Sharon Avidor1, Liat Ayalon2, Yuval Palgi3, Ehud Bodner4. 1. a School of Social and Community Sciences , Ruppin Academic Center , Emek Hefer , Israel. 2. b School of Social Work , Bar Ilan University , Ramat Gan , Israel. 3. c Department of Gerontology and the Center for Research and Study of Aging, University of Haifa , Haifa , Israel. 4. d The Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences and the Music Department, Bar Ilan University , Ramat Gan , Israel.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Perceived age discrimination can have negative effects on one's subjective well-being (SWB). The response to age discrimination might differ based on age, and based on perceived longevity, or subjective life expectancy (SLE). These differential effects have not yet been prospectively examined within adult life span samples. METHOD: We examined the association between perceived age discrimination at baseline (T1) and SWB at follow-up (T2), and the moderation effect of SLE. We compared differences in these effects between middle-aged and older adults. Analyses were based on participants who took part in the 2008 (T1) and 2011 (T2) assessments of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS; listwise N = 1534), a population-based representative sample of the German adult population. Participants were categorized as middle-aged (ages 40-64; n = 919) or older adults (ages 65-93; n = 615). RESULTS: Regression analyses indicated that T1 perceived age discrimination significantly predicts lower T2 SWB among middle-aged, but not among older adults, after adjusting for covariates and T1 SWB. There is a significant interaction between age discrimination and SLE for predicting SWB, only among middle-aged participants, suggesting that age discrimination predicts decreases in SWB for those reporting higher, but not lower levels of SLE. CONCLUSION: People in the transition from midlife to old age, who hold higher SLE, appear to be more vulnerable to age discrimination. This may be due to the experience of age discrimination as an 'off-time', or unexpected event for those in midlife who have a higher expectation to live longer.
OBJECTIVES: Perceived age discrimination can have negative effects on one's subjective well-being (SWB). The response to age discrimination might differ based on age, and based on perceived longevity, or subjective life expectancy (SLE). These differential effects have not yet been prospectively examined within adult life span samples. METHOD: We examined the association between perceived age discrimination at baseline (T1) and SWB at follow-up (T2), and the moderation effect of SLE. We compared differences in these effects between middle-aged and older adults. Analyses were based on participants who took part in the 2008 (T1) and 2011 (T2) assessments of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS; listwise N = 1534), a population-based representative sample of the German adult population. Participants were categorized as middle-aged (ages 40-64; n = 919) or older adults (ages 65-93; n = 615). RESULTS: Regression analyses indicated that T1 perceived age discrimination significantly predicts lower T2 SWB among middle-aged, but not among older adults, after adjusting for covariates and T1 SWB. There is a significant interaction between age discrimination and SLE for predicting SWB, only among middle-aged participants, suggesting that age discrimination predicts decreases in SWB for those reporting higher, but not lower levels of SLE. CONCLUSION:People in the transition from midlife to old age, who hold higher SLE, appear to be more vulnerable to age discrimination. This may be due to the experience of age discrimination as an 'off-time', or unexpected event for those in midlife who have a higher expectation to live longer.
Entities:
Keywords:
Age discrimination; subjective life expectancy; subjective well-being
Authors: Johanna Cresswell-Smith; Francesco Amaddeo; Valeria Donisi; Anna K Forsman; Jorid Kalseth; Natalia Martin-Maria; Marta Miret; Kristian Walhbeck Journal: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol Date: 2018-11-29 Impact factor: 4.328