Citation

Wiest M, Schuz B, Wurm S. J. Health Psychol. 2013; 18(9): 1199-1208.

Affiliation

German Centre of Gerontology, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1359105312459099

PMID

23129835

Abstract

Life satisfaction and control beliefs are established indicators of successful aging and predict mortality. However, it has not yet been examined whether they independently predict mortality or interact. We examined main and interaction effects using Cox proportional hazards models in a sample of older adults (N = 1402; age range: 65-91). Only the interaction of life satisfaction and control beliefs significantly predicted mortality when controlling for socio-demographic variables and health. These findings suggest that detrimental effects of low control beliefs can be buffered by life satisfaction, and unexpectedly, that high levels of both factors are not most protective against mortality.

Language: en