부산대학교 도서관

Japan is the global frontrunner in terms of population aging, presenting serious challenges for policymakers, one of which is to ensure higher levels of subjective well-being for older adults. A possible measure to increase subjective well-being is the promotion of social capital. Previous research shows that social capital may affect subjective well-being through mediating socioeconomic factors, such as financial satisfaction, an evaluation of a household’s financial situation. The primary purpose of this study is, therefore, to demonstrate the direct pathways through which social capital (organizational participation, interpersonal trust, social norms) affects the subjective well-being of Japanese older adults; additionally, this study tests the whether financial satisfaction partially mediates this effect. A sample of the study from the 6th Wave of the World Values Survey was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling and mediation analysis. The main findings of the study were as follows. With regard to the direct effect of social capital on subjective well-being, social capital affected only life-satisfaction. The pathways between participation in voluntary organizations and life-satisfaction, and between trust and life-satisfaction were significant and positive. Financial satisfaction, furthermore, mediated the relationship between social capital and subjective well-being through one pathway, participation in voluntary organizations to life-satisfaction. This suggests that the benefits Japanese older adults receive from social capital are largely instrumental in nature. In addition, financial satisfaction was found to mediate one pathway between social capital and subjective well-being. Future research could use longitudinal data to confirm causality between the variables.