Life Quality And Psychological Well-Being In Late Ontogenesis: External And Internal Resources

Abstract

The paper deals with the way psychological well-being and health-related quality of life depend on the perception of time (time perspective and subjective age) of people aged 58–93. A total sample (N = 48) is analyzed in subgroups depending on their lifestyles: elderly people in home care; non-working older adults leading an active lifestyle. The following methods were used: Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZPTI) (Ph. D. Zimbardo), Age-of-Me (B. Barak), SF-36 Health Status Survey, The Scales of Psychological Well-being (C. D. Ryff) and the authors’ questionnaire. The quality of life is shown to be rather low and is closely related to psychological well-being. The level of total psychological well-being and its components correspond to a high and medium interval, which indicates a multiplicity of options for successful aging. Subjective health and psychological well-being are associated with an attitude towards the present and the past. The modus of the future remains in a zone of high uncertainty. The younger a person feels, the higher the indicators of health-related quality of life and psychological well-being. An active lifestyle is viewed as a resource by which one can perceive themselves as younger and be more future-oriented. The respondents in this group have higher self-rated health and fewer correlations of the variables addressed, suggesting multiple options for successful aging. Health-related constraints and home lifestyle reduce health self-esteem and a close relationship of all variables examined.

Keywords: Quality of life, subjective health, psychological well-being, time perspective, subjective age, elderly and senile age

Introduction

Termination of employment and retirement is a crisis period associated with global changes in lifestyle and self-identity. It is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty due to internal and external factors: personal crisis and unstable socio-political situation that increases tension and stress. This is caused by a changing social status, reduced ability to ensure their independence (e.g., financial, household matters), a lack of confidence in the future due to deteriorating health, inability to keep up with a rapid pace and changes in life, including, the spread of digital technology across all spheres of life. In addition, advanced age is characterized by global physical and personal changes related to corporality, health, self-concept, spiritual and moral sphere, etc. (Kuleshova & Strizhitskaya, 2008; Yarkin, 2017). Besides, “it is then that older adults choose a path for development during aging” (Strizhitskaya, 2013, p. 119).

Until recently, late ontogenesis has been perceived as a stage of fading, stagnation. In recent decades, the end of labor activity and the time freed up in this regard began to be seen as an extra resource for further growth and development, enabling to try something new, to be engaged in some other activities, hobbies, and interactions. At the level of society and state policy, these benefits come through the development of an accessible environment and a system of targeted social aids, the promotion of educational and cultural and leisure 50+ programs, hobby clubs for elderly people, etc. All this is support and external resources for people of advanced age. However, “the older a person gets, the more central the subjective factors become in providing overall human performance” (Strizhitskaya, 2013, p. 119). In this regard, internal human resources need to be more thoroughly examined, which would contribute to higher quality of life and psychological well-being in late ontogenesis.

Problem Statement

“In modern world science ‘quality of life’ may well be interpreted as a new (interdisciplinary) scientific category” (Savchenko & Golovina, 2019, p. 610), spanning a wide range of scientific knowledge: sociology, economics, ecology, medicine, psychology, etc. Research into health-related quality of life at the stage of late ontogenesis, when health issues become extremely urgent and directly affect all spheres of human activity, is of prominent importance.

Extensive research programs in European countries and the United States highlight the role of subjective health in predicting mortality and the need for future medical care. Self-reported health status is a measure of how people perceive their health and is used as an indicator of population health (DeSalvo et al., 2005, 2006; Quesnel-Vallee, 2007). Here, a central role is played by a positive subjective attitude towards oneself and one’s health, as well as an intrinsic willingness to persist leading an active lifestyle, which promotes a fulfilling life even if an individual has some serious somatic diseases. Human activity as such is viewed as a potential for development at a more advanced age (Ermolaeva, 2011; Kuleshova & Strizhitskaya, 2008). As emphasized by O.Yu. Strizhitskaya, “the quality of aging and old age is closely related to a person’s ability to develop, provided that development is determined by their subjectivity mainly reflecting the perception of themselves as active agents” (Strizhitskaya, 2006, p. 3).

