Citation

Jónsdóttir HL, Ruthig JC. Aging Ment. Health 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13607863.2020.1725736

PMID

32081033

Abstract

Objectives: Falls can have detrimental effects on older adults' psychological well-being, physical health, and survival rates. However, certain psychosocial mediators may lessen the negative impact of suffering a fall on health and well-being. Perceived control is a psychosocial factor that was examined as a mediator of the falls - health and well-being relationship in the current study.Method: Participants were 232 community-dwelling older adults, age 68 or older who took part in a longitudinal study in 2008 and 2010 and completed measures of perceived control, self-rated health, health-care utilization, number of falls, depressive symptomology, and perceived stress. Survival was also tracked for seven years from 2008 through 2015.Results: Older adults who suffered a fall had poorer health and well-being two years later compared to those who did not suffer a fall. Perceived control mediated the negative impact of falls on subsequent health and well-being outcomes two years later. Among older adults who experienced a fall, higher levels of perceived control predicted better subsequent health and well-being. Suffering one or more falls also predicted less likelihood of survival seven years later, beyond the effects of age, gender, marital status, and education.Conclusion: Findings highlight the importance of assessing risk of falling and levels of perceived control in later life.

Language: en

Keywords

Falls; aging; older adults; perceived control; survival