Life satisfaction, positive affect, depression and anxiety symptoms, and their relationship with sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables in a general elderly population sample from Chile

BackgroundThis study aims to describe the relationship between life satisfaction, positive affect, depression and anxiety symptoms with sociodemographic, psychosocial and clinical variables, and to identify the relative importance of these predictor groups.MethodsWe evaluated life satisfaction (SWLS), positive affect (PANAS), depressive (PHQ-9), and anxiety (GAI) symptoms and their association with sociodemographic, psychosocial and clinical variables in a multistage, random general population sample of fully functioning individuals aged 60–80 years from the Concepción province and Gran Santiago, Chile (n = 396). We performed weighted multiple regression analysis, considering the complex sample structure with age group, sex, and geographical area, complemented with general and conditional dominance analyses to estimate the relevance of the predictor groups.ResultsWe found significant associations with the geographical area, sex, age, education level, household members, having a partner, employment status, caregiver status, economic satisfaction, presence of chronic diseases, medication use, and alcohol use. Satisfaction with health was the most important predictor for positive affect (p