Perceived Stress Predicts Subsequent Self-Reported Problems With Vision and Hearing: Longitudinal Findings From the German Ageing Survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 016402752110273
Author(s):  
Markus Wettstein ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Vera Heyl
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Middle Adulthood ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Demographic Indicators ◽  
German Ageing Survey

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.

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
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Subjective Age ◽  
Continuous Growth ◽  
Social Loss ◽  
Physical Decline ◽  
Health Related ◽  
German Ageing Survey ◽  
Moderating Role

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.

scholarly journals Self-rated health among older adults in two fast ageing European countries: Evidence from Italy and Serbia

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (7) ◽  
pp. 664-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Piumatti ◽  
Francesco Lietz ◽  
Jelena Marinkovic ◽  
Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Health Behavior ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Eating Habits ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Two Samples

Background/Aim. Self-rated health (SRH) is a widely adopted tool to compare health across countries. Relationships of socio-demographics with SRH in later life have been extensively cross-nationally observed. However, cross-comparisons of the effects of health behaviors (i.e., eating habits, smoking, and alcohol consumption) and health status (i.e., chronic diseases) on SRH are less frequent. Our aim was to examine SRH differences between older adults in Italy and Serbia and to observe the role of predictors of SRH particularly referring to health behaviors in both countries. Methods. Two samples of 4,406 Italians and 3,539 Serbs aged 65 and older were extracted from national health surveys conducted in 2013. For this secondary analysis, SRH, sociodemographics, health status variables, and health behavior factors were selected. In the multivariate logistic regression models, SRH was the dependent variable while the selected independent predictors were socio-demographics, characteristics related to health status and to health behavior. Results. Both Italians (30.3%) and Serbs (22.3%) reported lower values of good- or very good-SRH than the European average (36.9%). The logistic regressions showed that Serbs reported poor?SRH significantly more often than Italians. Moreover, gender, education level, chronic diseases, and daily life limitations resulted as significant predictors of SRH in both national samples. In addition, vegetables intake was positively associate to SRH among Italians, while among Serbs an adequate fruits intake was positively associated to SRH. Conclusion. Health behavior and health status factors are associated with better SRH in the population aged 65 and older. The effects differ between countries. It is essential that decision-makers of the implementation of international preventive strategies take into account the specific characteristics of countries in the organization of interventions for the aged population.

scholarly journals Pandora's Box

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-76
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Buffer Effect ◽  
Sociodemographic Variables ◽  
Health Decline ◽  
Steep Decline ◽  
German Ageing Survey ◽  
Stress Buffer

If you have started feeling your age or even older, stop right there! Feeling younger makes us feel better and healthier both physically and mentally; at least so say researchers from Germany. They examined longitudinal data collected over a period of three years (2014–2017) by the German Ageing Survey, with a mean age of 64 years (40–95). Controlling for baseline functional health and sociodemographic variables, they found that greater perceived stress was associated with a steeper decline in functional health, which increased with advancing chronological age. However, they also found that those who felt younger than their age showed a less steep decline in functional health and greater perceived stress was less strongly associated with functional health decline. Furthermore, they were less likely to feel stressed and this stress buffer effect was greater with increasing age.

scholarly journals Introduction: Framing Civic Exclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 239-243
Author(s):  
Sandra Torres
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Scholarly Attention

AbstractThe topic of old-age social exclusion has received increased attention as studies that measure the prevalence of this multidimensional phenomenon have shown its spread across countries; see Ogg (2005) who focuses on Europe, Hrast et al. (2013) who considers Central and Eastern Europe, and Macleod et al. (2019) who measure exclusion in the UK. The three chapters that belong to this section pay specific attention to two of the domains which Walsh et al. (2017) refer to as civic participation and socio-cultural aspects in their framework on exclusion in later life. In this book, we refer to them as civic exclusion [see Walsh et al. this volume]. It is worth noting that this domain has received the least scholarly attention so far within the literature (van Regenmortel et al. 2016; Walsh et al. 2017), even though there is clear evidence that civic engagement and socio-cultural aspects of exclusion can have an impact on self-rated health (Poortinga 2006). Thus, the purpose of the chapter is to offer an abridged introduction to the topic of civic exclusion in later life in order to offer context to the three chapters in this section.

scholarly journals Effects of Educational Attainment and Housing Condition on Self-Rated Health in Old Age: Heterogeneity and Tendency in China

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Yao ◽  
Shun Zhang ◽  
Aihong Li
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Housing Condition ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Chinese Elders

