Özcan Tozoğlu Elif, Gürbüzer Nilifer
Department of Psychiatry, University of Health Sciences, Erzurum Faculty of Medicine, Erzurum, TUR.
Cureus. 2025 Jan 4;17(1):e76899. doi: 10.7759/cureus.76899. eCollection 2025 Jan.
Objective People's attitudes about aging are formed in early childhood, develop in adulthood, and are fully shaped in old age. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of self-esteem on attitudes toward aging in the elderly. Method A total of 264 people over the age of 65 without any known psychiatric or neurologic disease were included in the study. The sociodemographic data form, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) with 12 sub-dimensions, and Attitude to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ) with three sub-dimensions were applied to each participant. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between quantitative variables. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to determine the factors predicting the attitude toward aging. Results A moderately significant negative relationship was found between the AAQ sub-dimension of psychosocial loss score and RSES sub-dimension self-esteem (r=-0.340, p=0<0.001), continuity of self-concept (r=-0.258, p<0.001), depressive affect (r=-0.423, p<0.001), and psychosomatic symptoms (r=-0.311, p<0.001). Self-esteem was found to be predictive of attitude toward aging. When sociodemographic factors were controlled, it was found that 25.6% of the variance in attitude toward psychosocial loss (R change=25.6; p<0.001), 30.5% of the variance in attitude toward physical change (R change=30.5; p<0.001), and 34.9% of the variance in attitude toward psychosocial development (R change=34.9; p<0.001) could be explained by the specified sub-dimensions of RSES. Conclusion In our study, it was observed that self-esteem shaped from childhood to the present day is at least as effective as sociodemographic characteristics in the attitude toward aging.
目的 人们对衰老的态度在幼儿期形成，在成年期发展，并在老年期完全定型。我们的研究旨在调查自尊对老年人衰老态度的影响。方法 共有264名65岁以上且无任何已知精神或神经疾病的人纳入本研究。对每位参与者应用社会人口学数据表、具有12个亚维度的罗森伯格自尊量表（RSES）以及具有三个亚维度的衰老态度问卷（AAQ）。采用Pearson相关分析评估定量变量之间的关系。采用分层多元回归分析确定预测衰老态度的因素。结果 在AAQ心理社会损失得分亚维度与RSES亚维度自尊（r = -0.340，p = 0<0.001）、自我概念连续性（r = -0.258，p<0.001）、抑郁情绪（r = -0.423，p<0.001）和身心症状（r = -0.311，p<0.001）之间发现了中度显著的负相关。发现自尊可预测对衰老的态度。当控制社会人口学因素时，发现RSES的特定亚维度可解释心理社会损失态度方面25.6%的方差（R变化 = 25.6；p<0.001）、身体变化态度方面30.5%的方差（R变化 = 30.5；p<0.001）以及心理社会发展态度方面34.9%的方差（R变化 = 34.9；p<0.001）。结论 在我们的研究中，观察到从童年到现在形成的自尊在对衰老的态度方面至少与社会人口学特征一样有效。
