Objectives: This study investigates the effects of charitable giving on the life satisfaction of older Korean adults, examining the moderating role of relationship satisfaction and social trust, as the indicators for social capital. Methods: Nationally representative sample of individuals aged 65 to100 ( N = 8,359) from the 2019 Social Survey was used for the analyses. Results: The results from Coarsened Exact Matching and Structural Equation Modeling show that charitable giving positively affects older Korean adults’ life satisfaction. Moreover, the results of moderation analyses suggest that the effects of charitable giving on life satisfaction are stronger for those with lower levels of relationship satisfaction and social trust. Discussion: The results imply that social capital, such as relationship satisfaction or social trust, needs to be taken into consideration when exploring the effects of charitable giving in later life.

This study introduces Action Research to present a service program through an interdisciplinary service design approach for promoting the residential stability of elderly people. We extracted design elements (1) “things to do” and (2) “community” and “strategies”, and then made a design framework. According to the framework, we developed a service design program, named “Small Daily Life: “Small Daily Life Tasks”, which provided opportunities to share the elderly people’s daily life via online videos “Small Meeting”, which helped develop a network of relationships outside the home by informing neighbors regarding elderly people’s know-how, and “Small Sharing”, which delivers the results of previous activities to those who need help in the community. Finally, we describe our reflective case study on the presented service program and examine the relationship between social infrastructure and design and their respective roles. This study will expand service design methodologies as presented research procedures, generalized frameworks, and conceptual models that can be referenced in multidisciplinary collaborations.

Growing evidence supports the interdependence between oral health–related quality of life (OHRQoL) and formal social engagement (FSE) in later life. However, the causal direction of this relationship and potential gender differences therein remain underexplored. This study, informed by social causation and health selection perspectives within a social determinants of health framework, examines gender-specific patterns in the reciprocal relationship between OHRQoL and FSE among older adults in South Korea. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was applied to 3-wave panel data (2018, 2020, 2022) from 6,106 Korean adults aged ≥55 y. OHRQoL was assessed by the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index, validated for the Korean population. FSE was measured by the frequency of participation in structured organizational activities. The analysis identified significant bidirectional associations between OHRQoL and FSE at the within-person level, with distinct gender-specific patterns. Among men, better-than-usual OHRQoL predicted subsequent FSE, but the reverse path was not significant (health selection only). Among women, significant bidirectional associations were observed (social causation and health selection). These findings suggest gender-tailored interventions: alleviating oral health barriers to facilitate social reengagement for both genders, while leveraging social engagement to enhance OHRQoL specifically for women.

After the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, individuals worldwide experienced considerable stress associated with the resulting threats and changes. However, only a few large-scale multination studies examined qualitatively the cultural variations of coping responses in people who were in romantic relationships and lived with their partners during the lockdown. To fill this gap, we conducted a qualitative analysis of individual perceptions of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and community stressors. The analysis utilized cross-sectional data collected from 10,650 citizens of 20 countries during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (March–July 2020). Inductive thematic analysis revealed four main themes related to stressors and one theme related to coping resources: 1) concerns for individual health and well-being; 2) challenges to personal relationships; 3) loss of future time perspective and adaptation to changes; 4) reactions of society, government, and media; and 5) resilience against stress. The findings reflected remarkable homogeneity of stress experiences across various countries and a few but important cultural variations. The mental health implications of the findings are discussed.