Population Institute

ABSTRACT

The thesis attempts to identify and examine the relationship between successful aging and
life satisfaction of older Filipinos. Successful aging according to Rowe and Kahn (1998)
means: a complete absence of disease, disability, and risk factors such as smoking and
drinking; the maintenance of physical and cognitive functioning; and an active engagement
in life. Using data from the Philippine Longitudinal Study of Aging 2007 involving
respondents aged 60 and over; factor analysis results show that successful aging, as defined
in the Philippine context, is composed of the following domains: functional health, active
engagement with life, absence of pain and debilitating conditions, and maintenance of vision
and hearing. An index was constructed from these domains to assess the level of successful
aging among Filipinos and its relationship with the judgment of life satisfaction. Scores in
the index of successful aging decrease as one age. Male and those living in poorer
households were found to have relatively lower mean scores in the index. In examining the
relationship between successful aging and current life satisfaction, higher scores in the
index of successful aging were found to report the highest probability of being very
satisfied. However, the inverse was not found to be true as poorer scorers in the index of
successful aging would still report a higher probability of being somewhat satisfied rather
than report being not satisfied altogether. Simulations are presented to investigate the
effects of socio-demographic characteristics on the relationship between successful aging
and life satisfaction.

Keywords: Successful aging; Life satisfaction; Aging; Subjective well-being