The term ‘psychological well-being’ is associated with the concept of quality of life. Today, there is a growing number of studies in the field of psychological well-being and life satisfaction among people at the stage of late ontogenesis (Nesterova & Zhuchkova, 2018; Pryazhnikov, 2017; Suslova & Zhuchkova, 2014).

The features of psychological well-being and health-related quality of life are being addressed as correlated with the perception of time: time perspective and subjective age. Time perspective of older people has recently been more extensively investigated (Chueva, 2011; Ermakov & Kashina, 2016; Ozerina et al., 2019; Surikova, 2011). On the contrary, the features of subjective age remain almost unexplored in Russia. A detailed analysis of the latest foreign studies into subjective age is presented by Sergienko (2020). Subjective age, i.e. how old a person seems to himself is a heterogeneous construct. It includes “look-age: “How old I look…”; feel-age: “How old I feel …”; do-age: “My activities are like those of people who are in their …”; and interest-age: “My interests are like those of people who are in their …” (Sergienko & Kharlamenkova, 2018, p. 249).

Thus, in recent years, more attention has been paid to studying subjective (internal) factors of health-related quality of life and psychological well-being. Nevertheless, there is almost no research in this domain in general, and in particular involving older adults. However, we see it promising to move in this domain, since it shows multiple options for successful aging, enabling to fulfill personality potential as well as the inner resources of the person himself.

Research Questions

We believe that in late ontogenesis human mental resources are reorganized, being mirrored in psychological well-being and subjective quality of life and health. The paper examines the way psychological well-being and health self-esteem depend on the perception of time (time perspective of an individual as predominant temporal orientations to the future, present or past, and subjective age bias as an attitude to oneself and an assessment of personal time resources) left in life of elderly people leading different lifestyles. The hypotheses of the study were as follows:

Purpose of the Study

To study the relationship of psychological well-being and subjective health with attitudes to time (time perspective of an individual as predominant temporal orientations towards the future, present or past, and subjective age bias as an attitude towards oneself and an assessment of personal time resources) of older adults leading different lifestyles.

Research Methods

The study was organized at Moscow Center for Social Services and involved non-working older adults (N = 48). A total sample was divided into subgroups depending on lifestyles:

• Older adults who visit the day care division (DCD group) at the social service center. In other words, they lead an active lifestyle, taking part in studios, clubs, visiting theaters, excursions (n = 19).
• Lonely senior adults and those living alone and receiving social care (SC group). They have a social worker who provides practical assistance in housekeeping, buying food and medicine, making appointments with a doctor, escorting around the city, filling in documents, etc. (n = 29). They spend most of their time at home alone or with a nurse.

The following psychodiagnostic techniques were used:

1. The SF-36 Health Status Survey (Gurevich & Fabrikant, 2008);

2. The Scales of Psychological Well-being by C. D. Ryff, adapted by Shevelenkova and Fesenko (2005);

3. Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZPTI) by Ph. D. Zimbardo, adapted by Sircova et al. (2008);

4. Age-of-Me by B. Barak (Barak, 2009);

5. A questionnaire made up by the authors, and aimed at studying the immediate and distant goals of respondents, their ideas about an ideal life, satisfaction with life and self-enhancement.

Mathematical processing was ensured by the following methods of mathematical statistics, namely: the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for checking the shape of a distribution function, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (r_s), Mann-Whitney U-test, Student’s t-test. Statistical analysis of the resultant data was performed using a SPSS/Win software package (version 16.0; SPSS Inc., USA). The method of content analysis was used for qualitative processing of the results.

