# Addressing the Gender Divide: Quality of Life and Social Support for Older Men and Women in Rural India

## TL;DR

This study explores how quality of life and social support differ between older men and women in rural India, highlighting the need for gender-specific interventions.

## Contribution

The study reveals gender-specific impacts of social support on quality of life in rural India, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions.

## Key findings

- Being female, low or moderate social support, functional impairment, and being widowed are significantly linked to poorer quality of life.
- Older men experience greater quality of life improvements with increased social support compared to older women.
- The study highlights a gap in research on gender-specific QOL and social support in India.

## Abstract

This study investigated gender disparity in quality of life (QOL) and social support among older adults in West Bengal, India.

The study was conducted among 200 older people. The WHOQOL‐BREF questionnaire and the MSPSS scale were used to measure the respondents’ QOL and social support, respectively. Bivariate correlation and binary logistic regression were performed.

This study showed that being female (AOR: 2.53; CI: 1.32–4.86), low social support (AOR: 5.18; CI: 1.98–13.57), moderate social support (AOR: 4.17; CI: 2.05–8.49), functionally impaired (AOR: 2.25; CI: 1.04–4.86), and being widowed (AOR: 2.95; CI: 1.29–6.73) were significantly associated with poorer QOL of older adults. The interaction effect showed that the QOL of older men would experience a greater improvement than that of older women as a result of increased social support.

Due to inadequate research on the relationship between QOL and social support with special emphasis on gender in India, this study will provide insight for planning interventions to improve older individuals’ QOL.