Life changes, coping resources, and health among the elderly

In the last several years, a host of studies have shown a relationship between life change and deterioration in health status. This relationship, however, appears to be modest, and investigators have recently become interested in the coping resources, or buffers, that enable some individuals to encounter significant life change with little or no apparent negative changes in their health. Using samples consisting largely of young and middle-aged persons, studies have shown that the presence of a confidant, social network involvement, marital status, feelings of esteem and confidence, occupational status, and income can act as buffers against the potentially stressful effects of life change. The present study examines the extent to which these factors serve as coping resources for a sample of elderly individuals. With the exception of income, the results suggest that not only do these variables fail to serve as buffers against life change for the aged, but some of them appear to function as coping inhibitors, operating to exacerbate the deleterious consequences of life change.