The meaning of older adults' health appraisals: congruence with health status and determinant of mortality.

This study explored open-ended responses regarding attributions underlying health appraisals made by older adults, resulting in five categories (physical health, attitudinal/behavioral, externally focused, health transcendence, nonreflective). The older the respondents, the less likely they were to focus on physical aspects of their health. Health optimists were the most likely to make attitudinal/behavioral or health transcendent attributions, while poor-health realists were most likely to mention physical health aspects and least likely to make attitudinal or behavioral attributions. While poor-health realists were at the highest risk of dying within a three-year period, health optimists were significantly less likely to die than poor-health realists, in spite of sharing similar health status. Respondents who were unable to identify underlying attributions were significantly more likely to die than were those identifying any other attribution. In conclusion, health attributions provide unique insight into the complex relationship between older adults' health appraisals, health status, and mortality.