Types of Adversity, Perceived Stressfulness and Resilience in Older Men and Women

We investigated stressful adversities older adults face, examined whether older men and women experience them differently, assessed the stressfulness of these events and studied their relationship to resilience-the ability to overcome adversity. This cross-sectional study included 1179 respondents from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, born between 1934 and 1944. At a mean age of 75 years, respondents reported the most stressful adversity in the past five years, its perceived stressfulness and resilience using the Hardy-Gill resilience scale. Adversities were coded using a qualitative content analysis. General linear modelling was used to examine the relationship between perceived stressfulness and resilience across types of adversity. We identified ten types of highly stressful adversities, with the five most common being personal illness (23.6%), illness (17.6%) or death (15.8%) of a close relative, relationship adversity (12.7%) and adversity related to living situations (8.6%). 4.8% of participants experienced ageing-related changes as the most stressful adversities. Reported adversities were generally perceived as highly stressful, while resilience scores were intermediate. Men reported more self-related adversity, perceived these as less stressful and showed better coping (a higher mean resilience scale score) than women after a highly stressful adversity. The identified highly stressful adversities included two previously unreported types related to the ageing process: 'having to give up…' (e.g., driving) and 'health/functional decline'. Although the reported adversities were highly stressful, respondents coped well, suggesting a good capacity to manage adversity in later life.