Religiosity, social support, and life satisfaction among elderly Korean immigrants.
OBJECTIVE
The present study tested Smith's (2003. Theorizing religious effects among American adolescents. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42, 17-30. doi:10.1111/1468-5906.t01-1-00158) theory of religious effects to explore the relationship of religiosity, social support, and life satisfaction among elderly Korean immigrants. The study investigated the mediating role of social support to the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction.


METHODS
We hypothesized that religiosity would be positively associated with life satisfaction and that the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction would be mediated by social support. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses with a sample of 200 Korean immigrant older adults in New York City (mean age = 72.5, range = 65-89).


RESULTS
We found that greater religiosity was related to greater life satisfaction and that social support partially explained the positive relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
Results indicated that religious engagement and social support could be significant factors to improve the quality of life among elderly Korean immigrants. Social services that facilitate religiosity and social support may be beneficial for Korean elders' life satisfaction. Future studies are invited to replicate this study for diverse ethnic groups of elderly immigrants.
School of Social Welfare, University at Albany, State University of New York, 135 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA. jisungp@hotmail.com
Jisung
J
Park
Soonhee
S
Roh
Younsook
Y
Yeo
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012067:Religion; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors