Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany.
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Praha, Czech Republic.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Apr 23;76(5):881-893. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa160.
Attributing life changes to age represents a core marker of the subjective experience of aging. The aims of our study were to investigate views on aging (VA) as origins of age-related attributions of life changes and to investigate the implications of these age-related attributions for personal control (PC) and life satisfaction (LS).
Life changes and the attribution of life changes to age were independently assessed on a large international sample of older adults (N = 2,900; age range 40-90 years) from the Ageing as Future project. The valence of VA, PC, and LS were also assessed to investigate possible determinants (VA) and consequences (PC and LS) of age-related attributions of life changes.
Attributions to age were shown to depend on the valence of experienced life changes, with more negative changes being linked to more age-related attributions. This relation was moderated by the valence of personally held VA, with more negative VA amplifying the relation between negative life changes and age-related attributions. Age-related attributions predicted reduced PC and lower LS and were found to exacerbate the effects of negative life changes on LS, especially for the older cohorts of our sample.
Our findings help to better understand what determines age-related attributions of life changes and highlight the negative consequences of attributing them to aging. Age-related attributions of change are a major factor that worsens the subjective aging experience. Methodologically, our study emphasizes the necessity to separately assess changes and their attributions to age.
将生活变化归因于年龄是主观衰老体验的核心标志之一。我们的研究旨在探讨对衰老的看法（VA）作为与年龄相关的生活变化归因的起源，并探讨这些与年龄相关的归因对个人控制（PC）和生活满意度（LS）的影响。
在 Ageing as Future 项目的一个大型国际老年人样本（N=2900；年龄范围为 40-90 岁）中，独立评估了生活变化和将生活变化归因于年龄的情况。还评估了 VA、PC 和 LS 的效价，以调查可能的决定因素（VA）和生活变化归因的年龄相关的后果（PC 和 LS）。
归因于年龄取决于所经历的生活变化的效价，负面变化与更多的年龄相关归因有关。这种关系受到个人持有的 VA 的效价的调节，更负面的 VA 放大了负面生活变化与年龄相关归因之间的关系。与年龄相关的归因预测个人控制能力下降和生活满意度降低，并发现它们加剧了负面生活变化对 LS 的影响，特别是对我们样本中较年长的队列。
我们的研究结果有助于更好地理解是什么决定了与年龄相关的生活变化归因，并强调了将其归因于衰老的负面后果。与年龄相关的变化归因是恶化主观衰老体验的一个主要因素。在方法论上，我们的研究强调了分别评估变化及其归因于年龄的必要性。
