Life satisfaction and awareness of meaningful activities among middle-aged adults: A population-based study

Meaningful activities have been suggested to contribute to life satisfaction. Investigating the association between the awareness of meaningful activities and life satisfaction will help us develop a population-based occupational therapy strategy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the proportion of people who were aware of meaningful activities among middle-aged adults, and the relationship between the awareness of meaningful activities and life satisfaction. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 2698 middle-aged adults who participated in an online survey conducted in Japan by the Y-Cloud system. Participants responded to demographic questions, life satisfaction, and awareness of meaningful activities. We examined the association between the awareness of meaningful activities and life satisfaction using binomial logistic regression analysis. Of the respondents, 77.4% were aware of meaningful activities. Binomial logistic regression analysis adjusted for covariates showed that the awareness of meaningful activities was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction (odds ratio, 2.97; 95% confidence interval: 2.45–3.61, p < 0.001). The results suggest the value of presenting that the awareness of meaningful activities should be considered in preventive population-based occupational therapy strategies for life satisfaction.