Early-life Health as a Lifelong Precursor of Self-Related Views of Aging in Later Life.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Age stereotypes and expectations about one's own aging commence in childhood but most research focuses on predictive associations with midlife health behaviors, later-life chronic conditions, biomarkers, and longevity. Surprisingly little is known about the role of poor childhood health in these associations. This study aims to fill this gap.

Methods

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS: N = 5,773, aged 50-98), we investigated whether diagnosed chronic illness before age 16 and self-rated childhood health predict late-life self-perceptions of aging (SPA) and proportional subjective age discrepancy (PSAD). We conducted multivariate multiple regression analysis (MMRA) to determine the joint and partial effects of the two indicators of childhood healt

SUBMITTER: Smith J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8063672 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature