Psychometric study of the Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC) Short Scale translated to Portuguese, applied to Brazilian older adults

Néri, Anita Liberalesso; Wahl, Hans‐Werner; Kaspar, Roman; Diehl, Manfred; Batistoni, Samila Sathler Tavares; Cachioni, Meire; Yassuda, Mônica Sanches

doi:10.1590/1980-57642021dn15-020011

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The initial factor analysis, however, revealed low factor loadings for three items in the ten-item instrument, namely: “I have more freedom to live my days the way I want,” “I feel more dependent on the help of others,” and “I have to limit my activities.” This may be due to the characteristics of the sample, which consisted of working people under 65 years old with a mean age of 41 – other studies using this 10-item scale have had samples with a higher percentage of retirees, and an average age of around 65 ( 6 , 60 , 61 ). We might speculate, for example, that the low loading of the item relating to increased freedom reflects that working age people must go to work to support their family and raise children, leaving little freedom, whereas retirees do not have this restriction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness of age-related change, chronological age, subjective age and proactivity: An empirical study in China

Zhang

Wood

2022

Front. Psychiatry

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An aging workforce and the increasing value placed on employees' proactivity are two important features of current workplaces. We address the extent to which this proactivity is affected by age and aging. The study has two objectives. First, it aims to validate the concept of awareness of age-related change (AARC) in the Chinese context. Second, it compares the explanatory power of AARC with that of chronological age and subjective age in predicting three types of proactivity: task proactivity, development proactivity and organization proactivity. We used the ten-item AARC instrument in a survey of teachers (n = 421, mean age = 41.0) in China, and validated its content by comparing the responses of a subsample of these teachers (n = 33, mean age = 42.5) to questions asked in a semi-structured interview. This confirmed the validity of the instrument's content, and its applicability beyond North America and Europe, in a Chinese context. We then show that awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC-Gains and AARC-Losses) are, respectively, positively and negatively associated with the three types of proactivity, and that they are better predictors than chronological age and subjective age. The research adds weight to challenges to negative age stereotyping—-that older employees are set in their ways and less proactive—-and to claims about the value of AARC for measuring aging, by showing that this factor can predict outcomes beyond health and the concerns of older adults.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness of age-related change, chronological age, subjective age and proactivity: An empirical study in China

Zhang

Wood

2022

Front. Psychiatry

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“…The AARC-10SF is multidimensional in capturing adults’ self-perceptions of age-related gains and losses across five behavioral domains: Health and physical functioning, cognitive functioning, interpersonal relations, social-cognitive and social-emotional functioning, and lifestyle and engagement (see Supplementary Table 2 for item wording). Evidence for concurrent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the AARC-Gains and AARC-Losses scales has been reported in different countries ( Kaspar et al, 2019 , 2021 , 2022 ; Neri et al, 2021 ; Sabatini, Ukoumunne, et al, 2020 ). Like for the long form of the questionnaire ( Brothers et al, 2019 ), the two-factor solution was confirmed for the AARC-10SF, using confirmatory factor analysis and independent samples ( Kaspar et al, 2019 ; Sabatini, Ukoumunne, et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness of Age-Related Gains and Losses in a National Sample of Adults Aged 80 Years and Older: Cross-Sectional Associations With Health Correlates

Kaspar

Wahl

Diehl

2023

Innovation in Aging

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Background and Objectives Advanced old age is a life stage with a high likelihood of age-related loss experiences. However, little is known about remaining gain experiences and their relation with perceived losses and health correlates in community-dwelling very old adults. Moreover, virtually nothing is known in this regard about the experiences of individuals in long-term care settings. First, we strived to establish the normative course of age-related gains and losses in advanced old age. Second, we examined whether such gain/loss perceptions in advanced aging moderated health correlates. Research Design and Methods Data came from the nationally representative survey “Old Age in Germany D80+” conducted in 2020/2021. The sample comprised 10,578 individuals aged 80 to 106 years, including 587 individuals in long-term care. We used the multidimensional Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC) questionnaire and moderated regression to analyze associations with late-life health and functioning correlates. Results Levels of AARC-Gains were higher than those of AARC-Losses across most of the age range. Long-term care residents showed more AARC-Losses and fewer AARC-Gains compared to community-dwelling adults and contributed significantly to an overall negative balance of more losses than gains in those aged 90 years or older. Regarding functional health and autonomy, negative age effects were amplified by AARC-Losses, but buffered by AARC-Gains. A more positive ratio of gains-to-losses predicted better health and functioning. Discussion and Implications Findings suggest that the loss aspect of development in very late life might have been overstated in the existing literature. Perceived gains and losses are of critical importance for the understanding of health correlates in very old age.

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“…With respect to the two-dimensionality of AARC measurement in terms of AARC-Gains and AARC-Losses, Neri et al (2021) presented evidence of factorial invariance of the gains and losses dimensions in young old (60–69 years) and old–old (70+ years) Brazilians based on split-sample confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses (CFA, EFA). Testad et al (2022) reported the first evidence of a potentially more complex pattern of factor loadings of the two-dimensional scale in an age-diverse (50+) Norwegian sample.…”

Section: The Concept Of Awareness Of Age-related Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in self-perceptions of aging across the adult lifespan: The sample case of awareness of age-related gains and losses.

Kaspar,

Schilling,

Diehl

et al. 2023

Psychology and Aging

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Rooted in the premises of lifespan developmental theory, the concept of awareness of age-related change (AARC) posits that growing older comes with both experiences of gains and losses across different behavioral domains. However, little is known about how age-related change is perceived across the entire adult lifespan, provided that respective measures can be validly compared. Further, few studies have adopted an approach that examines gains and losses simultaneously to study a potential shift in the ratio of perceived age-related gains and losses from adolescence to advanced old age. Using cross-sectional data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study tested the measurement invariance of the 10-item AARC short form and examined age differences in the awareness of age-related changes across 1,612 participants aged 16–93 years. First, partial measurement invariance of the AARC-Gains and AARC-Losses scales was established, allowing for valid group comparisons across young adulthood, midlife, and old age. Second, results indicated that people experience more AARC-Gains than AARC-Losses throughout the adult lifespan. However, older adults exhibited an increasingly less favorable gains-to-losses ratio, primarily driven by more loss experiences. Gain experiences were mostly stable across age groups. Third, differences in levels of AARC were related to individuals’ background characteristics relevant at the respective time of life, such as education (early adulthood), employment (midlife), and social resources (old age). These results highlight the utility of considering a broad age range when examining the nature and correlates of age differences in perceived age-related gains and losses.

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Psychometric study of the Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC) Short Scale translated to Portuguese, applied to Brazilian older adults

Cited by 9 publications

References 41 publications

Awareness of age-related change, chronological age, subjective age and proactivity: An empirical study in China

Awareness of age-related change, chronological age, subjective age and proactivity: An empirical study in China

Awareness of Age-Related Gains and Losses in a National Sample of Adults Aged 80 Years and Older: Cross-Sectional Associations With Health Correlates

Differences in self-perceptions of aging across the adult lifespan: The sample case of awareness of age-related gains and losses.

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