IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i22p7035-d1276353.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Suitability of the Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire Short Form for Use among Adults in Their 50s: A Cross-Sectional e-Survey Study

Author

Listed:
  • Gail Low

    (Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada)

  • Alex Bacadini França

    (Laboratory of Human Development and Cognition, Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo 13566-590, Brazil)

  • Donna M. Wilson

    (Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada)

  • Gloria Gutman

    (Gerontology Research Centre, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada)

  • Sofia von Humboldt

    (William James Center for Research, ISPA—Instituto Universitário, 1149-041 Lisbon, Portugal)

Abstract

This cross-sectional e-survey study examines the suitability (reliability and validity) of the 12-item Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire Short Form (AAQ-SF) for use among adults in their 50s. The AAQ-SF instrument was originally designed to capture subjective perceptions of physical change, psychosocial loss, and psychological growth by asking people aged 60 and beyond how they feel about growing older. Our sample comprised 517 people residing in three Canadian provinces. Respondents completed the Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire Short Form, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and a short sociodemographic profile. Our findings replicate the original AAQ-SF structure for physical change, psychosocial loss, and psychological growth, with a promising internal consistency range for the third subscale. In our sample, psychological growth is best represented as ‘Self’ and ‘Generativity’, with a particularly greater capacity to explain variations in scores for item 18 and item 21. Physical change and psychosocial loss scores strongly differed based on perceived health and chronic illness presence. Psychosocial loss and psychological growth were moderately correlated with two aspects of self-esteem. We relate these patterns of findings within the context of prevailing growth and development theory and their perceived implications within the context of COVID-19 and post-pandemic life.

Suggested Citation

  • Gail Low & Alex Bacadini França & Donna M. Wilson & Gloria Gutman & Sofia von Humboldt, 2023. "Suitability of the Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire Short Form for Use among Adults in Their 50s: A Cross-Sectional e-Survey Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:22:p:7035-:d:1276353
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/22/7035/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/22/7035/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anna E. Kornadt & Eva-Marie Kessler & Susanne Wurm & Catherine E. Bowen & Martina Gabrian & Verena Klusmann, 2020. "Views on ageing: a lifespan perspective," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 387-401, December.
    2. Terence C. Cheng & Nattavudh Powdthavee & Andrew J. Oswald, 2017. "Longitudinal Evidence for a Midlife Nadir in Human Well‐being: Results from Four Data Sets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(599), pages 126-142, February.
    3. Terence C. Cheng & Nattavudh Powdthavee & Andrew J. Oswald, 2017. "Longitudinal Evidence for a Midlife Nadir in Human Well‐being: Results from Four Data Sets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(599), pages 126-142, February.
    4. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2019. "Do Humans Suffer a Psychological Low in Midlife? Two Approaches (With and Without Controls) in Seven Data Sets," Springer Books, in: Mariano Rojas (ed.), The Economics of Happiness, chapter 0, pages 439-453, Springer.
    5. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    6. Sonia Mukhtar, 2020. "Psychological health during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic outbreak," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(5), pages 512-516, August.
    7. Monika Ardelt & Dilip V Jeste, 2018. "Wisdom and Hard Times: The Ameliorating Effect of Wisdom on the Negative Association Between Adverse Life Events and Well-Being," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(8), pages 1374-1383.
    8. Ehud Bodner & Liat Ayalon & Sharon Avidor & Yuval Palgi, 2017. "Accelerated increase and relative decrease in subjective age and changes in attitudes toward own aging over a 4-year period: results from the Health and Retirement Study," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 17-27, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rohrer, Julia M. & Brümmer, Martin & Schupp, Jürgen & Wagner, Gert G., 2021. "Worries across time and age in the German Socio-Economic Panel study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 332-343.
    2. Khadija Shams & Alexander Kadow, 2023. "Subjective Well-Being, Health and Socio-Demographic Factors Related to COVID-19 Vaccination: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Sample Survey Study from 2021–2022 in Urban Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-11, August.
    3. Biermann, Philipp & Bitzer, Jürgen & Gören, Erkan, 2022. "The relationship between age and subjective well-being: Estimating within and between effects simultaneously," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    4. Hudomiet, Péter & Hurd, Michael D. & Rohwedder, Susann, 2021. "The age profile of life satisfaction after age 65 in the U.S," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 431-442.
    5. Michael P. Cameron, 2023. "The measurement of structural ageing – an axiomatic approach," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-22, March.
    6. Jan C. van Ours, 2021. "What a drag it is getting old? Mental health and loneliness beyond age 50," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(31), pages 3563-3576, July.
    7. Hung-Lin Tao, 2019. "Marriage and Happiness: Evidence from Taiwan," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 1843-1861, August.
    8. Andrew E. Clark & Hippolyte d’Albis & Angela Greulich, 2021. "The age U-shape in Europe: the protective role of partnership," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 19(1), pages 293-318.
    9. Blanchflower, David G. & Piper, Alan, 2021. "The well-being age U-shape effect in Germany is not flat," GLO Discussion Paper Series 921, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. d'Albis, Hippolyte & Mayaux, Damien & Senik, Claudia, 2023. "Age-specific income inequality and happiness over the life cycle," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2309, CEPREMAP.
    11. David G. Blanchflower, 2021. "Is happiness U-shaped everywhere? Age and subjective well-being in 145 countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 575-624, April.
    12. Chen, Le-Yu & Oparina, Ekaterina & Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Srisuma, Sorawoot, 2022. "Robust Ranking of Happiness Outcomes: A Median Regression Perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 672-686.
    13. Christoph K. Becker & Stefan T. Trautmann, 2022. "Does Happiness Increase in Old Age? Longitudinal Evidence from 20 European Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3625-3654, October.
    14. Kaiser, Caspar, 2022. "Using memories to assess the intrapersonal comparability of wellbeing reports," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 410-442.
    15. Ekaterina Oparina & Caspar Kaiser & Niccol`o Gentile & Alexandre Tkatchenko & Andrew E. Clark & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Conchita D'Ambrosio, 2022. "Human Wellbeing and Machine Learning," Papers 2206.00574, arXiv.org.
    16. Silva, Rui, 2024. "Well-being foundations of populism in Europe," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    17. Johan Lataster & Jennifer Reijnders & Mayke Janssens & Marianne Simons & Sanne Peeters & Nele Jacobs, 2022. "Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Well-Being Across Age: A Cross-Sectional General Population Study among 1709 Dutch Speaking Adults," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2259-2290, June.
    18. Blanchflower, David G. & Piper, Alan, 2022. "There is a mid-life low in well-being in Germany," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    19. Hervé, Justine & Mani, Subha & Behrman, Jere R. & Laxminarayan, Ramanan & Nandi, Arindam, 2025. "Intergenerational Mobility in Depression and Anxiety in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17647, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. DiMaria, charles-henri, 2024. "Let’s all get pessimistic about ill-being: civil society and political organisation mediations," MPRA Paper 121603, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:22:p:7035-:d:1276353. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.