The Impact of The Companionship Of Spouse On the Elderly's Life Satisfaction

This study attempts to see the impact of companionship of spouse on the life satisfaction of elderly people. The sample consisted of randomly selected 50 elderly above the age of 60 years, who were financially independent from their offspring. The scale for measuring the role of companionship of spouse was prepared by the investigator himself. Diener et al.(1985)’swell-being scale was used to measure life satisfaction. The sample was dichotomized on the basis of median of scores on ‘companionship of spouse’. The two groups thus formed were (1) High companionship of spouse (N=25) and (2) Low companionship of spouse(N=25). Results indicated that there is a significant impact of companionship of spouse on life satisfaction of the elderly(p<.01). This shows that people with higher companionship of spouse were more satisfied with their lives in comparison to those who enjoyed less companionship with their spouse.