The role of mindfulness in the relationship between life satisfaction and spiritual well-being in the elderly

[摘要] English: This study aimed to investigate whether mindfulness plays a role in the life satisfaction and spiritual well-being of elderly individuals. The elderly are the fastest growing population worldwide. However, a longer life does not guarantee good health or a high-quality life. One inevitable psychological consequence of aging is the confrontation with mortality (Nelson, 2012); still, the desire for life satisfaction remains universal (Diener, 1984). A non-experimental research design was employed in this study to investigate the role of mindfulness in the relationship between life satisfaction and spiritual well-being in a convenience sample of 122 elderly citizens residing in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The participants, 37 men and 85 women, were selected from two local retirement homes, all of similar socio-economic status. All participants were above the age of 60 years. A biographical questionnaire was administered in order to gather information regarding the age, marital status, gender, race, and home language of the sample. The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Brown & Ryan, 2003) was used to assess mindfulness, while spiritual well-being was measured by means of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire (Gomez & Fisher, 2003). Life satisfaction was measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, 1984). Key findings were that the scores on the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale showed statistically significant relationships with scores from the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire and Satisfaction with Life Scale respectively for the sample in question. Also, a stronger positive correlation was indicated between the scores for the Satisfaction with Life Scale and for the Spiritual Wellbeing Questionnaire for the 25% of individuals with the lowest mindfulness scores (r=0.643; p=0.00) than for the 25% of individuals with the highest mindfulness scores (r=0.613; p=0.001). These findings clearly emphasise the importance of understanding the effect of mindfulness on the relationship between life satisfaction and spiritual well-being within this cohort.

[发布机构] University of the Free State