A Longitudinal Examination of the Effects of Early Influences and Midlife Characteristics on Successful Aging

Abstract

Objectives. Previous research revealed that successful aging includes both objective and subjective dimensions. This longitudinal analysis examines how early life influences and midlife characteristics predict stability and change in successful aging over a 4-year period. Method. Data from 3,379 people living in New Jersey who completed baseline telephone interviews between 2006 and 2008 and follow-up mail surveys in 2011 were analyzed. Latent profile analysis identified people who aged successfully according to both objective and subjective criteria, neither criteria, and one, but not the other criteria. Multinomial logistic regressions analyses focused on the 2,614 people who were successful according to both objective and subjective criteria at baseline. Results. At follow-up, 18.1% people successful at baseline had transitioned out of that status. Characteristics identifiable early in life (gender, race, education, never marrying, incarceration) as well as midlife status (currently married, working), health behaviors (smoking, drinking, body mass index, exercise), and social support distinguished people who continued to age successfully 4 years later from those who did not. Discussion. Findings suggest that successful aging is a fluid construct and that although some characteristics identifiable early in life predict successful aging, others are dampened by midlife statuses. Key Words: Latent profile analysis-Longitudinal analysis-Multinomial logistic regression-Objective successSubjective success-Successful agingOver the past several decades, the quest to understand successful aging has yielded an exponential growth in the number of publications defining the construct and empirical studies examining its predictors. Although it is generally agreed that aging is a process that evolves over time, understanding the fluidity of successful aging has been hindered by an almost exclusive reliance on cross-sectional designs. Fraught with concerns about causal attributions

Colocation of older adults with successful aging based on objective and subjective measures

“…In an extension of this work, longitudinal follow up of the cohort permitted examining earlier life characteristics and later life behaviors as they predict stability and change in successful aging prospectively. Gender, race, education, never marrying and incarceration (earlier life characteristics) as well as midlife status (currently married, working), health behaviors (smoking, drinking, BMI, exercise), and social support distinguished people who continued to age successfully four years later from those who did not (Pruchno & Wilson-Genderson, 2014).…”

Towards a multidimensional healthy ageing phenotype

“…All but one study focused on older populations, those aged 70+ and often in 85 to 90+ individuals. Puchno et al found that midlife predictors of healthy ageing differed from those which apply later in life (25). In addition, it appears that some biomarkers of ageing which appear robust in younger old individuals may not be valid in very old people.…”

“…Pruchno et.al.) suggesting that maintenance of healthy ageing at follow up was more common among men, those who were working, the married, and those having better social relationships at baseline (25). …”

Resilience and Successful Aging: Aligning Complementary Constructs Using a Life Course Approach

“…The few studies that have examined resilience and successful aging together have conceptualized resilience as a personality characteristic predictive of successful aging (Jeste et al, 2013;Wagnild, 2003), yet this approach belies the perspective that resilience is a dynamic process. Recent longitudinal studies have depicted successful aging as a process (Andrews, Clark, & Luszcz, 2002;Hsu & Jones, 2012;Morack, Ram, Fauth, & Gerstorf, 2013;Pruchno & Wilson-Genderson, 2014), but these studies have not adequately examined the role of personality. Our understanding of the role played by personality vis-a-vis resilience and successful aging is in its infancy.…”