Introduction: A sense of community is known to be a protective factor for the well‐being on older adults and meaning in life associated with positive mental outcomes. Nevertheless, there is a need to expand the knowledge of the role of a sense of community in meaning in life, particularly among older adults.
Purpose: Intending to broaden the empirical understanding from this perspective, the current study examined the mediating roles of optimism, loneliness, and psychological distress in the association between a sense of community and meaning in life.
Method: Participants included 740 community dwelling Israeli older adults (M= 71.96; SD=5.81), of which 59.3% were women and 40.7% men. Data analysis was based on a structural equations model (SEM) with AMOS 25.0.
Results: A positive association was found between a sense of community with optimism, and a negative association with loneliness. Findings also show a negative association between optimism with psychological distress and a positive link between loneliness with psychological distress, while a higher level of psychological distress was associated with a lower level of meaning in life.
Conclusions: The findings have important practical implications for the type of interventions recommended for older adults, both professionally and for government policy. Practitioners should focus interventions with older adults on developing a sense of community, with the aim to promote optimism and, at the same time, reduce loneliness and thus decrease psychological distress while strengthening meaning in life. The findings can help policy makers initiate and budget activities that actively promote a sense of community among older adults, and thereby, increases their emotional connectedness. Community activities that enhance older adults as entrepreneurs and promoters of change in the community may ultimately strengthen their perceived meaning of life.