Aging, mobility impairments and subjective wellbeing.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Wellbeing is often described as U-shaped over the life course, suggesting an apparent paradox that wellbeing remains high at older ages despite increases in impairments.

Objective/hypotheses

We explore associations among age, lower body impairments-one of the most common late-life impairments-and three measures of wellbeing: life satisfaction, emotional wellbeing and somatic wellbeing. We hypothesize that age effects are positive, become stronger once lower body impairments are controlled, and are concentrated among those who have maintained their mobility. Net of confounding factors, we hypothesize that lower body impairments are associated with worse wellbeing and these effects diminish with advancing age.

Methods

We analyze the 2013 Disability and Use of

SUBMITTER: Freedman VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5610063 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature