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Longitudinal Benefit of Positive Self-Perceptions of Aging on Functional Health

^a Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
^b Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts

Becca R. Levy, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College Street, P.O. Box 208034, New Haven, CT 06520-8034 E-mail: becca.levy{at}yale.edu.

Decision Editor: Margie E. Lachman, PhD

We examined whether those with more positive self-perceptions of aging (older individuals' beliefs about their own aging) report better functional health over an 18-year period than do those with more negative self-perceptions of aging. We found that those with more positive self-perceptions of aging in 1975 reported better functional health from 1977 to 1995, when we controlled for baseline measures of functional health, self-rated health, age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status. We also demonstrated that perceived control partially mediates the relationship between self-perceptions of aging and functioning. The sample consisted of 433 participants in the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement, a community-based study of individuals aged 50 and older, who were interviewed in 6 waves. Our study suggests that the way in which individuals view their own aging affects their functional health.

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