Journal of

Introduction and purpose:  Growing number of old population in Iran highlights the importance of research on elderly-related issues to increase their quality of life. The aim of this study was to assess potential relationship between social support and sense of humor with life expectancy of elderly in Yazd city.

Materials & Methods: This descriptive study employed convenience sampling method to include 100 elderly residing in the Yazd city. Data were collected using three questionnaires including; Philips social support, Thorson & Powel Multidimensional sense of humor scale and Snyder’s life expectancy questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Regression and T-test were used to analyze the data.

Findings: Results of the current study showed a significance relationship between life expectancy and social support as well as sense of humor. Findings from the Regression analysis indicated that social support and sense of humor can predict life expectancy of elderly. In addition, gender-specific analysis in the present study revealed that men had higher sense of humor while, women had higher life expectancy. However, there was no significant difference in terms of social support between men and women.

Conclusion: This study showed that sense of human and social support is associated with increased life expectancy among elderly. With regards to the importance of elderly population in Iran, scholars are encouraged to conduct more research dealing with the elderly-related issues. Moreover, old population as a part of society needs to receive further support from government and individuals.

Keywords: Life expectancy; Sense of humor; Social support; Elderly