In a study just published by researchers at
Chapman University, findings showed that greater life satisfaction in adults
older than 50 years of age is related to a reduced risk of mortality. The
researchers also found that variability in life satisfaction across time
increases risk of mortality, but only among less satisfied people. The study
involved nearly 4,500 participants who were followed for up to nine years.
'Although life satisfaction is typically
considered relatively consistent across time, it may change in response to life
circumstances such as divorce or unemployment,' said Julia Boehm, Ph.D.,
assistant professor of psychology at Chapman University. 'Some people may adapt
more readily to new situations and thus appear to have relatively stable life
satisfaction, and others may not adapt as quickly. If people repeatedly
encounter distressing life events that diminish their life satisfaction, then
fluctuations in lower levels of satisfaction seem to be particularly harmful
for longevity.'
In each year of the nine-year study, older men
and women responded to the question, 'All things considered, how satisfied are
you with your life?' Responses ranged from zero to 10, with 10 indicating
greater life satisfaction. The researchers assessed both average life
satisfaction across time and the variability in life satisfaction across time.
Other factors accounted for in the study included age, gender, education,
health conditions, smoking status, physical activity, and depressive symptoms.
Over the course of the study, the researchers
learned that as participants' life satisfaction increased, the risk of
mortality was reduced by 18 percent. By contrast, greater variability in life
satisfaction was associated with a 20 percent increased risk of mortality. In
combination, individuals with high levels of life satisfaction tended to have
reduced risk of mortality regardless of how their life satisfaction varied over
time.
'This is the first study to consider the effects
of life satisfaction on the risk of mortality when life satisfaction is
summarized across as many as nine repeated assessments,' Boehm said. 'Having
multiple assessments of life satisfaction also allowed us to examine how
variability in satisfaction across time might be related to longevity, which
has never been investigated before.'
Taken together, the findings from this study
suggest that fluctuating levels of life satisfaction matter for mortality risk
only when life satisfaction is also relatively low. Extreme variability in psychological
states is often associated with mental-health disorders, so considering the
variability in psychological characteristics can add insight into
health-related outcomes such as longevity.
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