Awareness of age-related change (AARC) and its associations with cognitive, mental, and physical health and well-being in the second half of life

Abstract

Background: Promoting positive self-perceptions of ageing could foster health maintenance in older age. Indeed, those individuals who perceive their ageing more positively show better cognitive, mental, and physical health over time. Most studies on this topic have relied on global and unidimensional assessments of self-perceptions of ageing despite older individuals generally experiencing both positive and negative changes. The awareness of age-related change (AARC) concept instead captures the coexistence of the positive (gains) and negative (losses) changes that individuals perceive across five life domains. Aims: To validate in the UK population over 50s two questionnaires assessing AARC and to examine the associations of AARC with cognitive, mental, and physical health and well-being and sociodemographic variables. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis synthesised and quantified existing work on AARC and health outcomes. The psychometric properties for two measures of AARC in the UK population over 50s were investigated. To further explore the validity of the AARC measures and interpretation of AARC items, participants’ comments made in relation to their responses on the AARC questionnaires were categorised using content analysis. Path analysis models and linear regressions estimated the association of AARC with objective cognition. Latent profile analysis identified groups of individuals with different combinations of levels of AARC gains and losses. Finally, differences in cognitive, mental, and physical health and sociodemographic variables across the identified profiles were examined. Results: The AARC questionnaires have good psychometric properties among UK residents over 50s. There is great variability in the combination of levels of AARC gains and losses that individuals perceive. Higher losses are related to poorer cognitive, mental, and physical health. Higher gains show negligible associations with better mental and physical health and poorer cognition. Conclusion: The AARC questionnaires may be useful to identify those UK individuals experiencing poorer cognitive, mental, and/or physical health and who therefore may benefit from interventions promoting adaptation to age-related changes