無暇擔心：社會參與在高齡生活中的角色

No Time to Worry: The Role of Social Participation in Old Age

研究目的：儘管已有許多研究探討社會參與和高齡者身心健康的關係，但討論社會參與和老化擔心的文獻卻相當有限。本文考察社會參與類型和老化擔心的關係，以及剖析時間使用在其中的角色，並比較相關模式的跨年齡變化。研究方法：本文採用2017好生活台中市高齡問卷調查，運用OLS迴歸模型，分析625名年齡介於56歲到85歲的社區隨機樣本，檢驗社會參與、時間使用和老化擔心之間的關係。研究結果：（1）相較於非正式社會參與和無社會參與者，雙重參與、正式社會參與者較不會擔心老化，也對日常生活時間的使用較規律，有目標和較能掌握；（2）時間使用與老化擔心呈現顯著的負相關；（3）社會參與和老化擔心之負向關係可由時間使用加以解釋；（4）在控制時間使用後，社會參與和老化擔心之間的關係僅在最年長的年齡組中具有統計顯著。研究結論：正式或雙重社會參與形式促進時間使用的規律性、目標性、可控制性，而減緩了擔心老年生活的程度。本文推測社會參與可能填補了高齡者的角色認同遺缺和面臨過多空閒時間的不確定性，讓高齡者無暇擔心。

Purpose: Despite considerable research investigating the influence of social participation on health among older adults in Taiwan, existing studies have neglected to examine whether and how social participation is associated with worry about aging. We ascertained the relationship between social participation and worry about aging, and whether the pattern is elaborated by the use of time and varies across age groups. Methods: We conducted OLS regression analyses on 625 community-dwelling elders, aged from 56 to 85, from a representative 2017 Taichung Good Elderly Life Survey. Results: We found that (1) among older adults with four types (no, informal, formal, or dual) of social participation, those participating in formal or dual social activities demonstrated lower levels of aging worry and greater use of time in routines with a sense of regularity, purpose and control; (2) the greater use of time was negatively associated with aging worry; (3) the inverse relationship between formal or dual social participation and aging worry was explained by the use of time; and (4) after adjusting for use of time, the association between social participation and aging worry only remained statistically significant for the oldest age group. Conclusions: Social participation in the form of formal or dual participation is associated with the regulative, purposeful and controllable use of time, all of which are negatively associated with aging worry. We speculated on the reasons behind these findings, suggesting that social participation may enable older adults to find substitutive roles and experience schedule compliance, lessening their level of uncertainty and reducing aging worry.