中華心理衛生協會

 Purpose: Despite considerable research investigating the influence of social participation on health among older adults in Taiwan, existing studies have neglected to examine whether and how social participation is associated with worry about aging. We ascertained the relationship between social participation and worry about aging, and whether the pattern is elaborated by the use of time and varies across age groups. Methods: We conducted OLS regression analyses on 625 community-dwelling elders, aged from 56 to 85, from a representative 2017 Taichung Good Elderly Life Survey. Results: We found that (1) among older adults with four types (no, informal, formal, or dual) of social participation, those participating in formal or dual social activities demonstrated lower levels of aging worry and greater use of time in routines with a sense of regularity, purpose and control; (2) the greater use of time was negatively associated with aging worry; (3) the inverse relationship between formal or dual social participation and aging worry was explained by the use of time; and (4) after adjusting for use of time, the association between social participation and aging worry only remained statistically significant for the oldest age group. Conclusions: Social participation in the form of formal or dual participation is associated with the regulative, purposeful and controllable use of time, all of which are negatively associated with aging worry. We speculated on the reasons behind these findings, suggesting that social participation may enable older adults to find substitutive roles and experience schedule compliance, lessening their level of uncertainty and reducing aging worry.