Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences.
Health Psychol. 2022 Mar;41(3):225-234. doi: 10.1037/hea0001159. Epub 2022 Feb 14.
Research on older adults often focuses on mitigating health risks, and less is known about protective factors that contribute to longer, healthier lives. We examine longitudinal associations between psychological well-being and mortality among a national sample of older adults and test competing hypotheses about whether the education/mortality association depends on the level of psychological well-being.
We use six waves (2006-2016) of the Health and Retirement Study, a national sample of adults over age 50 ( = 21,172), with 14 years of mortality follow-up. Psychological well-being is measured up to three times and includes positive affect, life satisfaction, purpose in life, social support, and optimism. Discrete-time survival models examine (a) the association between time-varying psychological well-being and mortality, and (b) interactions between psychological well-being and education on mortality.
Higher purpose in life, positive affect, optimism, social support, and life satisfaction predicted lower mortality. A 1 increase in most measures of psychological well-being was associated with a 2-4 year increase in life expectancy at age 50. Positive affect and purpose in life moderated the education/mortality association-the inverse association between education and mortality was stronger for those with high psychological well-being.
We find strong evidence that psychological well-being predicts lower mortality risk and modifies the association between education and mortality. The inverse association between education and mortality becomes stronger at higher levels of purpose in life and positive affect. Therefore, efforts to promote life satisfaction, social support, and optimism may support longer lives without widening education disparities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
针对老年人的研究通常侧重于减轻健康风险，而对于有助于延长寿命和提高健康水平的保护因素知之甚少。我们检验了一个全国性老年人样本中心理幸福感与死亡率之间的纵向关联，并检验了关于心理幸福感水平是否影响教育与死亡率关联的竞争性假设。
我们使用了六次（2006-2016 年）的健康与退休研究（Health and Retirement Study）的数据，这是一项针对 50 岁以上成年人（n=21172）的全国性样本，有 14 年的死亡率随访。心理幸福感最多测量三次，包括积极情绪、生活满意度、生活目标、社会支持和乐观主义。离散时间生存模型检验了（a）时变心理幸福感与死亡率之间的关联，以及（b）心理幸福感与教育对死亡率的交互作用。
更高的生活目标、积极情绪、乐观主义、社会支持和生活满意度预示着更低的死亡率。大多数心理幸福感测量指标每增加 1，50 岁时的预期寿命就会增加 2-4 年。积极情绪和生活目标调节了教育与死亡率的关联-教育与死亡率之间的负相关在心理幸福感较高的人群中更强。
我们有强有力的证据表明，心理幸福感预测死亡率风险较低，并调节了教育与死亡率之间的关联。在生活目标和积极情绪较高的情况下，教育与死亡率之间的负相关变得更强。因此，努力提高生活满意度、社会支持和乐观主义可能有助于延长寿命，而不会扩大教育差距。
