Exploring lifestyle activities as possible protective factors for life satisfaction: a cross-sectional study

TL;DR

This study finds that physical, cognitive, and social activities can protect against low life satisfaction in older adults, with social activities being most consistently beneficial.

Contribution

The study identifies specific lifestyle activities with protective effects on life satisfaction in older adults, stratified by individual characteristics.

Findings

High physical, cognitive, and social activity levels are linked to lower odds of low life satisfaction.

Social activities showed protective effects across all demographic strata.

Activity impacts on life satisfaction vary based on age, gender, and living arrangements.

Abstract

Life satisfaction is an important factor in maintaining or increasing healthy life expectancy. However, as it is unclear what activities are associated with life satisfaction in older adults, we investigated whether lifestyle activity engagement contributes to higher life satisfaction levels.

The study participants were 4,167 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years or above in a cross-sectional survey. Life satisfaction was assessed using the Life Satisfaction Scale, which contains 13 questions, each comprising four levels. A 36-item Lifestyle Activities Questionnaire was used to assess participants’ lifestyle activities, with 12 items each covering physical, cognitive, and social activities. The results of each activity were categorized into high-, moderate-, or low-activity tertiles to determine their association with life satisfaction. We also investigated the relationship between life satisfaction and each activity type, stratifying the analysis by associated characteristics (i.e., living alone, gender, and age) using logistic regression, both before and after data imputation.

After imputation, the logistic regression analysis adjusted for covariates showed that physical, cognitive, and social activities had protective effects on life satisfaction. The high-activity group had a lower odds ratio (OR) for low life satisfaction compared with the low-activity group (physical activity: moderate group OR 0.91, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.77–1.08, high group OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.68–0.95; cognitive activity: moderate group OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.85–1.18, high group OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.59–0.85; social activity: moderate group OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.59–0.82, high group OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.55–0.78). The stratified analysis revealed different associations under each stratum, with only social activities demonstrating a protective effect on life satisfaction across all strata.

High engagement in lifestyle activities had a protective effect on life satisfaction. The differences in the relationship between each activity type and life satisfaction varied based on participants’ characteristics. To maintain life satisfaction, it is necessary to understand the contribution of different activity types and the individual characteristics of the target population.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-025-06475-7.

Figures