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

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The 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. METHOD: A 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. RESULTS: The 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. DISCUSSION: Geriatric services could identify and implement adequate measures to provide social support and to improve different dimensions of QOL among older adults.