Abstract

Background: The diverse ways of ageing in Chile, especially determined by indigenous ethnic identity, are scarcely addressed. It is necessary to account for the personal, psychosocial and health variables that promote Successful Ageing (SA). Objetive: This research explores a theoretical explanatory model of successful ageing (SA) in a sample of indigenous and non-indigenous older people, considering several personal, psychosocial and health variables related to SA. It also seeks to contrast the possible effect of ethnicity - being or not being indigenous - in this model. Methods: Quantitative, cross-sectional study with the participation of 232 elderly Aymara people and 545 non-indigenous people living in the extreme north of Chile. Instruments and scales previously validated in equivalent population were used to measure successful aging, religiosity and spirituality, community social support, health problems, dependence in activities of daily living and depression. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to estimate the adjutsment of the theoretical model to the data. Specifically, a multigroup analysis was performed to adjust the model for indignous and non-indigenous groups. Results: The results indicate that there is invariance in function of ethnicity for the SA construct. As shown in the hypothesized and subsequently contrasted model, SA is directly related to depression and spirituality. On the other hand, community integration, physical dependence and perceived social support relates indirectly with SA, through the association with depression and spirituality. Conclusions: This study support the hypothesis that SA is a multidimensional process, determining by ethnicity and that mental health plays an important role.