Older Adults’ Gender, Age and Physical Activity Effects on Anxiety, Optimism, Resilience and Engagement

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to understand the effects of gender and age on anxiety, optimism, resilience and engagement in a group of older adults. An observational, quantitative, descriptive and transversal design was used with non-probabilistic sampling. Descriptive statistical analyses, reliability tests (Cronbach’s alpha) and linear correlation tests (Pearson’s) were performed, and the development of multivariate linear regression models was conducted. Female participants in the sample had higher levels in anxiety and pessimism, while male participants scored higher in optimism, engagement and resilience. Participants who practiced physical activity (PA) had better scores in optimism, engagement and resilience. The sample comprised 55.1% men and 44.9% women, between the ages of 51 and 93, with an average of 68.1 years, all participants completed the questionnaire Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2) the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) the short version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale questionnaire (UWES-9) the short version of the CD-RISC. As for marital status, there were significant differences between single participants and romantic partner. Singles participants showed higher levels of anxiety than their married counterparts, while those in a relationship scored higher in optimism, engagement and resilience. The model was statistically significant F (9;352) = 14.6; p < 0.001, explaining 27% of the variance in optimism. The data indicated that PA practice and living with a partner in an inland area is associated with less anxiety, which may have implications for programs and activities designed for older adults.

Factors Affecting Teachers' Resiliency Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The result in Table 1 also implied that teachers of advanced age are less optimistic than younger teachers. This result is corroborated with the findings of the study conducted by Mishra (2013) and Martinez-Moreno, et al (2020), which revealed that younger adults are more optimistic than older ones. One possible reason for this is that older teachers are more vulnerable to the virus than younger adults.…”

“…This result is supported by several studies which have claimed female workers tend to report a higher level of stress and burnout at work (Marchand et al, 2018;Purvanova & Muros, 2010). The probable reason for the high level of COVID-19 related job stress among female teachers is that females tend to be more anxious than males in times of distress, as indicated in several literature reviews (Hou et al, 2020;Martinez-Moreno et al, 2020). However, based on Table 2, male teachers have felt more emotionally exhausted than female teachers due to COVID -19.…”

“…This result is supported by the Bjuggren and Elert (2019) study, which elucidated that females are less optimistic than males but contradicted the study of Mishra (2013), which considered females to be more optimistic than males. However, perhaps the slight difference in the level of optimism among the two genders is due to the difference how they react to the threat of the pandemic; females tend to be more anxious than males (Martinez-Moreno et al, 2020).…”

The Mediating Effect of Coping Style on Physical Activity and Negative Affect Caused by Public Health Emergencies: Evidence from Chinese College Students

“…The effect of PA has been inquired in different ages of people such as children [35][36][37], adolescents [37][38][39][40], middle-aged people [41,42] and older adults [43][44][45][46]. There have also been studies on different populations, for instance, pregnant women and mothers [47,48], nurses [49], patients [50][51][52][53][54], and people with overweight/obesity [55,56].…”

Influence of Psychological Factors in Federated Futsal and Lifeguard Athletes, Differences by Gender and Category

“…Sport research related to stress and well-being factors has been widely developed in recent years (López, 2015;Barbosa and Urrea, 2018), considered as important in different sports (Moreno-Murcia et al, 2006;Cano et al, 2019). Previous studies have highlighted the importance of optimism as a facilitating aspect of resilience (Ferrando et al, 2002;Aranzana et al, 2016;Martínez-Moreno et al, 2020), and competitive stress as a possible inducer of specific development in sport training stages, while also predicting how combinations of other variables could influence the athlete. It is the resilience and optimism of the individual coping strategies, which the athlete uses, that most help him or her (Galli and Vealey, 2008;Fletcher and Sarkar, 2012;García et al, 2014).…”