• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.1083-1105
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• 2018

The present study sought to capture day-to-day fluctuation of the daily happiness among Korean urban older adults and to examine whether the within person fluctuation of daily happiness is explained by the social and physical activities the older adults experience each day. We also examined whether the within person association between daily social, physical activities and the daily happiness varies by individual characteristics(i.e. gender, age, educational level and health). In addition, we explored the relationships between the level and fluctuation of daily happiness and the level of global happiness. The data was collected by multi-method approach, which includes general survey, daily diary method and collection of physical activity data through the activity monitors. In total, 175 urban older adults participated for seven days of daily diary survey. The data about the number of steps and the time spent on sedentary activities, light intensity physical activities and moderate to vigorous intensity physical activities were also collected during the same period from 16 sub-samples using activity monitors. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied for the analysis. The results were as below. First, the level of happiness of older adults fluctuated during a week, and the patterns of fluctuation varied by the gender and the health. Second, socializing with their children and friends elevated their levels of happiness. Also the impact of contacts with siblings on the level of daily happiness was greater for the unhealthy group compare to the healthy group. Third, older adults were happier on the days when they walked more, but the level of daily happiness decreased on the days when they spent longer time for low intensity physical activities. Lastly, the higher level of daily happiness were related to the higher level of global happiness, but the degree of fluctuation of daily happiness was not related to the level of global happiness. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.