Study promotes positive thinking
Oregon State University
"How
we think about who we're going to be in old age is very predictive of exactly
how we will be," said Shelbie Turner, a doctoral student in OSU's College
of Public Health and Human Sciences and co-author on the study.
Previous
studies on aging have found that how people thought about themselves at age 50
predicted a wide range of future health outcomes up to 40 years later --
cardiovascular events, memory, balance, will to live, hospitalizations; even
mortality.
"Previous
research has shown that people who have positive views of aging at 50 live 7.5
years longer, on average, than people who don't," said Karen Hooker,
co-author of the study and the Jo Anne Leonard Petersen Endowed Chair in
Gerontology and Family Studies at OSU.
Because self-perceptions of aging are linked to so many major health outcomes, Hooker and Turner wanted to understand what influences those perceptions. Their study looked specifically at the influence of two factors: self-efficacy associated with possible selves, meaning a person's perceived ability to become the person they want to be in the future; and optimism as a general personality trait.
The
researchers measured self-perception of aging by having respondents say how
strongly they agreed or disagreed with statements such as, "Things keep
getting worse as I get older," "I have as much pep as I had last
year," "As you get older, you are less useful." They measured
optimism in a similar way, with respondents ranking their agreement with
statements like "In uncertain times I usually expect the best."
To
measure self-efficacy, the study used a dataset that compiled survey responses
from older adults where they listed two "hoped-for" future selves and
two "feared" future selves, and ranked how capable they felt of
becoming the person they hoped to be and avoiding becoming the person they
feared to be.
Among
the "hoped for" selves were things like "A social person with a
strong network of friends" and "A healthy, active person."
Examples of "feared" selves were "Chronically sick and in
pain," "Being dependent on others for my day-to-day needs" and
"A cranky, angry old woman."
Results
showed that, as predicted, higher optimism was associated with more positive
self-perception of aging. Both "hoped-for" self-efficacy and
"feared" self-efficacy were also significantly associated with
self-perception of aging, above and beyond optimism as a trait.
A
major factor in how people see their own aging selves is internalizing ageist
stereotypes, the researchers said. Examples of such stereotypes include
assumptions that older adults are bad drivers, or suffer memory problems, or
are unable to engage in physical activity anymore.
"Kids
as young as 4 years old already have negative stereotypes about old
people," Hooker said. "Then, of course, if you're lucky enough to
live to old age, they eventually apply to you."
Those
stereotypes get reinforced every time an older adult forgets something and
jokes, "Another senior moment!" But the researchers say these thought
patterns can do real harm.
"People
need to realize that some of the negative health consequences in later life
might not be biologically driven. The mind and the body are all
interwoven," Hooker said. "If you believe these bad things are going
to happen, over time that can erode people's willingness or maybe even
eventually their ability to engage in those health behaviors that are going to
keep them as healthy as they can be."
A
way to mitigate those negative stereotypes about aging is to promote
intergenerational relationships, so younger people can see older adults
enjoying happy, healthy lives.
"The
more you're around older people, the more you realize that it's not all bad,"
Turner said. "Older people can do some things better than young people do.
Increasing opportunities for intergenerational relationships is one way we can
make people more optimistic about aging."