Health and Social Factors Related to Life Satisfaction

In an analysis of health, activity, social-psychological, and socio-economic variables thought to influence life satisfaction in middle age, it was found that self-rated health was the predominant variable. The amount of organizational activity and belief in internal control were the second and third most important variables related to life satisfaction. Organizational activity, in turn, was mainly related to intelligence and to internal control orientation among the men, but among women it was mainly related to lack of employment and to physical performance status. Several variables thought to be related to life satisfaction were found to have little or no relationship: age, sex, total social contacts, career anchorage, marital status, and intelligence.