A Systematic Review on Psychosocial Determinants of Elderly Subjective Wellbeing

Abstract The persistent increase in longevity has impelled social scientists to concentrate on the factors that can improve later life health and wellbeing. Extant literature indicates that filial responsibility, self-esteem, emotional regulation, attachment, parent-adult child relationship quality and religiosity are among those contributing factors for elderly subjective wellbeing. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize available evidence regarding the psychosocial determinants of elderly subjective wellbeing. Google Scholar, Science Direct and PubMed were searched for potentially relevant articles published from 2011 to 2017. Eighteen out of 216 full-text papers met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised. The internal validity and quality of selected studies were assessed using STROBE and SIGN checklists. The findings of the current review suggest that filial responsibility, emotional regulation, self-esteem, attachment, and parent-adult child relationship quality were consistent determinants of elderly wellbeing; whereas findings on religiosity were equivocal. Further, self-esteem and emotional regulation emerged as significant cognitive-emotional underlying factors for the association between family relations and elderly wellbeing. In conclusion, despite methodological limitations of selected studies, this review was able to identify a number of psychosocial determinants of elderly subjective wellbeing. A comprehensive knowledge of these determining factors can contribute to a better understanding of empirical connections and identification of gaps in literature as well as directions for future studies.