title: Activity limitations, use of assistive devices or personal help, and well-being: variation by education.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the associations among self-care or mobility limitations, use of assistive devices or personal help, and well-being while giving special attention to 3 dimensions of well-being and older adults' educational attainment.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analysis was based on 4,456 community-dwelling older adults with self-care or mobility limitations who completed interviews in the first round of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Path models were estimated to examine the associations among limitations, use of assistive devices or personal help, and 3 dimensions of well-being (positive affect, self-realization, and self-efficacy) for different educational groups of older adults.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Self-care or mobility limitations had a negative association with 3 dimensions of well-being. The use of assistive devices was positively related, but the use of personal help was negatively related to well-being. Older adults with more education demonstrated weaker associations between assistive devices and well-being and stronger inverse associations between personal help and well-being than those with less education.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of coping strategies to address self-care or mobility limitations is not necessarily associated with better well-being, and education does not seem to play a protective role once limitations develop. More research is needed to unpack population heterogeneity in the association between coping strategies and well-being.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Center for Family and Demographic Research, National Center for Family & Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University, Ohio. ifenlin@bgsu.edu.
authors.forename: I-Fen
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Center for Family and Demographic Research, National Center for Family & Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University, Ohio.
authors.forename: Hsueh-Sheng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001107:Architectural Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006704:Homemaker Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007374:Interior Design and Furnishings / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012648:Self Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012656:Self-Help Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Affect; Assistive devices; Education; Mobility limitations; Personal help; Self-care limitations; Self-efficacy; Self-realization.