Determinants of psychosocial factors amongst the oldest old: Longitudinal evidence based on the representative “survey on quality of life and subjective well‐being of the very old in North Rhine‐Westphalia”

Author:

Hajek André1ORCID,Gyasi Razak M.23,Kretzler Benedikt1,Riedel‐Heller Steffi G.4,König Hans‐Helmut1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research University Medical Center Hamburg‐Eppendorf Hamburg Center for Health Economics Hamburg Germany

2. African Population and Health Research Center Nairobi Kenya

3. National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine Faculty of Health Southern Cross University Lismore NSW Australia

4. Institute of Social Medicine Occupational Health and Public Health University of Leipzig Leipzig Germany

Abstract

AbstractObjectivesThere are few studies investigating the determinants of psychosocial outcomes using data exclusively from the oldest old; and even fewer that use longitudinal data. Thus, our aim was to explore the determinants of psychosocial factors (in terms of life satisfaction, loneliness, and depressive symptoms) amongst the oldest old (also stratified by sex) based on representative, longitudinal data from Germany.Methods/DesignData from “Survey on quality of life and subjective well‐being of the very old in North Rhine‐Westphalia (NRW80+)” were used. This study includes community‐dwelling and institutionalized individuals aged 80 years and above (n = 1760 observations in the analytical sample) located in North Rhine‐Westphalia (the most populous state in Germany). The mean age was 86.6 years (SD: 4.3 years). Established instruments were used to quantify life satisfaction, loneliness, and depressive symptoms. Linear FE regressions were used in this study to mitigate the challenge of unobserved heterogeneity. Sex‐stratified regressions were also conducted. Results: Regressions showed that the loss of a spouse was significantly associated with worsening psychosocial factors (in terms of increases in depressive symptoms and loneliness). Furthermore, regressions revealed that increases in functional impairment were significantly associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes.ConclusionsThis longitudinal study enhanced our understanding of the factors contributing to poorer psychosocial outcomes among the oldest old. Efforts to avoid or postpone functional impairment may contribute to more favorable psychosocial outcomes. Moreover, our current study underlines the importance of spousal relationships for psychosocial outcomes in the oldest age group.

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Psychiatry and Mental health,Geriatrics and Gerontology

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