Examining the structural model of psychological capital and sense of vitality with life expectancy of the elderly: the mediating role of perceived perfectionism

In recent years, the distribution of the country's population has changed towards older ages, and the aging phenomenon can be seen in Iran as in other parts of the world. Considering the increasing trend of the share of the elderly in the total population of the country, it is of great importance to examine the life expectancy component and other factors affecting the life expectancy of the elderly; Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of perfectionism in the relationship between psychological capital and sense of vitality with life expectancy in the elderly.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the mediating role of perfectionism in the relationship between psychological capital and sense of vitality with life expectancy in the elderly. The present research method is descriptive and correlation type. The research population was all elderly people covered by the welfare department of Torbat Heydarieh city in 2022 then 260 people were selected as a sample of the research available. To collect data from Hewitt & Flett's multidimensional perfectionism scale, Schneider et al life expectancy questionnaire, Luthans’s psychological capital questionnaire and Ryan & Frederick’s vitality questionnaire. Pearson's correlation test and path analysis were also used to analyze the data.

In the descriptive analysis of the demographic data of the respondents, the findings showed that 11% of the elderly were 65-60 years old, 16.2% were 70-66 years old, 31% were 75-71 years old, and 21.4% were 76-75 years old. 80 years and 20.5% were above 80 years. The results of the path analysis indicated that psychological capital has a direct (0.63) and an indirect effect on life expectancy (0.19) through perfectionism (p<0.01). Also, the results showed that vitality has a direct (0.34) and an indirect effect on life expectancy (0.05) through perfectionism (p<0.01).

Considering the mediating role of perfectionism in the relationship between psychological capital and sense of vitality with the life expectancy of the elderly, holding group therapy workshops in nursing homes for the elderly can be fruitful in order to improve the life expectancy of the elderly. Keywords: perfectionism, hope, optimism, self-efficacy, resilience, vitality, life expectancy.