Primary- and secondary-control strategies in later life: predicting hospital outcomes in men and women.
Community-dwelling individuals (n = 143, 73-98 years old) were assessed to consider if their use of task-specific control strategies predicted hospital outcomes in the subsequent 2 years. The authors were interested in whether men and women facing health-induced task restrictions benefited equally from the use of primary- and secondary-control strategies. Gender interacted with primary-control strategies; men's more frequent use of these proactive strategies generally related to fewer hospital admissions. Gender also interacted with secondary-control strategies; women's more frequent use of compensatory (self-protective) strategies corresponded to fewer hospital admissions and shorter hospital stay durations. Taken together, our findings suggest that men benefit by adopting certain primary-control strategies and women benefit by adopting certain compensatory secondary-control strategies.
Department of Psychology, Centre on Aging and the Health, Leisure, & Human Performance Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. chipper@ms.umanitoba.ca
Judith G
JG
Chipperfield
Raymond P
RP
Perry
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D008350:Manitoba; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000639:trends; D012737:Sex Factors