The Features of Age Identity and Its Relationship with Mental Health Among Older Adults

Abstract

Abstract: To investigate the characteristics of age identity among Chinese older adults and its relationship with mental health, four questionnaires (Age Identity Questionnaire, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale) were administered to 646 older adults. The findings suggested that: 1)55.7% of the participants reported feeling younger than their actual age and the discrepancy was about 4.07 years. Actual age and self-rated health had a significant impact on older adults' age identity. 2)Regression analyses revealed that, older adults' mental health was significantly affected by age identity, after controlling for gender, education, and self-rated health. To be exact, older adults' anxiety and depression were weakened by age identity, but their life satisfaction level was strengthened by age identity. To sum up, Chinese elder adults showed younger bias. The younger older adults' age identity was, the less anxiety and depression they had, but the higher life satisfaction level. All our findings suggested that appropriate measures can be taken to enable older people to remain a younger age identity, which may be helpful to improve the mental health status of the elderly.

Key words: older adults, age identity, mental health

摘要： 采用年龄认同问卷、流调中心用抑郁量表、焦虑自评量表和生活满意度量表对646位老年人进行问卷调查,考察我国老年人年龄认同的特征及其与心理健康之间的关系。结果表明：（1）老年人感觉自己比实际年龄年轻的人数比例为55.7%,平均年轻4.07年。实际年龄和自评健康对老年人的年龄认同有显著影响。（2）回归分析结果表明,在控制了性别、受教育水平、自评健康等变量后,年龄认同仍然对老年人的心理健康有显著影响,表现在对其焦虑和抑郁情绪有显著的负向预测作用,对其生活满意度水平有显著的正向预测作用。综上,我国老年人年龄认同存在年轻化偏向,而且这种年轻化偏向程度越强,老年人的焦虑和抑郁情绪越少,生活满意度水平越高。这意味着可以采取适当干预措施促使老年人保持年轻化的年龄认同,这可能将有助于改善老年人的心理健康状况。

关键词: 老年人, 年龄认同, 心理健康

CLC Number:

B844.4

Wu Panpan, Shao Jingjin, He Nian, Zhang Li. The Features of Age Identity and Its Relationship with Mental Health Among Older Adults[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2017, 15(4): 520-527.

武盼盼1,邵景进, 贺念, 张丽. 老年人年龄认同特征及其与心理健康的关系^*[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2017, 15(4): 520-527.

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