Attitudes to ageing and quality of life in young and old older adults: an international cross-sectional analysis
ISSN: 1366-3666
Article publication date: 12 December 2020
Issue publication date: 22 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Although quality of life and attitudes to ageing have been explored in the context of mental and physical health problems in older adults, the interplay between these variables has received little attention. The purpose of this study is to explore how attitudes to ageing relate to and predict quality of life in an international sample of older people those of age 57 to 79 (youngest-old) and those over 80 years old (oldest-old).
Design/methodology/approach
A large international sample (n = 4,616) of participants recruited from 20 different countries completed a set of measures assessing several demographic variables, attitudes to ageing, older adult specific quality of life, general quality of life and depression.
Findings
Correlational and regression analysis showed that more positive attitudes to ageing were associated with and predicted better quality of life in older adults beyond demographic and depression variables. Those in the oldest-old group had significantly more negative attitudes to ageing and a poorer quality of life. However, positive attitudes to ageing remained a significant predictor of better quality of life in both the youngest-old and oldest-old age groups.
Originality/value
Attitudes to ageing play an important part in quality of life in older adults; however, the impact of these attitudes might be different according to age group. These results suggest that attitudes to ageing could be a possible clinical target in interventions aiming at improving quality of life in older adults.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Prof Mick Power for all significant contributions he made at the early stages of this study. Prof Power unfortunately passed away prior to the publications of this paper. He will be missed. Declaration of ethics: Original data was obtained with appropriate ethics approval from all participating centres. The secondary analysis of the data carried out in this study was approved by an independent research ethics committee at the University of Edinburgh.Declaration of informed consent: Informed written consent was taken from the respondents before collecting the data. All personal data was destroyed upon completion of the study. All study relevant data was completely anonymized.Funding: Secondary data analysis was self-funded.
Citation
Long, S., Laidlaw, K., Lorimer, A. and Ferreira, N. (2021), "Attitudes to ageing and quality of life in young and old older adults: an international cross-sectional analysis", Working with Older People, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 39-57. https://doi.org/10.1108/WWOP-06-2020-0032
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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