Abstract.The objective of this paper is making an investigation on the happiness of the elderly population in the aged apartment houses in Tangshan as well its influencing factors. The method in this investigation is making use of the Memorial University Newfoundland scale of happiness (MUNSH) as well as the general questionnaire, and the clustering stratified random sampling to carry out the questionnaire survey. The results show that the factors that influence the happiness of the elderly population in the aged apartment houses mainly include the income level, the care from the family members, and the satisfaction with the apartments. Therefore, the authors draw up a conclusion that improving the income as well as all kinds of the services for the elderly population in the aged apartment houses is one of the right ways to make an increase to their happiness.
Key words： Aged Apartment Houses; the Elderly Population; Happiness; Influencing Factors
1.Introduction
At present, the aged tendency of population is one of the most serious social issues in China, and the health problems as well as the pension problems of the elderly population have received the increasingly more attentions from people all over the country.
In the mean time, the implementation of the family planning policy has made the single model (Chinese parents rely on their own children to live out their life in retirement) unable to meet the needs of the social development with each passing day, and also the dependence of the elderly population on their own children is changing into the demands of society with a gradual step [1].
Therefore, selecting the aged apartment houses to live out their life in retirement is an inevitable trend of the social development.
In this paper, the authors are aiming at studying the happiness level of the elderly population as a special group as well as its influencing factors.
Thus, this paper provides a basis for the relevant departments to make an enhancement to the quality of the life of the elderly population in the aged apartment houses.
2.Objects and Methods
2.1.Objects
According to the original proportions of the numbers of the elderly population of all areas and the clustering stratified random sampling method based on areas, the elderly people that have the ability to answer the questions clearly were selected from the aged apartment houses in Tangshan.
There were 272 elderly people to take part in this investigation in total. The number of the returned questionnaires was 265, one of which was eliminated because the absent rate of the answers to the items was higher than 50%. The number of the valid questionnaires was 264; the rate of giving answers to the items reached 97.41%.
2.2.Contents
Memorial University Newfoundland Happiness Scale (MUNSH) includes 24 items totally. Ten items give reflection to the positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), and the other items fourteen give reflection to positive experience and negative experience.
Three kinds of points (0, 1 and 2) are used in MUNSH; the range of the points is between -24 and +24. However, in order to facilitate the calculation, the constant 24 is added in this range. Thus, the range of the final points is between 0 and 48.
The total points can be described as follows: Total points=points of positive affect－points of negative affect + points of positive experience－points of negative experience +24.
The general questionnaire includes 26 items, which are age, gender, marital status, number of children, occupation, income, reasons for living in the apartment, the satisfaction with the apartment, the major life events that the elderly people experienced recently, and the mental health.
2.3.Method
The on-site interviewing survey method is used in this investigation. The data is stored in EXCEL2000. The SPSS11.5 software is used to carry out the statistical analysis.
3.Results
3.1.General situation
In this investigation, 141 objects (53.4%) were male, and the other 123 objects (46.6%) were female.
The average age of the objects was 77.04±8.552. The elderly persons whose age was higher than seventy years old accounted for 80.7%; those who had bereft of the spouse took up 72.7%; those who had no children accounted for 22.7%; those whose education background was below primary school education accounted for 80.7%; those whose income was below 300 Yuan accounted for 59.1%.
3.2.Analysis on the dimensions of the result of the happiness
The total points of happiness were 33.36±11.45 (in the range of 2-48). This happiness level is higher than that of the elderly population in the pension agencies of Guangzhou (2008, Lili Zhang, et al) [2].
In the total points, the points of positive affect (PA) were 7.01 ± 3.05 (in the range of 0-10); the points of negative affect (NA) were 2.14 ± 2.72 (in the range of 0-10); the points of positive experience (PE) were 8.75 ± 3.60 (in the range of 0-14); the points of negative experience (NE) were 4.26 ± 4.05 (in the range of 0-14). The points of positive affect (PA) were higher than that of negative affect (NA) and that of negative experience (NE) respectively.
