College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
Center of Aging and Life Course, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
J Patient Rep Outcomes. 2023 May 17;7(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s41687-023-00583-x.
COVID-19 put older individuals at high risk for morbidity and mortality, isolation, reduced coping, and lower satisfaction with life. Many older adults experienced social isolation, fear, and anxiety. We hypothesized that successful coping with these stressors would maintain or improve satisfaction with life, a crucial psychological outcome during the pandemic. Our study investigated relationships between older people's coping and life satisfaction during the pandemic and their optimism, sense of mastery, closeness with spouse, family, and friends, and vulnerabilities from frailty, comorbid diseases, memory problems, and dependencies in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).
The study was based on a special COVID-19 sample of 1351 community-dwelling older adults who participated in the 2020 Health and Retirement Survey. A comprehensive structural equation modeling was used to test direct and indirect effects, with life satisfaction as the main outcome and coping as a mediator between the other variables and coping.
Most survey respondents were female and between the ages of 65-74 years. They averaged 1.7 chronic conditions, one in seven was frail, about one-third rated their memory as fair or poor, and about one in seven reported one or more difficulties in IADL. As hypothesized-older people with increased sense of mastery and optimism were better able to cope and had greater life satisfaction. In addition, close relationships with friends and with other family members besides the spouse/partner or children contributed to more successful coping, while the interpersonal closeness of all types contributed directly to greater life satisfaction. Finally, older people with more IADL limitations reported greater difficulty coping and lower life satisfaction, and those older people who were frail or had multiple comorbid diseases reported lower life satisfaction.
Optimism, sense of mastery and closeness with family/friends promotes coping and life satisfaction, whereas frailty and comorbidities make coping more challenging and lead to lower life satisfaction particularly during a pandemic. Our study improves on prior research because of its nationally representative sample and formal specification and testing of a comprehensive theoretical framework.
COVID-19 使老年人面临较高的发病率和死亡率、隔离、应对能力下降以及生活满意度降低的风险。许多老年人经历了社交隔离、恐惧和焦虑。我们假设，成功应对这些压力源将维持或提高生活满意度，这是大流行期间的一个关键心理结果。我们的研究调查了老年人在大流行期间应对压力源与生活满意度之间的关系，以及他们的乐观主义、掌控感、与配偶、家人和朋友的亲密程度，以及脆弱性（脆弱、合并症、记忆问题和日常生活活动工具性依赖）。
该研究基于参与 2020 年健康与退休调查的 1351 名社区居住的老年人的特殊 COVID-19 样本。使用综合结构方程模型测试直接和间接效应，以生活满意度为主要结果，应对作为其他变量与应对之间的中介。
大多数调查受访者为女性，年龄在 65-74 岁之间。他们平均有 1.7 种慢性疾病，七分之一的人身体虚弱，约三分之一的人认为自己的记忆力一般或较差，约七分之一的人报告在日常生活活动工具性方面有一或多种困难。如假设所述，具有较强掌控感和乐观主义的老年人能够更好地应对，生活满意度更高。此外，与朋友和配偶/伴侣或孩子以外的其他家庭成员的亲密关系有助于更成功的应对，而所有类型的人际关系亲密直接有助于更高的生活满意度。最后，日常生活活动工具性限制较多的老年人报告应对困难较大，生活满意度较低，身体虚弱或合并多种疾病的老年人报告生活满意度较低。
乐观主义、掌控感和与家人/朋友的亲密关系促进应对和生活满意度，而脆弱性和合并症使应对更具挑战性，并导致生活满意度降低，尤其是在大流行期间。我们的研究通过其全国代表性样本以及对综合理论框架的正式规范和测试，改进了先前的研究。