Findings

Conclusion

Thus, the paper shows that health and healthy way of life are the leading goals and criteria to constitute an ideal life of people in advanced age. Despite rather low indicators of health-related quality of life, the level of psychological well-being corresponds to the high and medium range. Based on this, it is possible to conclude that there are multiple options of successful aging. This can be ensured, first of all, by relying on the internal resources of an personality, which contributes to the implementation of the main components of positive functioning, as well as the feeling of happiness, satisfaction with oneself and one’s own life. The paper addresses the perception of time and subjective age as such resources, as well as the way of life of people at a later age. Further studies of subjective factors of psychological well-being and health at the stage of late ontogenesis seem promising. This not only fosters the development of ideas about personality traits at a later age, but also provides a reference point for social and psychological assistance to be provided for older adults towards promoting their potential and resources.

Acknowledgments

The study was carried out in accordance with the State Assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation No. 0138-2021-0005 “Onto- and Subjectogenesis of Human Mental Development in Different Life Situations”.

References

• Barak, B. (2009). Age identity: A cross-cultural global approach. International Journal of behavioral development, 33(1), 2–11.

• Chueva, E. N. (2011). Osobennosti vospriyatiya zhiznennogo puti v reznye periody zrelosti [Course of life perception in various periods of maturity] Vestnik KRAUNTs. Gumanitarnye nauki [Journal collection of scientific works of KRASEC. Section “The Humanities”], 2(18), 98–107. (In Russian).

• DeSalvo, K. B., Fan, V. S., McDonell, M. B., & Fihn, S. D. (2005). Predicting Mortality and Healthcare Utilization with a Single Question. Health services research, 40(4), 1234–1246.

• DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• DeSalvo, K. B., Bloser, N., Reynolds, K., He, J., & Muntner, P. (2006). Mortality prediction with a single general self-rated health question. Journal of general internal medicine, 21(3), 267-275. https://doi.org/0.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.00291.x

• Ermakov, S. A., & Kashina, O. P. (2016). Decentraciya vremeni v zhizni cheloveka zrelogo vozrasta [Decentration of time in the life of a person of mature age]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul'turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki [Historical, Philosophical, Political and Law Sciences, Culturology and Study of Art. Issues of Theory and Practice], 5(67), 83–86. (In Russian).

• Ermolaeva, M. V. (2011). Psikhologo-pedagogicheskoe soprovozhdenie pozhilogo cheloveka: uchebnoe posobie [Psycho-pedagogical support of the senior citizen]. Moscow Psychology and Sociology Institute Publ. (In Russian).

• Gurevich, K. G., & Fabrikant, E. G. (2008). Metodicheskie rekomendatsii po organizatsii programm profilaktiki khronicheskikh neinfektsionnykh zabolevanii [Methodological recommendations for the organization of programs for the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases]. http://bono-esse.ru/blizzard/RPP/M/ORGZDRAV/Orgproga/p1.html (In Russian).

• Kuleshova, L. N., & Strizhitskaya, O. Yu. (2008). Aktivnost' lichnosti kak potencial razvitija v period pozdnej vzroslosti [Personality activity as a potential of development in late adulthood period]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Seriya 12 [Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Series 12], 4, 111–118. (In Russian).

• Nesterova, A. A., & Zhuchkova, S. M. (2018). Faktornaja struktura udovletvorjonnosti zhizn'ju v pozhilom i starcheskom vozraste: social'no-psihologicheskij podhod [Factor structure of life satisfaction in elderly and old age: sociopsychological approach]. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo oblastnogo universiteta Serija: Psihologicheskie nauki [Bulletin of Moscow Region State University. Series: Psychology], 1, 60–72. DOI: 10.18384/2310-7235-2018-1-60-72 (In Russian).

• Ozerina, A. A., Suvorova, O. V., & Dmitrieva, E. E. (2019). Predstavlenija o zhiznennom puti u zhenshhin v pozdnej vzroslosti [The representation of life way of women at late adulthood]. Vestnik Mininskogo universiteta [Vestnik of Minin University]. 7(1), 8. (In Russian).

