Psychosocial Factors Associated with Longevity in the United States: Age Differences between the Old and Oldest-Old in the Health and Retirement Study
Table 5
Differences in perceptions of the aging experience between the young old (age 70–79) and the very old (age 90–104), HRS 2008.
N
Strongly agree
Somewhat/ slightly agree
Somewhat/ slightly disagree
Strongly disagree
Things get worse as I get older
Age 70–79
2,054
9.3
49.3
24.7
16.6
.019
Age 90–104
135
12.1
56.6
21.4
9.9
I have as much pep as last year
Age 70–79
2,061
16.2
39.1
34.9
9.7
<.000
Age 90–104
137
10.7
29.4
40.8
19.2
The older I get the more useless I feel
Age 70–79
2,050
5.9
25.8
29.9
38.4
<.000
Age 90–104
134
18.5
34.5
28.1
18.9
I am as happy now as I was when I was younger
Age 70–79
2,062
24.8
36.9
26.0
12.3
<.000
Age 90–104
135
10.2
34.2
38.4
17.2
As I get older things are better than I thought they would be
Age 70–79
2,057
22.2
48.3
22.4
7.2
n.s.
Age 90–104
135
19.4
44.2
23.1
13.4
I am satisfied with the way I am aging
Age 70–79
2,068
31.2
49.4
13.7
5.8
n.s.
Age 90–104
137
38.2
45.0
11.2
5.6
The older I get, the more I have had to stop doing things that I liked
Age 70–79
2,069
17.2
49.0
21.7
12.2
<.000
Age 90–104
135
40.4
47.4
9.1
3.1
Getting older has brought with it many things that I do not like
Age 70–79
2,069
17.3
52.4
19.9
10.5
<.000
Age 90–104
136
31.2
54.7
7.9
6.2
Aging experience scale
Mean (s.d.)
Age 70–79
2,073
3.81 (1.25)
<.000
Age 90–104
137
3.30 (0.94)
Note: Figures shown are weighted sample sizes and percentages and weighted scale means with standard deviation in parentheses. values denoting statistical significance of age differences were obtained using Wald chi square tests for the items and tests from bivariate OLS regression for the scale mean. Perceptions of the aging experience were measured in 2008 only.
