Abstract

This study investigated how regulatory focus, social support, and social connectedness collectively mediate the relationship between sleep deprivation and engagement in productive activities—defined as “all activities that create value”—among older adults. A survey was administered to 500 individuals aged 60 and above; after excluding 30 responses due to carelessness, data from 470 participants were analyzed. We used Model 4 of the SPSS PROCESS macro and bootstrapping to test the significance of the mediating effects. Results indicated that sleep deprivation was negatively correlated with productive activities, regulatory focus, social support, and social connectedness. Furthermore, these three variables significantly mediated the link between sleep deprivation and productive activities. While sleep deprivation initially showed a significant direct effect on productive activities, this effect became non-significant once the mediating variables were included, demonstrating a full mediation. These findings suggest that fostering productive activities in older adults requires strengthening both individual psychological traits and social relational resources.