• Pryazhnikov, N. S. (2017). O faktorakh i modeliakh udovletvorennosti zhizn'iu v pozhilom i starcheskom vozraste [On factors and models of life satisfaction in elderly and senile age]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya [Moscow university psychology bulletin], 4, 85–101. DOI: 10.11621/vsp.2017.04.85 (In Russian).

• Quesnel-Vallee, A. (2007). Self-rated health: caught in the crossfire of the quest for «true» health? International Journal of Epidemiology, 36(6), 1161–1164. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Savchenko, T. N., & Golovina, G. M. (2019). Sub"ektivnoe kachestvo zhizni: podkhody, izmerenie [Subjective quality of life: approaches, measurement]. In A. L. Zhuravlev, E. A. Sergienko, G. A. Vilenskaya (Eds.), Razrabotka ponyatiy v sovremennoi psikhologii [Development of concepts in modern psychology], vol. 2 (pp. 595–614). Institut psikhologii RAN Publ. (In Russian).

• Sergienko, E. A., & Kharlamenkova, N. E. (2018). Psikhologicheskie faktory blagopoluchnogo stareniya [Psychological factors of well-being aging]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Psikhologiya i pedagogika [Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology and Pedagogy], 8(3), 243–257. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu16.2018.303 (In Russian).

• Sergienko, E. A. (2020). Sub"ektivnyi vozrast kak prediktor techeniia tiazheloi bolezni [Subjective age as a predictor of the course of a severe disease]. Vestnik RGGU. Seriya “Psikhologiya. Pedagogika. Obrazovanie” [RGGU Bulletin “Psychology. Pedagogics. Education” series], 1, 25–39. DOI: 10.28995/2073-6398-2020-1-25-39 (In Russian).

• Shevelenkova, T. D., & Fesenko, P. P. (2005). Metodika issledovaniia psikhologicheskogo blagopoluchiia lichnosti [Research methodology of psychological well-being of personality]. Psikhologicheskaya diagnostika [Psychological Diagnosis], 3, 95–129. (In Russian).

• Sircova, A., Sokolova, E. T., & Mitina, O. V. (2008). Adaptatsiia oprosnika vremennoi perspektivy lichnosti F. Zimbardo [Adaptation of Zimbardo time perspective inventory] Psikhologicheskiy zhurnal [Psychological Journal], 29(3), 101–109. (In Russian).

• Strizhitskaya, O. Yu. (2006). Samootnoshenie i vremennaia transspektiva lichnosti v period pozdnei vzroslosti [Self-Relation and temporary transpektiva of the personality in the period of late adulthood]. [PhD dissertation (Psychology), summary. St. Petersburg]. (In Russian).

• Strizhitskaya, O. Yu. (2013). Samodeterminatsiia v period pozdnei vzroslosti i stareniia: teoreticheskie podkhody i problemy [Self-determination in midlife and aging: theoretical approaches and challenges]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Seriya 12 [Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Series 12], 4, 118–127. (In Russian).

• Surikova, Ya. A. (2011). Osobennosti vremennoi perspektivy pozhilykh, prozhivaiushchikh v usloviiakh sotsial'noi izoliatsii [Socially-isolated aged people’s temporal perspective]. Vestnik KRAUNTs. Gumanitarnye nauki [Journal collection of scientific works of KRASEC. Section “The Humanities”], 2(18), 90–97. (In Russian).

• Suslova, T. F., & Zhuchkova, S. M. (2014). Issledovanie udovletvorennosti zhizn'iu i smyslozhiznennykh orientatsii v pozhilom i starcheskom vozraste [The study of life satisfaction and life-purpose orientations at elderly and senile age]. Sibirskii psikhologicheskii zhurnal [Siberian Journal of Psychology], 53, 21–32. (In Russian).

• Yarkin, A. V. (2017). Fenomen pozhilogo vozrasta: sotsial'no-filosofskiy analiz [The phenomenon of old age: social and philosophical analysis]. [PhD dissertation (Psychology)]. Moscow. (In Russian).