What Is Successful Aging? A Psychometric Validation Study of Different Construct Definitions

TY - JOUR

T1 - What Is Successful Aging? A Psychometric Validation Study of Different Construct Definitions

AU - Kleineidam, Luca

AU - Thoma, Myriam V

AU - Maercker, Andreas

AU - Bickel, Horst

AU - Mösch, Edelgard

AU - Hajek, André

AU - König, Hans-Helmut

AU - Eisele, Marion

AU - Mallon, Tina

AU - Luck, Tobias

AU - Röhr, Susanne

AU - Weyerer, Siegfried

AU - Werle, Jochen

AU - Pentzek, Michael

AU - Fuchs, Angela

AU - Wiese, Birgitt

AU - Mamone, Silke

AU - Scherer, Martin

AU - Maier, Wolfgang

AU - Riedel-Heller, Steffi G

AU - Wagner, Michael

N1 - © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

PY - 2019/7/16

Y1 - 2019/7/16

N2 - Background and Objectives: We examined the validity of 5 successful aging (SA) operationalizations that assessed different facets of the SA construct (cognitive and physical health and disability; well-being; social engagement).Research Design and Methods: A total of 2,478 participants (mean age = 82.5 years, standard deviation [SD] = 3.47) were studied. We used confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the relationships between facets and to determine the convergent validity as well as short-term (1.5 years) and long-term (4.5 years) predictive validity of the 5 SA operationalizations for measures of quality of life (QoL) and objective health outcomes.Results: A general SA operationalization that included all SA facets but also allowed differences between them showed the best model fit and construct validity. A biomedical operationalization of SA that excluded either the well-being or the social engagement facet showed lower convergent and predictive validity for subjective measures (e.g., QoL) but higher associations with objective measures (e.g., health). A purely psychosocial SA operationalization that excluded the physiological facet did not allow good prediction of objective health outcomes.Discussion and Implications: Our results suggest that a well-balanced SA operationalization should include measures assessing health, disability, well-being, and social engagement.

AB - Background and Objectives: We examined the validity of 5 successful aging (SA) operationalizations that assessed different facets of the SA construct (cognitive and physical health and disability; well-being; social engagement).Research Design and Methods: A total of 2,478 participants (mean age = 82.5 years, standard deviation [SD] = 3.47) were studied. We used confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the relationships between facets and to determine the convergent validity as well as short-term (1.5 years) and long-term (4.5 years) predictive validity of the 5 SA operationalizations for measures of quality of life (QoL) and objective health outcomes.Results: A general SA operationalization that included all SA facets but also allowed differences between them showed the best model fit and construct validity. A biomedical operationalization of SA that excluded either the well-being or the social engagement facet showed lower convergent and predictive validity for subjective measures (e.g., QoL) but higher associations with objective measures (e.g., health). A purely psychosocial SA operationalization that excluded the physiological facet did not allow good prediction of objective health outcomes.Discussion and Implications: Our results suggest that a well-balanced SA operationalization should include measures assessing health, disability, well-being, and social engagement.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1093/geront/gny083

DO - 10.1093/geront/gny083

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 30016435

VL - 59

SP - 738

EP - 748

JO - GERONTOLOGIST

JF - GERONTOLOGIST

SN - 0016-9013

IS - 4

ER -