Background <p>China’s accelerating transition into an aging society has rendered the enhancement of older adults’ life satisfaction a matter of significant social and academic importance. Existing studies have examined the overall association between community elderly care services and life satisfaction among older adults, yet the intrinsic mechanisms, particularly the role played by social adaptation, remain inadequately elaborated. Based on social support theory, this study systematically examines how social adaptation may mediate the connection between community elderly care services and older adults’ life satisfaction.</p> Method <p>Using a multi-stage random sampling approach, 676 valid questionnaires were collected. Pearson correlation and path analysis tested the hypothesis that community elderly care services are positively associated with life satisfaction. Mediation analysis using PROCESS Macro (Model 4) tested the hypothesis that social adaptation mediates this relationship.</p> Results <p>The results indicate that community elderly care services are significantly positively correlated with older adults’ life satisfaction. Mediation analysis indicates that social adaptation partially mediates this relationship, with the indirect effect accounting for 33.82% of the total effect.</p> Conclusion <p>The results suggest that community elderly care services are linked to higher life satisfaction among older adults, and that this link may operate in part through older adults’ capacity for social adaptation. The research uncovers the internal mechanisms through which community elderly care services relate to positive outcomes, providing an empirical basis for translating the paradigm of successful aging from theoretical concept into concrete policy and practice.</p>