This result suggests that the objects in this investigation felt happy in general.
3.3.Factors influencing the happiness of the elderly population in the aged apartment houses
3.3.1 Influence of general situation on happiness
There is no significant happiness difference among the elderly population with the different ages, genders, occupations and the total number of children.
However, there is a significant happiness difference among the elderly population with the different income levels, family member cares, amount of money and geographic locations, as shown in table 1.
This result keeps consistent with the research result of the other domestic scholars about the factors that influence the happiness of elderly population of other areas [3, 4, 5].
Table 1: Influence of general situation on happiness of the elderly population in aged apartment houses ( ±s)
3.3.2 Relationship between the satisfaction with apartment and the happiness
The influences of the satisfactions of the elderly population on the apartment living conditions, food standards, health care, entertainment fitness and interpersonal relationship are very significant, as shown in table 2.
Table 2: Influence of the satisfaction with apartment on the happiness ( ±s)
3.3.3Influence of Psychological and Emotional Problems on the Happiness
For positive and negative psychologies and emotions, the authors designed ten items (good energy, often feeling lonely, willing to communicate with others, unwilling to communicate with others, etc).
This design touched upon five items of positive affect, and also the five items of negative affect.
The objects in this investigation were only necessary to answer Yes or No. Through T-test and the analysis of the result, it shows that the influences of the positive and negative psychologies and emotions on the happiness were significant, as shown in the table 3.
4.Discussion
First, the group of the objects with the highest income level and the enough money had the greatest happiness. This indicates that the income exerts an influence on the happiness of the elderly population. Therefore, it can be seen that the affluent material life quality is a premise of improving the happiness of the elderly population that live in the aged apartment houses.
The group of the objects choosing the family member cares had the greatest happiness as well. Thus, it can be seen that a harmonious family relationship has a major influence on the happiness of the elderly population. This also reflects that the dependence of the elderly population in aged apartment houses on their children is still very significant in psychology, feeling, and spiritual communication. These elderly persons need the spiritual comforts like the common elderly persons in the communities.
The happiness of the elderly population in the aged apartment houses of county towns was higher than that of the other groups. The happiness of the elderly population in urban areas was the lowest. From the aged apartment houses of the county towns in this investigation, it can be found that the areas of the apartments in county towns are large with a good landscaping; these apartments do not have the urban congestion and air pollution problems, but are better than the rural apartments in the hardware conditions. This may be the reason for the high happiness of the elderly population in the aged apartment houses of county towns.
Second, the influences of the satisfactions of the elderly population on the apartment living conditions, food standards, health care, entertainment fitness and interpersonal relationship are very significant.
This suggests that it is necessary for the related departments to increase the satisfaction of the elderly population on the apartments through the improvement of all services in the aged apartment houses, to increase the happiness of the elderly population.
Third, the influences of the positive and negative psychological and emotions on the happiness are very significant as well.
Thus, it is suggested that it is necessary for the aged apartment houses to pay attention to the mental state of the elderly population and provide them with the necessary emotional assistances.
Then, the elderly population can be guided to treat the life stress events in the aged period with a right cognitive point of view, promoting the elderly population in the aged apartment houses to own a full mental preparation and a strong adaptation ability when there is a change in life, making an enhancement to their mental capacity, and reducing their influences of the psychological and emotional problems on their happiness.
5.References
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[2]Lili Zhang, Yandong Liang, Peiyun Chen. Investigation and Analysis on the Happiness of the Elderly Population in the Pension Agencies of Guangzhou [J]. Chinese Journal of Gerontology, 2008, 28(15), 1513-5.
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[4]Xie Zhao, Jun Zhang, Yijun Li. Analysis on the Happiness of the Elderly Population in Communities and Its Influencing Factors [J]. New Chinese Medicine, 2001, 32(12), 751.
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