title: Cohort comparisons: emotional well-being among adolescents and older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are several negative stereotypes about older adults that have negatively influenced people's attitude about aging. The present study compared emotional well-being between older adults and adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for this study came from 1,403 community-dwelling elderly persons and 1,190 secondary school students and were obtained from two national cross-sectional surveys. Emotional well-being was measured using the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index. Data analysis was conducted using a multivariate analysis of covariance with SPSS software version 20 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Elderly people significantly scored higher levels of emotional well-being (mean, 62.3; standard deviation, 22.55) than younger people (mean, 57.9; standard deviation, 18.46; t, 5.32; P≤0.001). The findings from the multivariate analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between older adults and younger people in emotional well-being [F(3, 2587)=120.21; P≤0.001; η(2)=0.122] after controlling for sex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Contrary to negative stereotypes about aging, our findings show a higher level of emotional well-being among older adults compared with younger people.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gerontology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Yadollah Abolfathi
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Momtaz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gerontology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ; Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Tengku Aizan
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Hamid
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gerontology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ; Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Rahimah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged / Q000523:psychology; D011581:Psychological Tests; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: aged; ageism; emotional well-being; positive aging