Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2025
11:21
Methodology for Establishing a Community-Wide Life Laboratory for Capturing Unobtrusive and Continuous Remote Activity and Health Data
Published on: July 27, 2018
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Testing a Context-Enriched Model of Successful Aging in Multiple Large Data Infrastructures With Individuals in
Roman Kaspar1, Hans-Jörg Ehni2, Mark Schweda3
1Charlotte Fresenius Hochschule, University of Psychology, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The Gerontologist
|August 16, 2024
Summary
Successful aging (SA) is more than individual factors; context significantly impacts SA, especially in advanced old age. Optimizing community contexts is key for promoting SA in later life.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Sociology of Aging
- Public Health
Background:
- Few individuals aged 80+ meet traditional successful aging (SA) criteria.
- SA operates within multiple contexts, which become critical in advanced old age.
- Empirical investigation of contextual factors in SA for those 80+ is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To empirically test the influence of context on successful aging (SA) in individuals aged 80 and older.
- To compare SA prevalence using classic versus context-enriched models.
- To examine the stability of context-related SA over time.
Main Methods:
- Utilized large-scale surveys: D80+ (N=3,233) and NRW80+ (N=1,863).
- Estimated and compared SA prevalence based on individual criteria and context-enriched understanding.
- Investigated the 2-year stability of context-related SA criteria.
Main Results:
- SA prevalence (Rowe and Kahn criteria) was low (9.1% for 80-84, 0.7% for 90+).
- Context-enriched SA rates were substantially higher (54.9% for 80-84, 44.4% for 90+).
- Contextual criteria showed greater 2-year stability and stronger positive effects on SA in early advanced age.
Conclusions:
- Findings support a contextualized model of successful aging (SA).
- Policy interventions should focus on optimizing multiple community-level contexts.
- Enhancing SA in the fourth age necessitates environmental and social support optimization.
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