This study comes from the University of Michigan, with psychologists Neal Krause, Ph.D., and Benjamin A. Shaw, Ph.D. leading the research. The study based on results from 884 older adults showed having control over such roles appears to be more important to people as they age than feelings of control over life as a whole.
All participants were initially examined and given a statistical rating of their health status based on self-rated health, serious chronic illness, and functional disability. The participants were then asked to choose three roles they valued the most in their lives and rank order them. Parenting, grandparenting, other relative roles, friend, homemaker, provider, voluntary worker, church or club member were chosen as the top roles. The participants were also asked about their feelings of control over life as a whole.
The participants scored higher on having a sense of control over the role that was most important to them, were more likely to be alive at the 6 and 7 year follow-ups. Those adults who scored lower were more likely to have behaviors such as drinking alcohol, smoking or they were obese, all risk factors for premature death.
Older people are more likely to live longer if they are able to maintain a sense of control over the role that is most important to them, said the authors. Those with feelings of control over their most important role were less likely to engage in unhealthy behavior and suffer a premature death than those who felt that they did not exercise much control over the role that was most important to them. Feeling of control over the second and third most important role did not appear to affect longevity.
I asked Dr. Krause if existing or chronic illness at the time of the initial survey seemed to be the reason for the loss of control. He felt that based on his results that illness did not impact the participant's initial feelings of control. Additionally he felt that a feeling of control was not a new phenomenon, but a feeling that those seniors had exhibited through their lives.
Implications To Seniors and Caregivers
The findings in this study seem to support the feelings of many health professionals that attitude can affect good health and longevity almost as much as any other factor in a person's life. Additionally caregivers should try to help seniors to maintain that control by allowing them as much independence as possible. Health professionals should recognize that each person is unique in what they value in life, and how much control they feel they have. They also need to realize that a senior who adopts any sort of destructive behavior may have suffered a loss that has affected their feelings of control.
Interventions can be targeted at helping the senior regain those feelings of control, or focusing on an additional role where they feel in control. For the senior who has had a role as primary caregiver to an ill spouse, the death of that spouse may spark feelings of losing control. Intervention would be aimed at helping the senior regain control in that role. Activities such as volunteering for hospice patients would be a great way to regain those feelings of control.
updated 11/11/05
