Comparison of three age groups in different aspects of satisfaction with life

Abstract

Satisfaction with life is an often used term, and after the sixties many researchers have published many scientific works and papers on this theme. The available literature deals with measurement and defines satisfaction with life in the larger context of subjective well-being. This concept includes: 1. satisfaction with life, as a cognitive component, 2. positive, and 3. negative affects, as affective components. There are also some disagreements about the effects of age on satisfaction with life.
The investigation covered 228 subjects. Heedful of Levinson's theoretical insight about life transitions, the subjects were sorted into three groups: a group of students, a group of middle aged people, and a group of older people. The aspects of satisfaction with life were measured on the scales originally used for assessment of subjective well being. The results of comparing these three groups of subjects show that the group of students and the group of older people differ from the third group only in the number of subjectively expressed somatic complaints. Students and older people have more somatic complaints titan the group of middle aged people. In the other aspects of subjective well-being there are no differences among the three age groups. Generally speaking, results indicate that títere are no differences among the three age groups in regard to the main aspects of subjective well-being and that the scales used are reliable for further use on a sample of Croatian subjects.