Relations of Rural Elderly People's Self-Esteem and Social Support to their Quality of Life

농촌 노인의 자아존중감, 사회적 지지와 삶의 질과의 관계

Purpose: This study was to identify the relations of rural elderly people' self-esteem and social support to their qualify of life. Methods: Data were collected from 228 rural elderly. The instruments used in this study were the self-esteem scale developed by Rogenberg(1965), the MOS-SSS(1991) and the qualify of life scale by Choi(1986). Data were analyzed by SPSS 12.0 using t-test. ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Self-esteem and social support were in a positive correlation with each other(r=.467, p=.000). Social support and quality of life were in a positive correlation with each other(r=.512, p=.000). Self-esteem and quality of life were in a positive correlation with each other(r=.555, p=.000). The significant predictors of quality of life were self esteem, social support, and economic status, and the three factors accounted for 42.5% of variances in rural elderly people's quality of life. Conclusion: These results suggest that self-esteem, social support, economic status can be important factors for the qualify of life in the rural elderly. It proposes the basis for program development to improve rural elderly people's qualify of life.