German Centre of Gerontology.
Heidelberg University.
Psychol Aging. 2021 Nov;36(7):790-805. doi: 10.1037/pag0000645. Epub 2021 Sep 27.
As older adults have frequently been portrayed as one homogeneous and vulnerable risk group in public debates and in the media immediately after the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a general shift toward less favorable attitude toward own aging (ATOA) might have resulted. In contrast, individuals may feel younger than before the pandemic, reflecting a psychological mechanism to avoid identifying themselves with the old age "risk group." We investigate 12-year trajectories of ATOA and subjective age among middle-aged and older German adults based on assessments between 2008 and Summer 2020 ( = 7,730; age in 2008: 40-93 years, = 62.41). Based on longitudinal multilevel regression models, we found that for ATOA, a model including a potentially "pandemic-driven" change component between 2017 and 2020 in addition to an overall linear change between 2008 and 2020 revealed a better fit than a linear change model without that additional change component. Mean-level decline in ATOA between 2017 and 2020 was five times steeper in such a model than in a linear change model that did not include an additional 2017-2020 change component. The extent of intraindividual ATOA change between 2017 and 2020 varied interindividually, but for more than 99% of the sample, particularly among those with poorer self-rated health, ATOA became less favorable. There was very limited evidence for a pandemic-specific change in subjective age. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the early phase of the pandemic might have caused a change toward less favorable ATOA, whereas it did not affect subjective age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
由于在冠状病毒病(COVID-19)大流行爆发后,老年人在公众辩论和媒体中经常被描绘成一个同质的和脆弱的风险群体,因此可能导致对自身衰老的态度(ATOA)普遍变得不利。相比之下,人们可能会觉得自己比大流行前更年轻,这反映了一种避免将自己与老年“风险群体”联系起来的心理机制。我们基于 2008 年至 2020 年夏季之间的评估(n = 7730;2008 年年龄:40-93 岁, = 62.41),研究了中年和老年德国成年人 ATOA 和主观年龄的 12 年轨迹。基于纵向多层回归模型,我们发现,对于 ATOA,除了 2008 年至 2020 年之间的整体线性变化之外,还包括 2017 年至 2020 年之间一个潜在的“大流行驱动”变化组成部分的模型,比没有该附加变化组成部分的线性变化模型具有更好的拟合度。在这种模型中,2017 年至 2020 年间 ATOA 的平均水平下降速度比不包括 2017-2020 年附加变化组成部分的线性变化模型快五倍。在 2017 年至 2020 年之间,ATOA 的个体内变化程度因人而异,但对于超过 99%的样本,特别是那些自我报告健康状况较差的人,ATOA 的评价变得不那么有利。关于主观年龄的大流行特异性变化的证据非常有限。总之,我们的研究结果表明,大流行的早期阶段可能导致 ATOA 变得不利,而对主观年龄没有影响。(PsycInfo 数据库记录(c)2021 APA,保留所有权利)。
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