Everyday functioning and successful aging: the impact of resources.
The goal of this article is to examine differential aging in everyday functioning between resource-rich and resource-poor older adults. Four groups of older adults were identified on the basis of 2 distinct resource factors: a Sensorimotor-Cognitive factor and a Social-Personality factor. The resource-richest group consisted of those participants who were above the median in both factors; those falling below the median in both factors comprised the resource-poorest group; and 2 additional groups consisted of older adults who were above the median in either 1 of the 2 factors. At the level of mean differences, the 4 groups differed in the length of the waking day, the variability in activities, the frequency of intellectual-cultural and social-relational activities, and resting times. Considering age differences there are more and larger negative age effects in the resource-poorest group than in the resource-richest one. The metamodel of selective optimization with compensation is used to interpret the findings.
Baltes
M M
MM
Department of Gerontopsychiatry, Free University Berlin, Germany. baltesma@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Lang
F R
FR
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001604:Berlin; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012931:Social Environment