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- Title
What Is Successful Aging? A Psychometric Validation Study of Different Construct Definitions.
- Authors
Kleineidam, Luca; Thoma, Myriam V; Maercker, Andreas; Bickel, Horst; Mösch, Edelgard; Hajek, André; König, Hans-Helmut; Eisele, Marion; Mallon, Tina; Luck, Tobias; Röhr, Susanne; Weyerer, Siegfried; Werle, Jochen; Pentzek, Michael; Fuchs, Angela; Wiese, Birgitt; Mamone, Silke; Scherer, Martin; Maier, Wolfgang; Riedel-Heller, Steffi G
- Abstract
Background and Objectives We examined the validity of 5 successful aging (SA) operationalizations that assessed different facets of the SA construct (cognitive and physical health and disability; well-being; social engagement). Research Design and Methods A total of 2,478 participants (mean age = 82.5 years, standard deviation [ SD ] = 3.47) were studied. We used confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the relationships between facets and to determine the convergent validity as well as short-term (1.5 years) and long-term (4.5 years) predictive validity of the 5 SA operationalizations for measures of quality of life (QoL) and objective health outcomes. Results A general SA operationalization that included all SA facets but also allowed differences between them showed the best model fit and construct validity. A biomedical operationalization of SA that excluded either the well-being or the social engagement facet showed lower convergent and predictive validity for subjective measures (e.g. QoL) but higher associations with objective measures (e.g. health). A purely psychosocial SA operationalization that excluded the physiological facet did not allow good prediction of objective health outcomes. Discussion and Implications Our results suggest that a well-balanced SA operationalization should include measures assessing health, disability, well-being, and social engagement.
- Subjects
COGNITIVE testing; GERIATRIC assessment; EXPERIMENTAL design; FACTOR analysis; RESEARCH methodology; PSYCHOMETRICS; QUALITY of life; RESEARCH evaluation; SOCIAL participation; WELL-being; PREDICTIVE validity; MULTITRAIT multimethod techniques; RESEARCH methodology evaluation; FUNCTIONAL assessment; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; ACTIVE aging
- Publication
Gerontologist, 2019, Vol 59, Issue 4, p738
- ISSN
0016-9013
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/geront/gny083