Primary and secondary control-enhancing strategies: implications for health in later life

The major goal of this article was to assess the link between control-enhancing strategies and health in an older population. In particular, the use of primary-control strategies, which involve modifying the environment (e.g., actively persisting) and compensatory secondary-control strategies, which involve modifying the self (e.g., expecting less of oneself) was studied.

Participants (n = 241) in a large-scale longitudinal study were interviewed to assess their use of strategies and their health.

Health (physical and perceived) was found to vary for those using primary- and compensatory secondary-control strategies; however, the nature of this variation depended on age.

The findings may indicate that primary-control strategies have positive health implications for the young-old but that these same strategies become detrimental to health in late life. The findings could further suggest that compensatory secondary-control strategies become increasingly more adaptive in late life.