The Role of Temporal Comparison, Social Comparison, and Direct Appraisal in the Elderly's Self‐Evaluations of Health

Abstract

Elderly persons (n= 91) were interviewed about self‐ perceptions of physical health and the contribution of social comparison, temporal comparison, and direct appraisal to these judgments. Consistent with previous studies, self‐assessments tended to be mainly positive (67% reported their health as “good” or “excellent”), though tempered somewhat by the individual's objective physical condition (i.e., number of chronic diseases or disabilities). Independent of objective health, respondents' ratings were more negative if they mentioned thinking about past or anticipated health. Respondents were more concerned about their health if they thought about their past or anticipated health or mentioned comparing with a specific other person. Direct feedback had no effect on health ratings. Among those who reported social comparison, ratings were more positive when worse‐off others were mentioned. Temporal comparisons may be associated with more negative ratings because the elderly's past health is likely to have been better and their future (anticipated) health can be expected to become worse. If using temporal and social comparison information is associated with more negative assessments then what accounts for the generally positive self‐assessments? We propose that the elderly compare themselves with a cognitively constructed stereotypical standard of the frail elderly rather than with a specific other. Because few elderly actually “fit” this stereotype, most elderly feel they are doing well.

Posttraumatic Growth and Recovery from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

“…For example, many researchers have attempted to explore how schema-guided processing may affect perceptions of temporal change (e.g., Suls & Mullen, 1984;Suls, Marco & Tobin, 1991). While some research implies that the person's past qualities are affected by their current beliefs (e.g., Heckhausen et al, 1989;McFarland et al, 1992;Ryff, 1982), other research highlights how people's current qualities are affected by their recollections of their past qualities (e.g., Strack et al, 1985).…”

“…They posit that this need for positive self-evaluations can prompt the individual to construct temporal comparisons that reflect positively on the self. A temporal comparison is defined as the consideration of how one's current standing on an attribute relates to one's past standing on the attribute (Albert, 1977;Levine & Moreland, 1987;Suls, Marco, & Tobin, 1991). Albert (1977) believed that temporal comparison was a corollary to social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954).…”

The Impact of Reminiscence on Socially Active Elderly Women's Reactions to Social Comparisons

“…The application of social comparison theory to the psychology of aging, however, is recent, and has been relatively limited in scope. Several researchers have examined the frequency with which elderly people report engaging in social comparison and have found that for most elderly individuals, social comparison is a naturally occurring process (Heidrich & Ryff, 1993a;Rickabaugh & Tomlinson-Keasey, 1997;Suls, Marco, & Tobin, 1991). Other studies with older women have examined social comparison as an evaluative rating, that is, self relative to others (Heidrich & Ryff, 1993a;Robinson-Whelen & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1997), or have focused on global emotional consequences of comparison (Heidricb & Ryff, 1993b).…”

Age Effects and Health Appraisal: A Meta-Analysis

“…Persons with chronic illness often use others with similar illness as a comparison group in the appraisal process (Affleck & Tennen, 1991). The use of temporal comparison, where the individual appraises his or her health relative to a point(s) in the past, has also been observed (Suls, Marco, & Tobin, 1991), as has the use of "cognitively assembled" comparison groups (Tornblom, Stern, Pirak, Pudas, & Tornlund, 1993). Evidence also exists that different-aged persons approach the appraisal process in qualitatively distinct ways (Tornblom et al, 1993).…”