Abstract
Background: Successful Aging (SA), as one of the most important indicators of elderly people's health, has received substantial attention in the gerontological literature. Objective: The present study aimed to identify the successful aging status and its associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the stratified multistage sampling method. In 2015, a total of 600 community-dwelling participants aged 60 years or older in Tehran participated in this study. The SA was measured by a validated questionnaire consisting of seven dimensions. A Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was done using SPSS to identify the most important predictors of SA. Results: The mean age of the participants was 69.7 (SD=7.5), and around 46% of them were retired. The mean score of the composite index of the SA was 65.6 (SD=10.8; expected range 0-100). The results of the study showed that 11.2% of the participants were aging successfully. The results of the stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that childhood health status, socioeconomic status in childhood, level of education, marital status, income, and the number of diseases are significantly contributed to successful aging. Conclusion: The results of the present study showing only a few of the participants are aging successfully, imply that social and health policymakers must pay more attention to the aging population, particularly those with low social status and chronic medical status.
Highlights
The population aging in all societies will result in profound changes in the economic, social, and political sectors [1]
Three blocks were selected in each neighborhood and older adults living in those blocks were interviewed
The results of the present study showed that around 51 percent of the samples were older women (Mean age=69.7, SD= 7.5), about 46% retired, 16.2% employed, 75% married, and 16.5% had no formal education (Table 1)
Summary
The population aging in all societies will result in profound changes in the economic, social, and political sectors [1]. Various models of successful aging have been proposed by researchers both for defining and measuring it. The second model is called “SOC”, which was proposed by Baltes and Baltes in 1990 This model has three factors, including Selection, Optimization, and Compensation. They are essential for successful development regarding the maintenance of functioning and the minimization of losses. In this model, successful aging includes a selection of functional domains, which focuses on one’s resources, optimization of developmental potential and aids that facilitate success and compensation for losses or proactive coping [3, 8]. Successful Aging (SA), as one of the most important indicators of elderly people's health, has received substantial attention in the gerontological literature
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