title: Health sensitivity: Age differences in the within-person coupling of individuals' physical health and well-being.
abstract: Well-being and physical health are central indicators of quality of life in old age. Research from a between-person difference perspective finds that people in better health than their peers also report higher well-being than their peers. However, we know very little about whether changes in one domain are accompanied by changes in the other domain, particularly at the within-person level. In the present study, we introduce the construct of health sensitivity, that is, how susceptible an individuals' well-being is to changes in physical health. In doing so, we used 9-wave longitudinal data covering 17 years from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 21,689; 50-109 year olds; 55% women) and applied multilevel modeling to examine the covariation of central indicators of well-being (depressive affect) and health (functional limitations) simultaneously at both the between-person and within-person level. At the within-person level, we found evidence of health sensitivity-on occasions when a typical person experienced more functional limitations than usual, he or she also reported more depressive affect-and that health sensitivity decreased with age. Survival analysis revealed that health sensitivity was related to mortality hazards, controlling for mean levels of health and well-being. We discuss the theoretical importance of examining within-person associations between health and well-being and consider practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors: Department of Psychology, Humboldt University.
authors: Ina
authors: I
authors: Schöllgen
authors: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University.
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Morack
authors: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University.
authors: Frank J
authors: FJ
authors: Infurna
authors: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University.
authors: Nilam
authors: N
authors: Ram
authors: Department of Psychology, Humboldt University.
authors: Denis
authors: D
authors: Gerstorf
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States