|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Relationships between Felt Age and Perceived Disability, Satisfaction with Recovery, Self-efficacy Beliefs and Coping Strategies
Sonja Boehmer
Freie Universiltät Berlin, Germany, boehmers{at}zedat.fu-berlin.de
Subjective age is related to health and to life satisfaction, and adaptation to stressful life events is associated with self-efficacy beliefs and coping. The present study on cancer survivors addressed two objectives: the relationship between felt age and perceived disability and satisfaction with recovery, and the feeding back of felt age on general self-efficacy beliefs and coping strategies. Data were collected one and six months after surgery. Individuals with younger age identities reported lower levels of perceived disability and avoidance-oriented coping and higher levels of satisfaction with recovery, self-efficacy and meaning-focused coping than individuals with older age identities. Individuals with decreased or stable felt age indicated increased meaning-focused coping or avoidance-oriented coping, respectively. Explanations for these associations are discussed.
Key Words: coping • disability • felt age • satisfaction • self-efficacy • subjective age identity
References
- Aldwin, C.M., & Yancura, L.A. (2003). Coping and health: A comparison of the stress and trauma literatures. In P. P. Schnurr & B. L. Green (Eds.), Trauma and health: Physical health consequences of exposure to extreme stress (pp. 99—126). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (vol. 4, pp. 71—81). New York: Academic Press.
- Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman.
- Barak, B., & Rahtz, D.R. (1999). Perceived youth: Appraisal and characterization. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 49, 231—257.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Barak, B., & Schiffman, L.G. (1981). Cognitive age: A nonchronological age variable. Advances in Consumer Research, 8, 602—606.
- Barak, B., & Stern, B. (1986). Subective age correlates: A research note. Gerontologist, 23, 571—578.
- Barrett, A.E. (2003). Socioeconomic status and age identity: The role of dimensions of health in the subjective construction of age. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58, S101—S109.
- Baum, K.K., & Boxley, R.L. (1983). Age identification in the elderly. Gerontologist, 23, 532—537.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Carver, C.S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 92—100.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Carver, C.S., Scheier, M.F., & Weintraub, J.K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267—283.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Chua, C., Cote, J.A., & Leong, S.M. (1990). The antecedents of cognitive age. Advances in Consumer Research, 17, 880—885.[Web of Science]
- Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155—159.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Cohen, J. (1994). The earth is round (p <.05). American Psychologist, 49, 997—1003.[CrossRef]
- Cunningham, A.J., Lockwood, G.A., & Cunningham J. A. (1991). A relationship between perceived self-efficacy and quality of life in cancer patients. Patient Education and Counseling, 17, 71—78.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J.T. (2004). Coping: Pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 745—774.
- Graves, K.D. (2003). Social cognitive theory and cancer patients' quality of life: A meta-analysis of psychosocial intervention components. Health Psychology, 22, 210—219.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Jerusalem, M., & Schwarzer, R. (1992). Self-efficacy as a resource factor in stress appraisal processes. In R. Schwarzer (Ed.), Self-efficacy: Thought control of action (pp. 195—213). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
- Kastenbaum, R., Derbin, V., Sabatini, P., & Artt, S. (1972). The ages of me: Toward personal and interpersonal definitions of functional aging. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 3, 197—211.
- Knoll, N., Rieckmann, N., Scholz, U., & Schwarzer, R. (2004). Predictors of subjective age before and after cataract surgery: Conscientiousness makes a difference. Psychology and Aging, 19, 676—688.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1987). Transactional theory and research on emotions and coping. European Journal of Personality, 1, 141—169.[CrossRef]
- Linn, M.W., & Hunter, K. (1979). Perception of age in the elderly. Journal of Gerontology, 34, 46—52.[Abstract]
- Logan, J.R., Ward, R., & Spitze, G. (1992). As old as you feel: Age identity in middle and later life. Social Forces, 71, 451—467.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Maddux, J.E., & Gosselin, J.T. (2003). Self-efficacy. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 218—238). New York: Guilford Press.
- Montepare, J.M., & Lachman, M.E. (1989). `You are only as old as you feel': Self-perceptions of age, fears of aging, and life satisfaction from adolescence to old age. Psychology and Aging, 4, 73—78.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Northouse, B.L., Mood, D., Kershaw, T., Schafenacker, A., Mellon, S., Walker, J. et al. (2002). Quality of life of women with recurrent breast cancer and their family members. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 20, 4050—4064.
- Parker, J.D., & Endler, N.S. (1992). Coping with coping assessment: A critical review. European Journal of Psychology, 6, 321—344.
- Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995a). Generalized Self-efficacy Scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston (Eds.), Measures in health psychology: A user's portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35—37). Windsor, UK: Nfer-Nelson.
- Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995b). Optimistic self-beliefs as a resource factor in coping with stress. In S. E. Hobfoll & M. W. de Vries (Eds.), Extreme stress and communities: Impact and interventions (pp. 159—177). Dodrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
- Sherman, S.R. (1994). Changes in age identity: Self perceptions in middle and late life. Journal of Aging Studies, 8, 397—412.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Spencer, S.M., Carver, C.S., & Price, A.A. (1998). Psychological and social factors in adaptation. In J. C. Holland (Ed.), Psycho-oncology (pp. 211—222). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Updegraff, J.A., & Taylor, S.E. (2000). From vulnerability to growth: Positive and negative effects of stressful life events. In J. H. Harvey & E. D. Miller (Eds.), Loss and trauma: General and close relationship perspectives (pp. 3—28). Philadelphia, PA: Brunner-Routledge.
- Watson, M., Greer, S., Young, J., Inayat, Q., Burgess, C., & Robertson, B. (1988). Development of a questionnaire measure of adjustment to cancer: The MAC scale. Psychological Medicine, 18, 203—209.[Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Weber, B.A., Roberts, B.L., Resnick, M., Deimling, G., Zauszniewski, J.A., Musil, C., & Yarandi, H.N. (2004). The effect of dyadic intervention on self-efficacy, social support, and depression for men with prostate cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 13, 47—60.[CrossRef][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Westerhof, G.J., Barrett, A.E., & Steverink, N. (2003). Forever young? A comparison of age identities in the United States and Germany. Research on Aging, 25, 366—383.[Abstract]
- Wilkes, R.E. (1992). A structural modeling approach to the measurement and meaning of cognitive age. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 292—301.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Wyrwich, K.W., Bullinger, M., Aaronson, N., Hays, R.D., Patrick, D.L., Symonds, T., & The Clinical Significance Consensus Meeting Group. (2005). Estimating clinically significant differences in quality of life outcomes. Quality of Life Research, 14, 285—295.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 6,
895-906 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1359105307082453
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
M. H. Schafer and T. P. Shippee
Age Identity, Gender, and Perceptions of Decline: Does Feeling Older Lead to Pessimistic Dispositions About Cognitive Aging?
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci,
June 10, 2009;
(2009)
gbp046v1.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Kleinspehn-Ammerlahn, D. Kotter-Gruhn, and J. Smith
Self-Perceptions of Aging: Do Subjective Age and Satisfaction With Aging Change During Old Age?
J. Gerontol. B. Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci.,
November 1, 2008;
63(6):
P377 - P385.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
