Perceptions Of Longevity Research Articles

I am a survivor, keep on surviving: early-life exposure to conflict and subjective survival probabilities in adult life

Life-course studies have shown that early-life conditions predict health and socio-economic status in adult life. This study analyzes whether experiencing a traumatic event in childhood, i.e., the Second World War (WW2), affects subjective survival probabilities (SSPs). We rely on a representative sample of European adults who were differentially exposed to WW2 during childhood as a result of their date and place of birth. Results show that exposure to WW2 increases SSPs, with socio-economic and health characteristics not playing a mediating role. War exposure also counterbalances the adverse effects of health impairments on SSPs, but it does not affect health outcomes per se. This fact, jointly with low mortality rates of the cohort under investigation, suggests that selective mortality and post-traumatic stress are not the main channels. Instead, the results support the hypothesis that personal growth and life appreciation emerge after traumatic events, thereby leading to optimistic perceptions of longevity.

What Factors Influence the Perception of Longevity?

Previous research has highlighted the link between health-related factors and longevity. In particular, indices such as poor cardiovascular reactivity, high BMI, stress, and respiratory functioning have been shown to increase risk of mortality. However, little is known about identifying specific health and psychosocial behaviors that compromise the perception of longevity in African Americans. The Study of Longevity and Stress in African Americans (SOLSAA) was designed to examine psychosocial and health factors that are characteristic of survivorship in African Americans families. Data from 570 participants in the SOLSAA were used to examine the relationship between psychosocial and health-related factors among individuals aged 50 to 99 years (M = 67.6, SD = 11.5). Perception of longevity was positively correlated with sex, r = .058, education, r = .021, diastolic blood pressure r = .067, respiratory functioning, r = .150 and body mass index, r = .027, but negatively correlated with age, r = -.205, systolic blood pressure, r = -.050, and perceived stress, r = -.106. Regression analyses revealed, not surprisingly, that as participants aged, perception of longevity decreased. Furthermore, women’s perception of longevity was greater than that of men even after controlling for age. Given the longer life expectancy for women, this was also expected. Interestingly, high levels of perceived stress predicted reduced perception of longevity. These preliminary results suggest that the perception of stress is an important psychosocial factor for older African American’s self-forecasting of their chances for longevity beyond just simply age or physical health status.

Complex multimorbidity, perceived life expectancy, and routine cancer screening receipt: Differences between older women and men.

e13071 Background: Complex multimorbidity (MM) predicts poor health outcomes. How MM predicts preventive health services receipt, such as cancer screening, is less clear. Yet cancer screening decision making involves not only clinical presentation (MM) and age, but also patients’ perceptions about need. We hypothesize that patients’ perceived life expectancy (PLE) moderates the effect of MM and age on cancer screening receipt (mammography for women and prostate screening for men). Methods: Data came from 20,705 women and men, ages 52-90, from the 2002-2012 waves of the U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Receipt of screening mammogram (women) or “examination of [the] prostate to screen for cancer” (men) in the last two years were binary (0/1) measures. MM was an ordinal count (0-3) of the co-occurrence of any chronic conditions, functional limitations, and geriatric syndromes. Age was measured in years. PLE was the chance respondents’ thought they would live 10-15 more years (0 = 0% - 10 = > 90%). Additional control variables included self-rated health, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, marital status, smoking, BMI, and other preventive services (e.g., flu shot) receipt. We used survey-adjusted repeated measures logistic regression to predict screening receipt separately by gender. Results: Women reported higher MM and PLE than men. Greater MM reduced the likelihood of mammography receipt. However, women with MM who had greater PLE had an increased likelihood of mammography receipt. Furthermore, mammography receipt decreased more slowly with age for women with high PLE. For men, greater MM did not lead to reduced prostate screening. Men’s PLE was not associated with screening nor did it modify the effects of MM or age. Conclusions: Greater PLE increases likelihood of cancer screening for women even when MM and advanced age would recommend against. Men’s clinical presentation and subjective perceptions of longevity are not associated with prostate screening receipt. We speculate that the differences in the nature of the screening tests combined with greater public awareness of breast cancer create conditions where subjective perceptions are more likely to affect mammography decision-making.

