Logevity Studies

Objective
To determine whether purpose in life is associated with reduced stroke incidence among older adults after adjusting for relevant sociodemographic, behavioral, biological, and psychosocial factors.

Methods
We used prospective data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel study of American adults over the age of 50. 6739 adults who were stroke-free at baseline were examined. A multiple imputation technique was used to account for missing data. Purpose in life was measured using a validated adaptation of Ryff and Keyes' Scales of Psychological Well-Being. After controlling for a comprehensive list of covariates, we assessed the odds of stroke incidence over a four-year period. We used psychological and covariate data collected in 2006, along with occurrences of stroke reported in 2008, 2010, and during exit interviews. Covariates included sociodemographic factors (age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, education level, total wealth, functional status), health behaviors (smoking, exercise, alcohol use), biological factors (hypertension, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, BMI, heart disease), negative psychological factors (depression, anxiety, cynical hostility, negative affect), and positive psychological factors (optimism, positive affect, and social participation).

Results
Greater baseline purpose in life was associated with a reduced likelihood of stroke during the four-year follow-up. In a model that adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, education level, total wealth, and functional status, each standard deviation increase in purpose was associated with a multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of 0.78 for stroke (95% CI, 0.67–0.91, p = .002). Purpose remained significantly associated with a reduced likelihood of stroke after adjusting for several additional covariates including: health behaviors, biological factors, and psychological factors.

Conclusion
Among older American adults, greater purpose in life is linked with a lower risk of stroke.

This study proposed and investigated a model of retirement in which successful retirement in Australia is achieved by sustaining community connections. A total of 650 participants (360 men, Mage=61.08, 290 women, Mage=58.39) from the general community, over the age of 45, participated in the study. The participants completed online questionnaires including the Sense of Community Index (SCI-2), the DASS-21, and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Consistent with the proposed model, this study found that sense of community for retirees was positively related to life satisfaction and negatively related to anxiety. Retirees who were members of community groups were happier than those who were employed, independent of the employed person’s community membership. For retirees, having a sense of community remained a significant predictor of happiness, even after controlling for self-rated health. The results suggest that community connections are important for a successful and healthy retirement, and therefore that retirement planning should include advice about creating positive connections with family, friends, and community.

Promotion of age-and dementia-friendly communities can be one of the approaches to improve the social determinants of healthy life expectancy, since age-and dementia-friendly environments allow older people, including those with dementia, to manifest their potential capacities. Improving social systems and eliminating social disparities are fundamental necessities, while it is also important to identify actions that can be taken by individuals. Top-down administrative policy and bottom-up voluntary approaches can work complementarily. Voluntary initiatives should be inclusive for the vulnerable, as well as being co-beneficial, sustainable, and low cost, allowing the initiatives to expand to low-income countries. Small actions that can be implemented immediately should be taken to make the society dementia-friendly through individual efforts.