The Influence of Social Network and Depression on Successful Aging in the Elderly

Background/Objectives:The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between social network, depression and successful aging of elderly people and to identify the factors influencing successful aging of elderly people.

Method/Statistical Analysis:The subjects of this study were 150 elderly people aged 65 and older who live in three cities. The data were collected through structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptivestatistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlations, Spearman correlations and multiple regressionanalysis with the SPSS/ WIN 21.0 program.

Findings: The results showed that depression was the most influential factor in successful aging of elderly people, followed by social activities, perform parental grandparent role and 74.1% explained successful aging of elderly people.Based on these results, it concluded that the role of social activities, parents and grandparents is critical and the development of related programs is necessary for the elderly to be successfully aged.

Improvements/Applications:This study showed that depression, social activities and the role of parents and grandparents were significant for the successful aging of the elderly. In particular, depression was more influential than social activities and the role of parents and grandparents. Therefore, it found that research is needed to prevent depression in the elderly.