In China, the health of the elderly has long been discussed, but few have investigated the diversity of the aging pattern in later life of this population. Although a large body of literature has approved the positive association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, it still remains controversial regarding whether the association becomes convergent or divergent in old ages. Using data from China's 2010 and 2015 Inter-census Survey (1‰ sample), this paper explored the role of two key SES indicators, educational attainment and housing condition in modifying the self-rated health of Chinese elders aged 60 and above. We observed the diversified patterns of how educational attainment and housing condition have made an impact on the health of these elders in their old age and the temporal changes of the two SES indicators. We found higher educational attainment and better housing condition can lead to higher self-rated health. This positive significance however diminished with age over time, as we observed from 2010 to 2015, indicating the convergent effects of SES on health in old age. We also found that although educational attainment and housing condition were both positively correlated with health, their effects were differentiated. The influence of educational attainment on health waxed, whereas on housing conditions waned over time. These findings suggested the heterogeneity of health and SES effects among Chinese elders.

Images of Aging in the Psychotherapeutic Context

GeroPsych ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva-Marie Kessler ◽  
Catherine E. Bowen
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Aging Process ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Process ◽  
Images Of Aging ◽  
Client Communication

Both psychotherapists and their clients have mental representations of old age and the aging process. In this conceptual review, we draw on available research from gerontology, social and developmental psychology, and communication science to consider how these “images of aging” may affect the psychotherapeutic process with older clients. On the basis of selected empirical findings we hypothesize that such images may affect the pathways to psychotherapy in later life, therapist-client communication, client performance on diagnostic tests as well as how therapists select and apply a therapeutic method. We posit that interventions to help both older clients and therapists to reflect on their own images of aging may increase the likelihood of successful treatment. We conclude by making suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals A Biomarker-based Biological Age in UK Biobank: Composition and Prediction of Mortality and Hospital Admissions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Sum Chan ◽  
Matthew Arnold ◽  
Alison Offer ◽  
Imen Hammami ◽  
Marion Mafham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Principal Components ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Hand Grip ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazard ◽  
Prediction Of Mortality ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazard Models

Abstract Background Chronological age is the strongest risk factor for most chronic diseases. Developing a biomarker-based age and understanding its most important contributing biomarkers may shed light on the effects of age on later-life health and inform opportunities for disease prevention. Methods A subpopulation of 141 254 individuals healthy at baseline were studied, from among 480 019 UK Biobank participants aged 40–70 recruited in 2006–2010, and followed up for 6–12 years via linked death and secondary care records. Principal components of 72 biomarkers measured at baseline were characterized and used to construct sex-specific composite biomarker ages using the Klemera Doubal method, which derived a weighted sum of biomarker principal components based on their linear associations with chronological age. Biomarker importance in the biomarker ages was assessed by the proportion of the variation in the biomarker ages that each explained. The proportions of the overall biomarker and chronological age effects on mortality and age-related hospital admissions explained by the biomarker ages were compared using likelihoods in Cox proportional hazard models. Results Reduced lung function, kidney function, reaction time, insulin-like growth factor 1, hand grip strength, and higher blood pressure were key contributors to the derived biomarker age in both men and women. The biomarker ages accounted for >65% and >84% of the apparent effect of age on mortality and hospital admissions for the healthy and whole populations, respectively, and significantly improved prediction of mortality (p < .001) and hospital admissions (p < 1 × 10−10) over chronological age alone. Conclusions This study suggests that a broader, multisystem approach to research and prevention of diseases of aging warrants consideration.

scholarly journals Profile Groups Based on Lifestyle and Differences in Mental Health and Cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 404-404
Author(s):  
Joseph Kim ◽  
Kyuree Kim
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Mail Survey ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Mean Differences

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify the profiles of older adults according to lifestyle. Data for the study were from the 2017 Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS). CAMS 2017 is a questionnaire mailed to a sub-sample of respondents from the Health and Retirement Study. Participants were limited to older adults 65 and older, and the final sample consisted of 1136 older adults. The sample included 443 men and 693 women. Caucasians comprised 82.0% of the participants. Lifestyle was measured through items assessing the amount of time spent on activities. Due to high skewness, the items were dichotomized, 0=no time spent on activity and 1=time spent on the activity. Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to identify groups based on lifestyle. LCA is a person-centered approach for identifying unobserved subgroups based on similarity in responses to items. Three lifestyle groups were identified. Group 1 was “Outgoing” with 471 individuals. Group 2 was “Adequate” with 229 individuals. Group 3 was “Inactive” with 436 individuals. An ANOVA was then conducted to assess mean differences in self-rated health, cognition, depressive symptoms, and loneliness for the three lifestyle groups. The “Outgoing” and “Adequate” groups had significantly higher scores on self-rated health and cognition, and in addition, significantly lower scores on depressive symptoms and loneliness compared to the “Inactive” group. No significant differences were observed between the “Outgoing” and “Adequate” groups. An implication from this study is the importance of maintaining an active lifestyle in later life for better mental health and cognition.

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