Department of Geriatrics, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee.
Euromov, University of Montpellier, France.
Gerontologist. 2021 Jan 21;61(1):13-22. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnaa104.
To examine the change in subjective age with the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Two competing hypotheses were tested: (a) people felt increasingly older due to the stress generated by the pandemic and (b) people felt increasingly younger due to psychological distancing from older age, a vulnerability to COVID-19.
An age- and sex-stratified sample of adults from across the United States (baseline N = 3,738) was assessed on 3 occasions: before the COVID-19 outbreak in late January/early February and during the outbreak in late March and again in late April. Multilevel modeling analysis examined the change in subjective age and tested potential moderators of individual differences in the trajectory of subjective age.
The average trajectory of subjective age followed a concave curve, with a nadir (feeling younger) during the second assessment in late March. Older age, negative expectations about aging, absence of preexisting conditions, and less stress during COVID-19 were associated with feeling younger but did not predict the rate of change. The only significant predictor of change in subjective age was the belief that the "coronavirus is only a threat to older adults": The more individuals agreed with this statement, the more likely it was that they felt increasingly younger at follow-up.
Subjective age changed during a global health crisis, with people feeling younger with the emergence of COVID-19. The findings support the hypothesis that subjective age partly reflects a coping process of psychological distancing from older age, the age group most vulnerable to COVID-19.
探讨 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）出现后主观年龄的变化。检验了两种竞争性假设：（a）由于大流行产生的压力，人们感觉自己越来越老；（b）由于与老年的心理距离（COVID-19 的脆弱性），人们感觉自己越来越年轻。
对来自美国各地的年龄和性别分层的成年人样本（基线 N=3738）进行了 3 次评估：在 COVID-19 爆发前（1 月底/2 月初）、爆发期间（3 月底）和再次在 4 月底。多层模型分析检查了主观年龄的变化，并测试了主观年龄轨迹个体差异的潜在调节因素。
主观年龄的平均轨迹呈凹形曲线，3 月底的第二次评估时达到最低点（感觉更年轻）。年龄较大、对衰老的负面预期、没有预先存在的疾病以及 COVID-19 期间压力较小与感觉更年轻有关，但不能预测变化率。主观年龄变化的唯一显著预测因素是“冠状病毒仅对老年人构成威胁”的信念：个人越同意这一说法，他们在随访时感觉自己越来越年轻的可能性就越大。
主观年龄在全球健康危机期间发生了变化，随着 COVID-19 的出现，人们感觉更年轻。研究结果支持这样一种假设，即主观年龄在一定程度上反映了对老年的心理距离的应对过程，而老年是最易感染 COVID-19 的年龄组。
