Examination of Associations among Three Distinct Subjective Aging Constructs and Their Relevance for Predicting Developmental Correlates

Abstract

Objectives. This study examined (a) the empirical associations among three subjective aging (SA) constructs: felt age, attitudes toward own aging (ATOA), and awareness of age-related change (AARC); (b) the moderating role of chronological age in these associations; and (c) the predictive relevance of the SA constructs with regard to two developmental correlates: functional health and satisfaction with life. Method. Participants were 819 adults aged 40-98 years from the United States and Germany. Parallel multiple mediation, moderated mediation, and hierarchical regression analyses were used. Results. As hypothesized, AARC mediated the association between the global measures of SA (felt age and ATOA) and the developmental correlates. Specifically, more negative global subjective aging predicted more AARC losses, which predicted poorer health and well-being. Furthermore, this mediation pathway was moderated by chronological age, such that, with increasing age, greater AARC was more strongly related to poorer functional health (but not well-being). The multidimensional measure, AARC, accounted for a significant amount of the variance in the developmental correlates over and above the unidimensional SA constructs. A consistent pattern emerged supporting the role of domain specificity and valence. Discussion. These findings support the need for conceptualizing SA across different behavioral domains and for distinguishing between positive and negative SA.