Nakamura Julia S, Chen Ying, VanderWeele Tyler J, Kim Eric S
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
SSM Popul Health. 2022 Sep 20;19:101235. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101235. eCollection 2022 Sep.
Prior research documents strong associations between an increased sense of in life and improved health and well-being outcomes. However, less is known about candidate antecedents that lead to more purpose among older adults.
We used data from 13,771 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) - a diverse, national panel study of adults aged >50 in the United States, to evaluate a large number of candidate predictors of purpose. Specifically, using linear regression with a , we evaluated if in 61 predictors spanning physical health, health behaviors, and psychosocial well-being (between t;2006/2008 and t;2010/2012) were associated with purpose four years later (t;2014/2016) after adjustment for a rich set of baseline covariates.
Some health behaviors (e.g., physical activity ≥1x/week [β = 0.14, 95% : 0.09, 0.19]), physical health conditions (e.g., stroke [β = -0.25, 95% : -0.40, -0.10]), and psychosocial factors (e.g., depression [β = -0.21, 95% : -0.27, -0.15]) were associated with subsequent purpose four years later. However, there was little evidence that other health behaviors, physical health conditions, and psychosocial factors such as smoking, drinking, or financial strain, were associated with subsequent purpose.
Several of our candidate predictors such as volunteering, time with friends, and physical activity may be important targets for interventions and policies aiming to increase purpose among older adults. However, some effect sizes were modest and contrast with prior work on younger populations, suggesting purpose may be more easily formed earlier in life.
先前的研究表明，生活意义感的增强与健康状况及幸福感的改善之间存在密切关联。然而，对于导致老年人拥有更多生活目标的潜在前因，我们了解得还较少。
我们使用了来自健康与退休研究（HRS）的13771名参与者的数据——这是一项针对美国50岁以上成年人的多样化全国性面板研究，以评估大量生活目标的潜在预测因素。具体而言，我们采用带有[具体内容缺失]的线性回归，在对一系列丰富的基线协变量进行调整后，评估在2006/2008年至2010/2012年期间，61个涵盖身体健康、健康行为和心理社会幸福感的预测因素与四年后（2014/2016年）的生活目标之间是否存在关联。
一些健康行为（例如，每周至少进行一次体育活动[β = 0.14，95%置信区间：0.09，0.19]）、身体健康状况（例如，中风[β = -0.25，95%置信区间：-0.40，-0.10]）以及心理社会因素（例如，抑郁[β = -0.21，95%置信区间：-0.27，-0.15]）与四年后的后续生活目标存在关联。然而，几乎没有证据表明其他健康行为、身体健康状况以及心理社会因素（如吸烟、饮酒或经济压力）与后续生活目标有关。
我们的一些潜在预测因素，如志愿服务、与朋友相处的时间以及体育活动，可能是旨在增强老年人生活目标的干预措施和政策的重要目标。然而，一些效应量较小，且与先前针对年轻人群体的研究结果形成对比，这表明生活目标可能在生命早期更容易形成。
