Bordone Valeria, Arpino Bruno
Wittgenstein Centre (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
J Aging Health. 2016 Sep;28(6):1055-72. doi: 10.1177/0898264315618920. Epub 2015 Dec 9.
Guided by the acknowledged importance of measures of aging alternative to chronological age, we explored the association between subjective age, on the one hand, and having grandchildren and provision of grandchild care, on the other, by gender and age groups.
Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 1,701 men and 2,395 women aged 50-85) and linear regression models were used to test two hypotheses.
Grandparents feel older than their grandchildless counterparts at younger ages, but such association is reversed in later life if they look after their grandchildren. A cumulative negative association between subjective age and both having grandchildren and providing grandchild care holds for older women.
This study extends prior research by examining age and gender differences in factors associated with subjective age. The findings suggest that grandparenthood is central in shaping the personal experience of aging. Future studies should address the causality of the factors analyzed.
鉴于人们公认采用实际年龄以外的衰老衡量指标具有重要意义，我们探讨了主观年龄与拥有孙辈及提供孙辈照料之间的关联，并按性别和年龄组进行了分析。
利用健康与退休研究（HRS；1701名年龄在50 - 85岁之间的男性和2395名女性）的数据及线性回归模型来检验两个假设。
在较年轻的年龄段，有孙辈的祖父母感觉自己比没有孙辈的同龄人年龄更大，但如果他们照料孙辈，这种关联在晚年则会逆转。对于老年女性而言，主观年龄与拥有孙辈及提供孙辈照料之间存在累积负相关。
本研究通过考察与主观年龄相关因素中的年龄和性别差异，扩展了先前的研究。研究结果表明，成为祖父母在塑造衰老的个人体验方面至关重要。未来的研究应探讨所分析因素的因果关系。
