TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal associations between perceived age discrimination and subjective well-being
T2 - variations by age and subjective life expectancy
AU - Avidor, Sharon
AU - Ayalon, Liat
AU - Palgi, Yuval
AU - Bodner, Ehud
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/7/3
Y1 - 2017/7/3
N2 - Objectives: Perceived age discrimination can have negative effects on one's subjective well-being (SWB). The response to age discrimination might differ based on age, and based on perceived longevity, or subjective life expectancy (SLE). These differential effects have not yet been prospectively examined within adult life span samples. Method: We examined the association between perceived age discrimination at baseline (T1) and SWB at follow-up (T2), and the moderation effect of SLE. We compared differences in these effects between middle-aged and older adults. Analyses were based on participants who took part in the 2008 (T1) and 2011 (T2) assessments of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS; listwise N = 1534), a population-based representative sample of the German adult population. Participants were categorized as middle-aged (ages 40–64; n = 919) or older adults (ages 65–93; n = 615). Results: Regression analyses indicated that T1 perceived age discrimination significantly predicts lower T2 SWB among middle-aged, but not among older adults, after adjusting for covariates and T1 SWB. There is a significant interaction between age discrimination and SLE for predicting SWB, only among middle-aged participants, suggesting that age discrimination predicts decreases in SWB for those reporting higher, but not lower levels of SLE. Conclusion: People in the transition from midlife to old age, who hold higher SLE, appear to be more vulnerable to age discrimination. This may be due to the experience of age discrimination as an ‘off-time’, or unexpected event for those in midlife who have a higher expectation to live longer.
AB - Objectives: Perceived age discrimination can have negative effects on one's subjective well-being (SWB). The response to age discrimination might differ based on age, and based on perceived longevity, or subjective life expectancy (SLE). These differential effects have not yet been prospectively examined within adult life span samples. Method: We examined the association between perceived age discrimination at baseline (T1) and SWB at follow-up (T2), and the moderation effect of SLE. We compared differences in these effects between middle-aged and older adults. Analyses were based on participants who took part in the 2008 (T1) and 2011 (T2) assessments of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS; listwise N = 1534), a population-based representative sample of the German adult population. Participants were categorized as middle-aged (ages 40–64; n = 919) or older adults (ages 65–93; n = 615). Results: Regression analyses indicated that T1 perceived age discrimination significantly predicts lower T2 SWB among middle-aged, but not among older adults, after adjusting for covariates and T1 SWB. There is a significant interaction between age discrimination and SLE for predicting SWB, only among middle-aged participants, suggesting that age discrimination predicts decreases in SWB for those reporting higher, but not lower levels of SLE. Conclusion: People in the transition from midlife to old age, who hold higher SLE, appear to be more vulnerable to age discrimination. This may be due to the experience of age discrimination as an ‘off-time’, or unexpected event for those in midlife who have a higher expectation to live longer.
KW - Age discrimination
KW - subjective life expectancy
KW - subjective well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84961197561&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13607863.2016.1156050
DO - 10.1080/13607863.2016.1156050
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C2 - 26982002
SN - 1360-7863
VL - 21
SP - 761
EP - 765
JO - Aging and Mental Health
JF - Aging and Mental Health
IS - 7
ER -