Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, School of Social Science, Policy and Evaluation, Claremont Graduate University, California.
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Apr 23;76(5):825-835. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa064.
The majority of self-perceptions of aging (SPA) research uses either a combination of the Aging-related Cognitions (AgeCog) scales of Ongoing Development and Physical Loss, or the Attitudes Towards Own Aging (ATOA) subscale to assess views on aging. Although these scales are used interchangeably, the valence (positive/negative) and the specificity of the view on aging (domain-based/general) being assessed are not consistent. This study investigates how different measures of SPA relate to one another and whether they differentially predict various types of health outcomes (psychological/physiological; well-being/ill-being).
Data from the 2008 and 2014 waves of the German Aging Survey (DEAS; N = 3,745), a population-based representative survey of adults aged 40-95, was used to examine the relationship between the AgeCog scales and the ATOA subscale, as well as the differences in the types of health outcomes each predicts.
The correlations between the AgeCog scales and the ATOA were higher than the correlation between the AgeCog scales (p < .001). The AgeCog scale of Ongoing Development significantly predicted psychological health outcomes across a 6-year period, while the AgeCog scale of Physical Loss and the ATOA subscale predicted both physiological and psychological health outcomes.
Evidence supports using the AgeCog scale of Ongoing Development to predict domain-relevant, psychological health outcomes. However, the multidimensionality of SPA is best measured by the ATOA subscale or a combination of the two AgeCog scales. Both forms of measurement were found to maximize the amount of explained variance for psychological and physiological indicators of well-being and ill-being.
大多数自我衰老感知（SPA）研究使用持续发展和身体损耗的 Aging-related Cognitions（AgeCog）量表组合，或使用对自身衰老的态度（ATOA）亚量表来评估对衰老的看法。虽然这些量表可以互换使用，但评估的衰老观点的效价（积极/消极）和特异性（基于领域/一般）并不一致。本研究调查了 SPA 的不同衡量标准如何相互关联，以及它们是否可以预测不同类型的健康结果（心理/生理；幸福/不适）。
使用 2008 年和 2014 年德国老龄化调查（DEAS）的数据（N=3745），这是一项针对 40-95 岁成年人的基于人群的代表性调查，用于检验 AgeCog 量表和 ATOA 亚量表之间的关系，以及每个量表预测的健康结果类型的差异。
AgeCog 量表和 ATOA 之间的相关性高于 AgeCog 量表之间的相关性（p<.001）。持续发展的 AgeCog 量表在 6 年内显著预测了心理健康结果，而身体损耗的 AgeCog 量表和 ATOA 亚量表则预测了生理和心理健康结果。
有证据支持使用持续发展的 AgeCog 量表来预测与领域相关的心理健康结果。然而，SPA 的多维性最好通过 ATOA 亚量表或两个 AgeCog 量表的组合来衡量。这两种测量形式都被发现可以最大化幸福感和不适的心理和生理指标的可解释方差量。
