Citation

De Raedt R, Ponjaert-Kristoffersen I. Aging Ment. Health 2006; 10(2): 195-203.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Rudi.DeRaedt@UGent.be

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13607860500311904

PMID

16517496

Abstract

Elderly people are often confronted with stressful events that threaten psychological homeostasis. Nevertheless, the lack of a general age-related drop in life satisfaction remains intriguing. The objective of this study was to analyze the basic mechanisms of perceived control and self-protective processes. Eighty-four elderly adults who underwent a fitness-to-drive evaluation were asked how they appraised their performance in a driving simulation task and were classified as over-estimators versus people who estimated their performance correctly and people who didn't overestimate their performance. Decreased physical resources were related to self-serving appraisal and less depressive feelings. The results are in line with theories on self-immunizing processes and provide support for the use of cognitive therapies in dealing with age-related limitations.

Language: en