Abstract
Throughout adulthood and old age, levels of well-being appear to remain relatively stable. However, evidence is emerging that late in life well-being declines considerably. Using long-term longitudinal data of deceased participants in national samples from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we examined how long this period lasts. In all 3 nations and across the adult age range, well-being was relatively stable over age but declined rapidly with impending death. Articulating notions of terminal decline associated with impending death, we identified prototypical transition points in each study between 3 and 5 years prior to death, after which normative rates of decline steepened by a factor of 3 or more. The findings suggest that mortality-related mechanisms drive late-life changes in well-being and highlight the need for further refinement of psychological concepts about how and when late-life declines in psychosocial functioning prototypically begin. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 477-85 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Psychology and Aging |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2010 |
Keywords
- Adult
- Aged
- Aged, 80 and over
- Aging
- Cross-Cultural Comparison
- Female
- Germany
- Health Status
- Health Surveys
- Humans
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Models, Psychological
- Quality of Life
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Young Adult
- Comparative Study
- Journal Article
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't