The Role of Awareness of Age-Related Change in the Longitudinal Association between Pain and Physical Activity

Abstract

We examined how physical pain impacts the developmental construct of Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC-gains and AARC-losses) and, in turn, how AARC mediates and moderates the association between pain and subsequent physical activity. We used longitudinal data from 434 participants of the UK PROTECT Study (mean age = 65.5 years; SD = 6.94 years). We found that pain in 2019 predicted higher AARC-losses ( β = .07; p = .036) and less physical activity ( β = −.13; p-value = .001) in 2020. Additionally, we found that AARC-losses partially mediated, but did not moderate, the association of pain in 2019 and physical activity in 2020. AARC-losses may explain physical inactivity in middle-aged and older adults experiencing pain. Incorporating developmental constructs such as AARC into theories and empirical studies on pain and pain management may be necessary to more fully capture people's responses to pain.