Proactive aging: A longitudinal study of stress, resources, agency, and well-being in late life

Abstract

Objectives Using the Proactivity Model of Successful Aging, we examined how internal and external resources contribute to the maintenance of psychological well-being and social activities among older adults who experience normative stressors of aging. Outcome variables in this study are collectively referred to as quality of life (QOL). We also examined the mediating role of proactive adaptations between internal and external resources and QOL indicators. Method Based on five annual interviews of a sample of 1,000 community dwelling older adults in Florida (effective N = 561), we tested the lagged effects of stressors on two indicators of QOL, four years later. In the full longitudinal model, using structural equations, we estimated the direct effects of internal and external resources on QOL, along with indirect effects through proactive adaptations. Results Stressors negatively influenced QOL four years later. Internal and external resources led to better QOL four years later, both directly and indirectly through proactive adaptations of marshaling support and planning for the future. Conclusion These findings lend support to the Proactivity Model of Successful Aging by documenting the value of proactive adaptations (i.e., exercise, planning ahead and marshaling support) as proximate influences on QOL outcomes (i.e., depressive symptomatology and social activities). Findings suggest that older adults can maintain successful aging even in the face of health-related and social stressors by invoking accumulated resources to deal actively with the challenges of aging.

Origins of Ageism at the Individual Level

“…In order to preserve self-esteem, the old-old might better adopt worldviews that emphasize alternative resources for self-esteem and meaning in old age, alongside the acceptance of the inevitable deterioration in old age (Cosco et al 2013;Kahana et al 2012) (see Fig. 4.1).…”

Predictores socio-emocionales y cognitivos: su papel en la comprensión del envejecimiento con éxito en el contexto costarricense

“…Estudios similares a nivel nacional e internacional (Blanco-Molina, 2007, 2010Fernández-Ballesteros et al, 2010) han corroborado la relación entre grados altos de actividad y la presencia de estabilidad emocional, de salud subjetiva y desempeño cognitivo como criterios asociados al compromiso activo de participar en la sociedad (Baltes & Lang, 1997;Ford et al, 2000;Glei et al, 2005;Kahana et al, 2012;Potočnik & Sonnentag, 2013;Seeman et al, 1996).…”

“…Así las personas parecen invertir tiempo, incrementando estas actividades como estrategia de optimización de los propios recursos (Freund et al, 2009;Kahana et al, 2012;Lang & Carstensen, 1994;Mendes de León, 2005), en un proceso donde se trata de vivir lo mejor posible de acuerdo a su entorno y capacidades (Fernández-Ballesteros, 2009). …”

“…Se priorizó, como en investigaciones previas, el análisis en la indagación de las variables socioemocionales (Eizenman, Nesselroade, Featherman, & Rowe, 1997;Fernández-Ballesteros, Diez-Nicolás, Caprara, Barbaranelli, & Bandura, 2002;Freund & Baltes, 1998;Jopp & Smith, 2006;Lang & Carstensen, 1994;Mendes de León, 2005;Seeman, McAvay, Merrill, Albert, & Rodin, 1996) y cognitivas que predicen este fenómeno durante la vejez (Dockree, Brennan, O'Sullivan, Robertson, & O'Connell, 2015;Hogan, Mata, & Carstensen, 2013;Krueger, Wilson, Kamenetsky, Barnes, Bienias, & Bennett, 2009;Vásquez, Rodríguez, Villarreal, & Campos, 2014). Además, se buscó describir las particularidades que caracterizan a aquellas personas adultas mayores que mantienen un alto nivel de participación social y física dentro y fuera de sus hogares (Glei, Landau, Goldman, Chuang, Rodriguez, & Weinstein, 2005;Hogan et al, 2013;Johnson et al, 2015;Potočnik & Sonnentag, 2013), que ha sido definida en la publicación antecedente como criterio de clasificación del envejecimiento con éxito en distintos contextos y metodologías de análisis (Cho et al, 2015;Fernández-Ballesteros, Zamarrón, López, Molina, Díez, Montero, & Schettini, 2010;Gureje, Oladeji, Abiona, & Chatterji, 2014;Parslow, Lewis, & Nay, 2011;Jopp, Wozniak, Damarin, De Feo, Jung, & Jeswani, 2015;Kahana et al, 2014;Kahana, Kelley-Moore, & Kahana, 2012). Se consideraron también variables asociadas a condiciones de salud (Haveman-Nies, de Groot, & van Staveren, 2003;Tyrovolas, Haro, Mariolis, Piscopo, Valacchi, Tsakountakis, & Metallinos, 2014) y características sociodemográficas (Gestorf et al, 2008) presentes en el ...…”

Automatic Information Processing Bias to Stress Factors by Older Adults with and without Diabetes

“…Specifically, proactivity models of successful aging describe how older people choose behavioral adaptations to cope with stressors of illness, frailty and social loses [3] [4]. Here, in terms of psychological well-being, enhancement of emotional experience seems to be an available mental resource that people use in late life to proactively adapt to mental or/and physical decline.…”