Lifelong traumatic events, social support, and health‐related quality of life among older adults

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe present study aimed to investigate the relation between lifelong exposure to traumatic life events, social support, and health‐related quality of life (QOL) in a sample of older people.MethodA sample of 172 participants (mean age = 68.81, SD = 7.15; 68.6% female and 31.4% male) was involved in this study. The participants completed scales measuring lifelong exposure to traumatic events, social support, and health‐related QOL.ResultsThe results showed that lifelong exposure to traumatic events was negatively related to physical and mental health‐related QOL. Moreover, social support moderated the relation between traumatic life events exposure and mental health‐related QOL.DiscussionGeriatric services could identify and implement adequate measures to provide social support and to improve different dimensions of QOL among older adults.