scholarly journals Longitudinal Relations Between Views on Aging and Perceived Stress: Evidence for Mutual Associations

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 287-287
Author(s):  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Anna Kornadt ◽  
Markus Wettstein

Abstract We investigated the reciprocal longitudinal relation between perceived stress and three established domains of views on aging (VoA): (1) subjective age; (2) attitude toward own aging [ATOA]; and (3) aging-related cognitions including social loss, physical decline, and continuous growth. We also examined the potentially moderating role of chronological age. Data of the German Ageing Survey, comprising two measurement occasions (2014 and 2017) and a sample of 4,588 individuals aged between 40 and 95 years, were analyzed. Controlling for socio-demographic and health-related indicators, cross-lagged models indicated mutual longitudinal relations between VoA and stress. Whether the pathway from stress to VoA or the opposite pathway was stronger varied depending on the VoA considered. With increasing age, most VoA domains were less strongly associated with subsequent perceived stress. Our findings suggest that less favorable VoA predict higher perceived subsequent stress, but they are also preceded and predicted by higher levels of perceived stress.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 588-589
Author(s):  
Markus Wettstein ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Svenja Spuling

Abstract We examined the role of subjective age views (subjective age; attitudes toward own aging [ATOA]; aging-related cognitions, comprising continuous growth, social loss, and physical decline) for changes in self-reported problems with vision and hearing over up to 9 years. A subsample of the German Ageing Survey (2,499 adults aged 60-85 years at baseline) was investigated. Controlling for gender, age, education, self-rated health, and region of residence (West vs. East Germany), a younger subjective age at baseline predicted less steep increase in vision problems among individuals who were chronologically older at baseline. More favorable ATOA scores were associated with less increase in hearing problems. Higher scores on continuous growth went along with less increase in hearing problems, whereas higher social loss scores were associated with a steeper increase in vision problems. Several associations increased with advancing age. Our findings suggest that subjective age views indeed predict late-life changes in sensory problems.


2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 875-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Stephan ◽  
Virginie Demulier ◽  
Antonio Terracciano

Author(s):  
Sharon Avidor ◽  
Yuval Palgi ◽  
Zahava Solomon

Abstract Objectives Some degree of mental distress is commonly present in old age, and it is often exacerbated in later life following changes in physical health. This work presents in two studies among samples that have been exposed to stressful experiences in the past, a prospective examination of how the association between physical health and mental distress is attenuated by two forms of views on aging, evaluations of age and evaluations of one’s future. Methods Study 1 (N = 226) was conducted in 2008 (Time 1) and 2014 (Time 2), among Israeli war veterans (mean age 64.90, SD = 5.04); Study 2 (N = 132) was conducted in 2014 (Time 1) and 2015 (Time 2) among older adults who were exposed to ongoing rocket fire in the south of Israel (mean age 66.44, SD = 9.77). Participants reported on their subjective age, subjective life expectancy (SLE, in Study 1/distance-to-death; DtD, in Study 2), health, and mental distress. Results Both studies showed that after controlling for exposure to trauma and for Time 1 mental distress, Time 1 subjective age, but not SLE/DtD, moderated the association between Time 1 physical health and Time 2 mental distress. Discussion Subjective age and SLE represent distinct features of views of aging. Subjective age may reflect perceptions of one’s aging process, associated more directly with health-related outcomes over time. SLE reflects future, death-related perceptions, therefore perhaps less directly associated with such outcomes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 419-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Hess ◽  
Erica L. O'Brien ◽  
Peggy Voss ◽  
Anna E. Kornadt ◽  
Klaus Rothermund ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Ayşe I. Kural ◽  
Berrin Özyurt

Research has demonstrated consistently that personality and perceived stress, independently, are essential factors for university adjustment among university freshmen; however, little is known about the associations between personality, perceived stress, and adjustment together. Our primary goal was to explore the predictive utility of perceived stress for explaining university adjustment among university freshmen ( N = 290). We also tested the moderating role of personality traits and this research was embedded within a Big Five model of personality including the sixth trait for Turkish context, ‘Negative Valence’. Results addressed that only conscientiousness and negative valence moderated the perceived stress and adjustment association. Students high on negative valence and/or conscientiousness tended to experience the detrimental effect of perceived stress on university adjustment more due to their personality. These results suggested that personality might be an important factor to include in adjustment fostering interventions for freshmen at universities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 016402752110273
Author(s):  
Markus Wettstein ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Vera Heyl

Although stress is a risk factor for various diseases in later life, its role for sensory abilities in the second half of life has rarely been empirically addressed. We examined if perceived stress at baseline predicts self-reported difficulties with vision and hearing 3 years later. We also explored whether chronological age is a moderator of associations between stress and sensory difficulties. Our sample was derived from the German Ageing Survey and consisted of n = 5,085 individuals aged 40–95 years ( M = 64.01 years, SD = 10.84 years). Controlling for baseline self-reported sensory functioning, socio-demographic indicators, self-rated health and chronic diseases, greater perceived stress at baseline predicted greater self-reported difficulties with vision and hearing 3 years later. The effect of stress did not vary by age. Our findings suggest that, from middle adulthood to advanced old age, stress is a risk factor for increases in self-perceived problems with vision and hearing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 961-961
Author(s):  
Anna Kornadt ◽  
Martine Hoffmann ◽  
Elke Murdock ◽  
Josepha Nell ◽  
Isabelle Albert

Abstract During the Covid-Crisis, stereotypes of older adults as helpless and vulnerable were spread, and intergenerational conflict was stirred more or less openly. We thus focused on perceived ageism during the crisis and its effects on well-being and health of older adults. Since views on aging are multifaceted and can be both, risk and resource for individual development, we assessed people’s self-perceptions of aging (SPA) as social loss, continued growth and physical decline and subjective age (SA). We hypothesized that people with SPA of social loss and physical decline would be more susceptible to negative effects of perceived ageism, whereas those with SPA of continued growth and younger SA would be less affected. NT1 = 611 community-dwelling adults aged 60 – 98 (Mage = 69.92 years) were recruited in June 2020 online and via phone in Luxembourg. In September 2020, participants will be contacted again for a follow-up. Analyses with cross-sectional data show that participants who felt more discriminated reported lower life satisfaction after the onset of the crisis (r = -.35) and worse subjective health (r = -.14). SPA of social loss and higher SA increased the negative effect of ageism on well-being (beta = -.57) and subjective health (beta = -.53), respectively. Our results point to mid- and long-term consequences of age discriminatory and stereotype-based crisis communication for the well-being of older adults and the importance of individual SPA in critical situations.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Spitzer ◽  
Dikla Segel-Karpas ◽  
Yuval Palgi

Abstract Loneliness is considered a major issue, often negatively influencing the quality of life of individuals of all ages, and of older adults, in particular. The aims of this study are: (1) to assess the association between close social relationships and loneliness; and (2) to examine the moderating role of subjective age in this association. Married or cohabiting community-dwelling Israelis in the second half of life (N = 360) were interviewed and reported on their close social relationships, their level of loneliness, and their subjective age. The number of close social relationships was found to have a negative relationship with loneliness. Moreover, subjective age was found to moderate the relationship between close social relationships and loneliness, such that the association was weaker for those with older subjective age. Those with older subjective age are often not able to benefit from close social relationships to alleviate loneliness as much as their younger-subjective-age counterparts. Efforts to address older adults’ loneliness should consider focusing on older adults’ perceptions of aging.


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