The difference between self-perceived and chronological age in the elderly may correlate with general health, personality and the practice of good health behavior: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background and objective: For the elderly, maintaining a young self-perceived age has a positive impact on physical and mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the discrepancy between self-perceived age and chronological age in regards to physical activity, instrumental activities of daily living, functional capacity, personality, general self-efficacy, depressive symptoms, and disease burden.

Methods: Participants were 3094 older adults from 2015 baseline data of the Keeping Active across Generations Uniting the Youth and the Aged study. The questionnaire was mailed to 8004 elderly people aged 65 years or older. Of the 3871 people who returned the questionnaire (collection rate, 48.3%), 3094 subjects were analyzed in this study (female, 52%). The questionnaire included aspects of physical activity, instrumental activity of daily living, functional capacity, personality traits, general self-efficacy, depressive symptoms, history of falls, fear of falling, communication with young people, medical history, and self-perceived age, as well as basic characteristics such as age, sex, living alone or not, and educational history.

Results: Regression analysis showed that the presence of high self-rated health, personality traits of extraversion and openness to experience, higher general self-efficacy, and the presence of fear of falling were positively associated with a younger self-perceived age.

Conclusions: The results identified personality and psychological factors related to of self-perceived age in community-dwelling elderly people. Therefore, changes in personality traits and subjective health accompanying aging affect the self-perceived age, which may also affect the extension of healthy life expectancy.

Keywords: Health status; Older adults; Self-perceived age.