O'Brien Erica L, Smyth Joshua M
Center for Healthy Aging , The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2023 Oct 9;78(10):1686-1690. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad083.
Recent work suggests that views of aging (VOA; a meta-construct reflective of individuals' aging-related thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and experiences) fluctuate within persons in day-to-day life. This study characterized the extent of daily variability in VOA and explored differences in variability patterns based on measure to enhance understanding of the dynamic nature of VOA.
An online sample of 122 adults aged 26-78 years completed multiple measures of VOA (subjective age, age group identity, aging attitudes, implicit theories of aging, awareness of age-related losses or gains) on each of 7 consecutive days. We partitioned variance in responses to each measure at the person level and day level to assess between-person and within-person variability, respectively.
Between-person variability accounted for most of the total observed variation in VOA, whereas within-person variability accounted for a smaller amount. Different measures exhibited different ratios of between-person to within-person variation, with the lowest ratios observed for subjective age. Exploration of potential differences between age groups also suggests lower ratios in younger compared to older adults.
Analyses suggest relative stability in daily measures of VOA over a 1-week period. Further study of measures (and age groups) showing greater within-person variability (evidenced by lower ratios of between-person to within-person variation) can increase understanding about constructs with greater sensitivity to fluctuating contexts. It can also inform future work linking VOA to other phenomenon in daily life.
近期研究表明，衰老观念（VOA；一种反映个体与衰老相关的思想、信念、感受和经历的元构念）在日常生活中会在个体内部波动。本研究描述了VOA每日变化的程度，并根据测量方法探讨了变化模式的差异，以加深对VOA动态本质的理解。
122名年龄在26 - 78岁之间的成年人组成的在线样本，连续7天每天完成多项VOA测量（主观年龄、年龄组认同、衰老态度、衰老的内隐理论、对与年龄相关的得失的认知）。我们在个体层面和日层面划分了对每项测量的反应方差，分别评估个体间和个体内的变异性。
个体间变异性占VOA总观察变异的大部分，而个体内变异性占比更小。不同测量方法表现出不同的个体间与个体内变异比率，主观年龄的比率最低。对年龄组间潜在差异的探索还表明，与老年人相比，年轻人的比率更低。
分析表明，在1周时间内VOA的每日测量相对稳定。对显示出更大个体内变异性的测量方法（和年龄组）进行进一步研究（以更低的个体间与个体内变异比率为证据），可以增进对更易受波动情境影响的构念的理解。这也可以为未来将VOA与日常生活中的其他现象联系起来的研究提供参考。
