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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Quality of life perceptions and social comparisons in healthy old age | | Author(s) | J Graham Beaumont, Pamela M Kenealy |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 24, part 5, September 2004 |
| Pages | pp 755-770 |
| Source | http://journals.cambridge.org/ |
| Keywords | Housing [elderly] ; Health [elderly] ; Social mobility ; Quality of life ; Social surveys ; Wandsworth. |
| Annotation | Data were collected from 190 participants aged 65+ resident in the London Borough of Wandsworth in a study of the influence of healthy older people's type of residence and social comparison strategies on their quality of life perceptions. Participants were classified by their type of residence, and their quality of life was assessed by the Schedule for Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life: Direct Weighting (SEIQoL-DW). Among the reported social comparison judgements, the dominant strategy was "Downward Contrast": it was the sole strategy for 78% of those studied, and was significantly associated with a higher perceived quality of life. Among other statistically significant findings, it was found that positive orientation, optimistic orientation, and the use of Contrast rather than Identification comparisons associated with a better reported quality of life. The over-riding influence of Downward Contrast comparisons was also confirmed: this strategy appears to be adaptive and functional in enhancing perceived quality of life. The effect is not mediated by depression, although differences in comparison strategy were observed among groups with different residential status. The possibility of an intervention to enhance perceived quality of life is discussed. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040922207 A |
| Classmark | KE: CC: TMM: F:59: 3F: 82LX |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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