Delineating terminal change in subjective well-being and subjective health.
The present study investigated whether several evaluative indicators of subjective well-being (SWB) and subjective health decline as death approaches and which of them shows a stronger decline. Using three-wave longitudinal data from deceased participants of the Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Aging Study (N = 1,360; age range 75-94 at T1= Time 1), we found a stronger decline in most evaluative indicators when plotted by distance-to-death relative to distance from birth. After controlling for background characteristics and physical and cognitive functioning, death-related decline was still found for SWB but not for subjective health. Implications are discussed regarding the well-being paradox and the yet unclear mechanisms that link evaluative indicators to the dying process.
Palgi
Yuval
Y
Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Israel. yuvalfpa@post.tau.ac.il
Shrira
Amit
A
Ben-Ezra
Menachem
M
Spalter
Tal
T
Shmotkin
Dov
D
Kavé
Gitit
G
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008136:Longevity; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept