Wettstein Markus, Reinhard Ann-Kristin, Williger Bettina, Wurm Susanne
Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Prevention Research and Social Medicine, Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine, Greifswald, Germany.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 2;20(9):e0328814. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328814. eCollection 2025.
Impaired hearing is a frequent stressful experience in later life. However, not all individuals affected by hearing problems exhibit restrictions in mental or functional health; there may be psychosocial resources that buffer the detrimental impact of impaired hearing to some extent. We investigate whether positive self-perceptions of aging (SPA, i. e. perceptions of more ongoing development and perceptions of less physical and social losses) do in fact constitute a compensatory resource and moderate between-person and within-person associations of self-reported hearing problems with trajectories of mental and functional health. Our sample comprised n = 9,705 participants in the German Ageing Survey (mean age = 62.41 years, SD = 11.58, range 40-93 years) who were assessed up to five times between 2008 and 2021. Based on longitudinal multilevel regression models, controlling for socio-demographic variables, hearing aid use, and chronic diseases, we found that individuals with overall more hearing problems reported poorer mental health. Moreover, with regard to the within-person associations, on measurement occasions when individuals reported more hearing problems, their mental and functional health was poorer. The association of more hearing problems with poorer functional health was weaker among individuals with lower perceptions of physical loss at baseline (i.e., year 2008). Among chronologically older adults, the association of more hearing problems with poorer functional health was weaker for those with higher perceptions of ongoing development at baseline. Our findings suggest that SPA related to fewer physical losses and to more ongoing development may buffer the negative impact of hearing problems on functional health.
听力受损是晚年常见的压力体验。然而，并非所有受听力问题影响的个体在心理或功能健康方面都表现出受限情况；可能存在一些心理社会资源在一定程度上缓冲听力受损的不利影响。我们调查积极的衰老自我认知（即对更多持续发展的认知以及对更少身体和社会损失的认知）是否实际上构成一种补偿资源，并调节自我报告的听力问题与心理和功能健康轨迹之间的个体间及个体内关联。我们的样本包括德国老龄化调查中的(n = 9,705)名参与者（平均年龄 = 62.41岁，标准差 = 11.58，年龄范围40 - 93岁），他们在2008年至2021年间接受了多达五次评估。基于纵向多层次回归模型，在控制社会人口统计学变量、助听器使用情况和慢性疾病后，我们发现总体听力问题更多的个体心理健康状况较差。此外，在个体内关联方面，当个体报告听力问题更多时，他们的心理和功能健康状况较差。在基线（即2008年）时对身体损失认知较低的个体中，更多听力问题与较差功能健康之间的关联较弱。在按年龄排序的老年人中，基线时对持续发展认知较高的个体，更多听力问题与较差功能健康之间的关联较弱。我们的研究结果表明，与更少身体损失和更多持续发展相关的积极衰老自我认知可能缓冲听力问题对功能健康的负面影响。
