Opportunity or Challenges for Active Aging: Work Stress, Barriers, Health and Well-Being of the Older Adult Workers from the Perspective of Ecological System

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the association of different level factors from the ecological system perspective to health and well-being for middle-aged and older workers, including the microsystem’s individual’s factors, the mesosystems interpersonal relationship, the exosystem’s occupational environment, the macrosystem’s social value and belief, and the ecological transition in life course and transition in the work for Taiwan older adults. Methods: This study will use secondary data to analyze the association of work factors with health and well-being. The data will come from SRDA’s 2015 Taiwan Social Change Survey Phase 7-1 (Work module), 2017 Elderly Survey in Taiwan, as well as the 2015 Europe data from the Survey of Health Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for analysis and comparison. In this study the older workers are defined as aged 40 years old or above; the older and the younger workers will be compared for cohort differences. The main variables included occupation and job status, demographics, socioeconomic status, individual working style, interpersonal relationship in the occupation setting, working conditions and experience, working value and belief, working attitude, cohort difference, self-rated health, psychological health, (physical, emotional and psychological) exhaustion, happiness and well-being. The analysis methods include descriptive analysis, structural equation modeling, hierarchical linear regression modeling, etc. Expected contribution: This study is expected to provide reflections for the working stress theories applying on older adults, and propose modified theoretical explanations. And the results are expected to provide suggestions for active aging policy.