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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Psychological predictors of mortality in old age | | Author(s) | Heiner Maier, Jacqui Smith |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological sciences and social sciences, vol 54B, no 1, January 1999 |
| Pages | pp P44-P54 |
| Keywords | Mental health [elderly] ; Cognitive processes ; Personality ; Well being ; Personal relationships ; Death ; Correlation ; Germany. |
| Annotation | Cox regression models examined associations between 17 indicators of psychological functioning (intellectual abilities, personality, subjective well-being, and social relations) and mortality. 516 participants, aged 70-103 years, from the Berlin Ageing Study (BASE) were assessed between 1990 and 1993. By 1996, 50% had died. Eleven indicators were identified as mortality risk factors at the zero order level, and six when age was controlled. Low perceptual speed and dissatisfaction with ageing were uniquely significant after controls for age, socio-economic status (SES), health, and the 16 other psychological factors. Low intellectual functioning was a greater risk for those aged 70-84 than for the oldest old (over 85 years). The effects of psychological risk factors did not diminish over time. Future research should focus on the mechanisms and time frames that underlie the death-relatedness of intellectual functioning and self-evaluation. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990423005 A |
| Classmark | D: DA: DK: D:F:5HH: DS: CW: 49: 767 |
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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