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Researchers identify factors that lead to
‘Successful Aging’
Newswise, July 2010 — What, exactly, does
“successful aging” mean? For more than a
half century, researchers and gerontologists
have argued whether successful aging is
better defined subjectively (how older
adults view their own state of aging) or
objectively (physical disease-related
disability or mental decline).
Answering this question is more than an
academic exercise.
As the first members of the famed “baby boom
generation” reach age 65, understanding what
it means to remain healthy and independent
in later life could have an enormous impact
on health care delivery and medical policy.
Researchers from the New Jersey Institute
for Successful Aging (NJISA) at the UMDNJ-School
of Osteopathic Medicine have recently
unveiled new findings that clarify what it
means to age successfully, and point to
modifiable factors that could help more
people remain healthy as they age.
The
researchers found that people are more
likely to age successfully if they are
educated, have never been incarcerated, are
married, consume only moderate amounts of
alcohol and either work for pay or do
volunteer work.
The findings, based on
telephone surveys of more than 5,600 New
Jersey residents between the ages of 50 and
74, appear in an advance article in The
Gerontologist.
“What you do before age 50 really will
generally have the bigger impact on how well
you age,” said lead author Rachel Pruchno,
PhD, who is also the director of research at
NJISA. “Our research shows how aging is a
lifelong process. The person you become at a
very old age is really a function of how you
lived your earlier years.”
The researchers examined how factors early
in life, as well as current behaviors,
distinguished four groups of older
individuals: those who age successfully
according to objective criteria; those who
age successfully according to subjective
criteria; those who are successful according
to both measures; and those who age
successfully according to neither set of
criteria.
“Education and incarceration were
particularly strong factors,” Pruchno said.
“The fact that we currently have a large
number of people in prison serving
relatively short sentences could herald a
significant public health problem in the
future. Interestingly, although marriage
also coincided with successful aging, being
childless did not appear to have a negative
impact.”
The UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine is
dedicated to providing excellence in medical
education, research and health care for New
Jersey and the nation. Working in
cooperation with Kennedy University
Hospital, its principal affiliate, the UMDNJ-School
of Osteopathic Medicine places an emphasis
on primary health care and community health
services that reflect its osteopathic
philosophy, with centers of excellence that
demonstrate its commitment to developing
clinically skillful, compassionate and
culturally competent physicians from diverse
backgrounds, who are prepared to become
leaders in their communities.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation's largest
free-standing public health sciences
university with more than 6,000 students
attending the state's three medical schools,
its only dental school, a graduate school of
biomedical sciences, a school of health
related professions, a school of nursing and
its only school of public health on five
campuses.
