Quality of life of older persons: Do gender and state of residence have any role?

Abstract

In recent times, the quality of life of older persons has continued to be of concern among researchers in an economic striving country such as Nigeria. This is because of the important of this set of people in the society. Studies have examined factors influencing quality of life but little or no study have examined the role of gender and state of residence on quality of life of older persons in southwest, Nigeria. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select five hundred and eight nine older persons (292 males and 297 females) with a mean age of 68.79±7.45 (SD). Standardised psychological scale was used to collect data. The study hypotheses were tested using t-test for independent measure and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result revealed that there was no significant difference in the quality of life between males and females older persons t(587) = 1.422 p>.005. There is a significant difference in the state of residence on older persons quality of life F (2, 586) = 5.40; p = <.005). We therefore suggested that professional psychologists should put into consideration the state of residence of older persons when designing psychological intervention programme that is aim at improving the quality of life of older persons in Nigeria.