Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging
Introduction For older adults, feeling subjectively younger is associated with improvements in cognition, subjective well-being and depressive symptoms. Positive psychiatry is the field that focuses on patient strengths and the promotion of positive outcomes, rather than just mitigation of illness....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2022-06-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S092493382200462X/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797616398007009280 |
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| author | J. Lam A. Aftab E. Lee D. Jeste |
| author_facet | J. Lam A. Aftab E. Lee D. Jeste |
| author_sort | J. Lam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Introduction
For older adults, feeling subjectively younger is associated with improvements in cognition, subjective well-being and depressive symptoms. Positive psychiatry is the field that focuses on patient strengths and the promotion of positive outcomes, rather than just mitigation of illness. Younger subjective age may be a useful measure of successful aging, but little is known about how subjective age is associated with positive psychosocial characteristics.
Objectives
Our objective is to characterize how subjective age is related validated positive psychosocial measures, with the goal of better understanding the determinants of successful aging.
Methods
The Successful Aging Evaluation (SAGE) longitudinal study recruited over 1,300 community-dwelling residents of San Diego County, CA, from age 21 to over 100. A single-item question asked “How old/young do you feel?” We used spearman correlations to assess the relationship between subjective age and validated positive psychosocial scales such as the Self-Rated Successful Aging, Life Orientation Test, Personal Mastery Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Adult Hope Scale, and Social Support Index.
Results
Mean chronological age was 65.5, and mean subjective age was 53.6. Mean age discrepancy was 11.5 years. Younger subjective age was positively associated with most of the positive psychosocial characteristics measured, including self-rated successful aging, optimism, personal mastery, resilience, curiosity, hope, and social support.
Conclusions
There is a growing movement within psychiatry to understand the positive characteristics that lead to successful aging. This is one of the first studies demonstrating younger age identities are associated with positive psychosocial characteristics and successful aging.
Disclosure
No significant relationships.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:40:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b9066d71272a40718a4664ce1ce65a28 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:40:23Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-b9066d71272a40718a4664ce1ce65a282023-11-17T05:08:40ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Psychiatry0924-93381778-35852022-06-0165S174S17410.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.462Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful agingJ. Lam0A. Aftab1E. Lee2D. Jeste3Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Psychiatry, Providence, United States of AmericaCase Western Reserve University, Department Of Psychiatry, Cleveland, United States of AmericaUniversity of California San Diego, Department Of Psychiatry, La Jolla CA, United States of AmericaUniversity of California San Diego, Department Of Psychiatry, La Jolla, United States of America Introduction For older adults, feeling subjectively younger is associated with improvements in cognition, subjective well-being and depressive symptoms. Positive psychiatry is the field that focuses on patient strengths and the promotion of positive outcomes, rather than just mitigation of illness. Younger subjective age may be a useful measure of successful aging, but little is known about how subjective age is associated with positive psychosocial characteristics. Objectives Our objective is to characterize how subjective age is related validated positive psychosocial measures, with the goal of better understanding the determinants of successful aging. Methods The Successful Aging Evaluation (SAGE) longitudinal study recruited over 1,300 community-dwelling residents of San Diego County, CA, from age 21 to over 100. A single-item question asked “How old/young do you feel?” We used spearman correlations to assess the relationship between subjective age and validated positive psychosocial scales such as the Self-Rated Successful Aging, Life Orientation Test, Personal Mastery Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Adult Hope Scale, and Social Support Index. Results Mean chronological age was 65.5, and mean subjective age was 53.6. Mean age discrepancy was 11.5 years. Younger subjective age was positively associated with most of the positive psychosocial characteristics measured, including self-rated successful aging, optimism, personal mastery, resilience, curiosity, hope, and social support. Conclusions There is a growing movement within psychiatry to understand the positive characteristics that lead to successful aging. This is one of the first studies demonstrating younger age identities are associated with positive psychosocial characteristics and successful aging. Disclosure No significant relationships. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S092493382200462X/type/journal_articleoptimismsocial supportresilienceGeriatric Psychiatry |
| spellingShingle | J. Lam A. Aftab E. Lee D. Jeste Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging European Psychiatry optimism social support resilience Geriatric Psychiatry |
| title | Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging |
| title_full | Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging |
| title_fullStr | Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging |
| title_full_unstemmed | Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging |
| title_short | Subjective age and positive psychiatry: Identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging |
| title_sort | subjective age and positive psychiatry identifying the positive characteristics associated with successful aging |
| topic | optimism social support resilience Geriatric Psychiatry |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S092493382200462X/type/journal_article |
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