Education and Psychosocial Functioning Among Older Adults: 4-Year Change in Sense of Control and Hopelessness

Uchechi A Mitchell, Jennifer A Ailshire, Lauren L Brown, Morgan E Levine and Eileen M Crimmins

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2018, vol. 73, issue 5, 849-859

Abstract: Objectives This study investigates education differences in levels and change in sense of control and hopelessness among older adults. Method We used data from the Health and Retirement Study, an ongoing biennial survey of a nationally representative sample of older Americans, to examine education differences in sense of control (e.g., mastery and perceived constraints) and hopelessness. Our sample included 8,495 adults aged 52 and older who were interviewed in 2006/2008 and 2010/2012. We assessed separate models for change in sense of control and hopelessness, accounting for recent changes in social circumstances and health status. Results Low mastery, perceived constraints, and hopelessness were highest among individuals with less than a high school education. Over a 4-year period, this group experienced the greatest declines in psychosocial functioning, as indicated by greater increases in low mastery, perceived constraints, and hopelessness. Education differences existed net of recent negative experiences, specifically the loss of intimate social relationships and social support and increases in disease and disability. Discussion These findings highlight the importance of education for sense of control and hopelessness in older adulthood and demonstrate the cumulative advantage of higher levels of education for psychosocial functioning.

Keywords: Health and Retirement Study; Longitudinal analysis; Mastery; Perceived constraints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbw031 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:73:y:2018:i:5:p:849-859.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().