Satisfaction with Life in Elderly People Living in Rural and Urban Areas of Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present study is to assess the satisfaction with life in elderly living in rural and urban areas of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh state. Study Design: Exploratory research design was adopted to study the satisfaction with life elderly. Methodology: Elderly between the age group 65-74 years were selected. Purposive random sampling technique and snow ball technique were used to select the sample from both the rural and urban areas. The total sample comprised of 120 elderly people, (60 from urban and 60 from rural) of both the genders. Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) developed by Denier et al. (1985) was used to assess the satisfaction with life in elderly. Results: Results revealed that nearly half of the rural elderly respondents expressed slight dissatisfaction and two third of urban elderly showed neutral responses. Among urban and rural elderly, urban elderly showed significantly (p=0.01) higher mean score (18.63±2.22) than rural elderly. Although male elderly had higher mean scores (17.33±4.02) than their counterparts non-significant mean differences were found for satisfaction with life. Conclusion: As satisfaction with life plays a crucial role in healthy ageing, it is important to increase the levels of satisfaction with life through intervention with special focus on female and rural elderly.