Demographic and Anthropometric Variables Related to Longevity: Results from a Greek Centenarians’ Study

Centenarian research contributes to expanding our knowledge on longevity and healthy aging. In Greece, a variety of studies have been conducted in order to explore exceptional longevity. This is a retrospective study of 106 centenarians employing both quantitative and qualitative measures in order to explore centenarians own perspective on longevity. Basic socio demographic and life style variables where associated with centenarians beliefs and perceptions about their longevity. The majority of centenarians attributed their longevity to God and to living a good life overall. God and social networks were reported as their main source of strength in order to continue living. Gender differences were also evident as male centenarians reported non abusive behaviors and a sense of having a measure in daily living, as well as nutrition as their main source of longevity, while female emphasized on God and social networks. Gender differences on Body Mass Index and Smoking are also evident. Centenarians own perception of longevity could be further explored and findings could be incorporated in future research and intervention programs aiming at healthy longevity.

Saving behaviour: evidence from Portugal

This paper analyses the determinants of saving behaviour among Portuguese households using a structural equation model with latent variables. It is found that the main factors directly influencing households' saving behaviour are their attitude towards saving and their level of income. However, savers' behaviour is also indirectly influenced by their perceptions of longevity, their feelings as savers, the replacement rate and the age. The family size does not have any effect, either directly or indirectly. Policy implications are derived from the study.

Finnish dentists’ perceptions of the longevity of direct dental restorations

Objectives. To evaluate Finnish dentists’ perceptions of the longevity of direct dental restorations; to assess the possible impacts of dentists’ characteristics on these perceptions; and to compare the present longevity estimates with those of recent European reports. Methods. A questionnaire to 592 general practitioners, systematically sampled from the Finnish Dental Association's membership list, was posted in April 2004 and data collection was finished by the end of June. The question “In general, what is your estimate for the mean age of restoration in permanent teeth?” pointed restorations: Class II and MOD composites and amalgam in a posterior tooth and Class III composites in an incisor. Dentists’ gender, main work, and year of graduation served as background information. Of the 339 (57%) respondents, only public and private dentists were included; 11 were excluded. Three studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria for recent reports on restoration longevity. Statistical evaluation was by one-way ANOVA, with p=0.05 as the level of significance. Results. The mean of the estimates for all types of composite was 9.0 years (SD 3.6; 95% CI 8.6–9.3) and 18.7 years for amalgam (SD 7.3; 95% CI 18.0–19.5). Male dentists gave longer estimates than female dentists for posterior composites, but shorter estimates for amalgam. Compared to public dentists, private dentists gave longer estimates for posterior composites. All estimates were longer than those reported in the recent literature. Conclusion. Dentists’ perceptions of posterior composite longevity are significantly longer among males than among females and among private than public sector dentists, and exceed the median longevity reported in recent studies.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTIONS OF LONGEVITY: A CROSS‐SECTIONAL STUDY OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF THE ELDERLY FROM THREE SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS*

A study of the positive and negative attributions of longevity among the elderly was conducted by using elderly subjects from three socioeconomic backgrounds. The purpose was to try to understand attributions of longevity in terms of prototypical response patterns of the elderly. It was hypothesized that several prototypes exist in the population of the elderly and that these prototypes correspond to the given life style of the elderly from different socioeconomic conditions. Thus overall, the study was intended to elucidate the structure and contents of the elderly people's perceptions of longevity. For this purpose factor analysis and discriminant function analyses were done in order to identify significant factors which differentiated the responses of subjects from the three socioeconomic groups. Results indicated that there are strong and interpretable factors which distinguish the perceptions of the elderly from three different socioeconomic conditions; there are also common core factors. The results are discussed in terms of their usefulness for understanding the perceptual framework and implicit belief systems of the elderly concerning longevity.