Abstract
Background & Objectives: During old age, people face problems due to physical, cognitive, and social changes. Physical and mental health play an important role in the quality of life of older people, and this depends on the degree of adaptation and flexibility of older people to cope with the changes. A high level of wellbeing leads to a favorable evaluation of life events because the experience of positive emotions accompanies it. Therefore, it can affect the level of distress tolerance and the degree of response of the elderly to stress and help them be less anxious and damaged in critical situations. This feature has a great effect on the mental health of older people. According to what was stated, this study aims to determine the relationship between distress tolerance and the mediating role of psychological wellbeing in the quality of life of older people in Tehran City, Iran.
Methods: The research method was descriptive–correlational in the form of structural equation modeling. For the sample group, 200 people were selected from the elderly population (60 years and older) in Tehran by cluster sampling. In this way, a list of parks and cultural centers of Tehran was prepared, and Tehran was divided into four geographical regions. From each district, four places were randomly selected. The designated areas were referred to, and according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the subjects were randomly selected from among older people. The inclusion criterion was the age group of more than sixty years, and the exclusion criterion was answering all the questions in the questionnaires. The study data were gathered via the Psychological Wellbeing Scale (Ryff & Keyes, 1995), the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (1998), and the Distress Tolerance Scale (Simons & Gaher, 2005). This research used descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling method were employed for data analysis using SPSS version 22 and AMOS version 22 software. The level of significance in this research was considered 0.05.
Results: Findings showed that the direct effect of distress tolerance on psychological wellbeing (p=0.001, β=0.814), the immediate impact of distress tolerance on quality of life (p=0.028, β=0.312), and the direct effect of psychological wellbeing on quality of life (p=0.001, β=0.544) was positive and significant. Also, the indirect impact of distress tolerance on quality of life with the mediation of psychological wellbeing was positive and significant (p=0.001, β=0.443). The presented model had a relatively good fit (χ²/df=1.619, AGFI=0.891, CFI=0.969, GFI=0.923, RMSEA=0.056).
Conclusion: Based on research findings, distress tolerance indirectly affects the quality of life of older people through psychological wellbeing. In other words, distress tolerance by improving psychological well–being increases the quality of life in older people.