Toward Aging in the Relationship Between Intergenerational Communication and Life Satisfaction in Older Adults

Social communication is one of the important factors for older adults’ life satisfaction. However, the impact of intergenerational communication dimensions on it and the role of optimism toward aging in this correlation is unclear.

This study investigated the mediating role of optimism toward aging in the association between intergenerational communication and older adults’ life satisfaction.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 550 older adults in Bojnord, Iran, who were selected by a multistage sampling method. Data were collected with the Optimism Toward Aging (OTA) scale, a single-item measure of life satisfaction, and the intergenerational communication scale with two dimensions, intergenerational accommodative communication (IAC) and intergenerational non-accommodative communication (INAC). Structural equation modeling using maximum likelihood estimation was adopted in Amos 24.0.

The mean age of the participants was 67.74 ± 7.18, and 240 people (43.6%) were men. The results revealed that IAC had no significant direct association with life satisfaction (LS) (β = 0.02, P > 0.05), but INAC had a significant negative direct association with it (β = -0.170, p < 0.001). Unlike IAC (β = 0.474, P < 0.001), INAC did not show direct associations with OTA (β = 0.002, P > 0.05). However, only IAC could indirectly affect the LS of older adults through the complete mediating effect of OTA (β = 0.145, CI = [0.100, 0.199], P < 0.001).

The findings suggested the positive effect of optimism toward aging on intergenerational accommodative communication and life satisfaction. Intergenerational non-accommodation exhibited a stronger direct association with life satisfaction in older adults than intergenerational accommodation. Thus, to enhance life satisfaction in older adults, it is necessary to give special attention to improving their communication with young people and promoting their optimism.