Department of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
Zentrum für Alternsforschung Jena (ZAJ), Jena, Germany.
Gerontology. 2023;69(12):1437-1447. doi: 10.1159/000534324. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
We define aging as a characteristic deterioration in one (or more) observable attributes of an organism that typically occurs during later life. With this narrow functional definition, we gain the freedom to separate aging from other processes of age-related change (e.g., maturation, growth, illness, terminal decline). We introduce a structural model that distinguishes between (1) the phenomenon of aging, (2) the subjective experience of aging, (3) sources of aging, and (4) consequences of aging. A core focus of the model is on the role of buffering mechanisms of biological repair and personal adaptation that regulate the relations between sources of aging, aging proper, and its consequences. The quality and level of functioning of these buffering mechanisms also varies across the life span, which directly affects the sources of aging, resulting in either resilience against or accelerated aging, and thus can be considered to be a major source of the variation in aging processes among different individuals. External factors comprising attributes of the physical environment and sociocultural characteristics are considered as contexts in which aging occurs. These contextual factors are assumed to feed into the various components of the model. Our model provides an interdisciplinary account of human aging, its sources and consequences, and also its subjective experience, by integrating biological, psychological, lifestyle, and sociocultural factors, and by specifying their interrelations and interactions. The model provides a comprehensive understanding of individual human aging, its underlying processes, and modulating factors. It allows for the derivation of empirically testable hypotheses, and it helps practitioners to identify elements that lend themselves to targeted intervention efforts aimed at increasing the resilience of individuals against aging and buffering its negative consequences.
我们将衰老定义为生物体一个（或多个）可观察到的特征的恶化，这种特征通常发生在生命后期。通过这个狭义的功能定义，我们可以将衰老与其他与年龄相关的变化过程（如成熟、生长、疾病、终末期衰退）区分开来。我们引入了一个结构模型，将衰老现象与衰老的主观体验、衰老的来源以及衰老的后果区分开来。该模型的核心重点是生物修复和个人适应的缓冲机制的作用，这些机制调节了衰老的来源、衰老本身及其后果之间的关系。这些缓冲机制的质量和功能水平在整个生命周期中都有所不同，这直接影响了衰老的来源，导致对衰老的抵抗力或加速衰老，因此可以被认为是不同个体之间衰老过程变化的主要来源。包括物理环境属性和社会文化特征在内的外部因素被认为是衰老发生的环境。这些环境因素被认为会影响模型的各个组成部分。我们的模型通过整合生物学、心理学、生活方式和社会文化因素，并明确它们的相互关系和相互作用，提供了一个对人类衰老及其来源和后果的主观体验的跨学科描述。该模型提供了对个体人类衰老、其潜在过程和调节因素的全面理解。它允许推导出可通过经验检验的假设，并帮助从业者确定那些适合进行有针对性干预的元素，以提高个体对衰老的抵抗力并缓冲其负面影响。
