Filus Ania, Junghaenel Doerte U, Schneider Stefan, Broderick Joan E, Stone Arthur A
USC Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science, United States.
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States.
Appl Res Qual Life. 2020 Mar;15(1):35-54. doi: 10.1007/s11482-018-9663-7. Epub 2018 Dec 3.
Self-reports of health and well-being are central for population monitoring, so it is paramount that they are measured accurately. The goal of this study was to examine the impact of age on the use of the comparison standards or frames of reference (FoRs) in self-reports of health, life-satisfaction, fatigue, and pain, and to determine if the age-health outcome associations were affected by age differences in FoRs.
Respondents ( = 2000) selected from the U.S. general population self-rated their life-satisfaction and health outcomes. Following this, they were asked to indicate if they used any comparisons (FoRs) when making their rating and the direction of these comparisons (upward, lateral or downward). Analyses examined (a) whether age groups differed in the type and direction of FoRs, and (b) whether age patterns in health, life-satisfaction, fatigue, and pain were altered when FoRs were statistically controlled.
Compared to middle-aged and older people, younger respondents were more likely to compare themselves with other people when self-rating their health and life-satisfaction. They were also more likely to use a hypothetical situation when evaluating their pain and fatigue. Younger participants used lateral comparisons less often and downward comparisons more often than middle-aged and older participants. When these age differences in FoRs were statistically controlled, the observed age patterns in self-reported health outcomes were somewhat reduced.
The results show that people of different ages use different FoRs when self-reporting their life-satisfaction and health outcomes.
健康与幸福的自我报告是人口监测的核心内容，因此准确测量这些报告至关重要。本研究的目的是探讨年龄对健康、生活满意度、疲劳和疼痛自我报告中比较标准或参照框架（FoRs）使用的影响，并确定年龄与健康结果之间的关联是否受FoRs年龄差异的影响。
从美国普通人群中选取2000名受访者，让他们对自己的生活满意度和健康结果进行自评。在此之后，要求他们指出在进行评分时是否使用了任何比较（FoRs）以及这些比较的方向（向上、横向或向下）。分析研究了：（a）不同年龄组在FoRs的类型和方向上是否存在差异；（b）当对FoRs进行统计控制时，健康、生活满意度、疲劳和疼痛的年龄模式是否会改变。
与中年人和老年人相比，年轻受访者在自评健康和生活满意度时更有可能将自己与他人进行比较。在评估疼痛和疲劳时，他们也更有可能使用假设情境。与中年和老年参与者相比，年轻参与者较少使用横向比较，而较多使用向下比较。当对FoRs中的这些年龄差异进行统计控制时，自我报告的健康结果中观察到的年龄模式有所减少。
结果表明，不同年龄的人在自我报告生活满意度和健康结果时使用不同的FoRs。
