Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Apr 23;76(5):858-870. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa180.
Control beliefs are bidirectionally related to physical and cognitive health, and control beliefs are associated with awareness of aging (subjective age and awareness of age-related change [AARC]), but it is unclear how these processes unfold within persons over time. We examine these relationships from both between- and within-person perspectives.Methods: Older adults (n = 116) ranging in age from 60 to 90 (M = 64.71) completed a 9-day daily diary study online, resulting in 743 total days. Participants reported their sociodemographic characteristics on Day 1 and physical symptoms, memory failures, felt age, daily AARC gain and loss experiences, and control beliefs on Days 2-9.
Within-person deviations from one's typical awareness of aging (AARC losses, AARC gains, and subjective age) were associated with fluctuations in control beliefs. Multilevel mediation results showed that between-person AARC losses mediated the relationship between health (both physical symptoms and memory failures) and control beliefs, whereas both within- and between-person control beliefs mediated the relationship between physical health and AARC losses. Model fit comparisons showed that models with control beliefs mediating health and awareness of aging fit better than models with awareness of aging mediating health and control beliefs.
Our findings suggest that within-person physical and cognitive health indicators were associated with awareness of aging indirectly through control beliefs. Although between-person differences in AARC losses may link health and control beliefs, our results suggest that a more consistent pattern involves control beliefs linking health and awareness of aging.
控制信念与身心健康呈双向关系，且与衰老意识（主观年龄和与年龄相关的变化意识[AARC]）有关，但尚不清楚这些过程如何随时间在个体内部展开。我们从个体间和个体内两个角度来研究这些关系。
年龄在 60 岁至 90 岁之间的老年人（n=116）[M=64.71]完成了一项为期 9 天的在线日常日记研究，共获得了 743 个总天数。参与者在第 1 天报告了他们的社会人口统计学特征，在第 2 天至第 9 天报告了身体症状、记忆失败、感觉年龄、日常 AARC 得失体验和控制信念。
与一个人典型的衰老意识（AARC 损失、AARC 增益和主观年龄）的个体内偏差与控制信念的波动有关。多层次中介结果表明，个体间 AARC 损失中介了健康（身体症状和记忆失败）与控制信念之间的关系，而个体内和个体间的控制信念均中介了身体健康与 AARC 损失之间的关系。模型拟合比较表明，控制信念中介健康和衰老意识的模型拟合效果优于衰老意识中介健康和控制信念的模型。
我们的研究结果表明，个体内的身体和认知健康指标通过控制信念与衰老意识间接相关。尽管 AARC 损失的个体间差异可能将健康和控制信念联系起来，但我们的结果表明，更一致的模式是控制信念将健康和衰老意识联系起来。
