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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| A qualitative approach to studying health optimism, realism, and pessimism | | Author(s) | Carol van Doorn |
| Journal title | Research on Aging, vol 21, no 3, May 1999 |
| Pages | pp 440-457 |
| Keywords | Health [elderly] ; Ill health ; Attitude ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | To determine why older people are optimistic, realistic or pessimistic on self-rated health relative to standard medical health measures, 48 people aged over 65 from the New Haven, Connecticut area were interviewed in an in-depth, semi-structured format. Comparisons were made between optimists and poor-health realists, both of whom had serious health problems, to discover the ways in which these groups develop their disparate self-ratings of health. When asked about the meanings they attach to health, respondents variously referred to topics including family history, social comparisons, subjective age, and life expectancy to form their ratings. These results begin to clarify the ways in which different people view similar states of health, building on recent research showing that health pessimists are at an elevated risk of mortality, while health optimists reduce their mortality risk. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990824235 A |
| Classmark | CC: CH: DP: 3F: 7T |
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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