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Positive mental health moderates the association between PTSD symptoms and subjective accelerated aging among older adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2020

Yuval Palgi Open the ORCID record for Yuval Palgi [Opens in a new window]
Yuval Palgi*
Affiliation:
Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Yuval Palgi, Department of Gerontology and the Center for Research and Study of Aging, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave. Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel. Phone: +972-54-6685805. Email: ypalgi@research.haifa.ac.il.
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Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are known for predicting accelerated aging. However, it has not been examined whether individuals are subjectively aware of this process. The present study examined whether PTSD symptoms predict subjective accelerated aging and whether positive mental health status moderates this relationship. One hundred and thirty-two community-dwelling older adults (M = 66.85, SD = 9.13) who were sampled through random dialing of Jewish residents in the south of Israel completed the questionnaire twice: At Wave 1 after the flare-up of an Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and at Wave 2, a year later. Participants reported their PTSD symptoms, positive mental health, and on their subjective accelerated aging a year later. Higher levels of PTSD symptoms and lower levels of positive mental health were separately related to increased subjective accelerated aging. Participants with a lower level of positive mental health demonstrated a stronger association between PTSD symptoms and subjective accelerated aging. These findings emphasize that individuals who suffer from higher levels of PTSD symptoms and specifically those with lower levels of positive mental health status tend to feel they are aging faster. This finding adds to previous research suggesting that alongside the physiological process of accelerated aging there is also a subjective similar process.

Keywords

posttraumatic stress symptomsongoing traumatic eventsviews on agingsubjective weathering hypothesismental-health-continuum
Type
Brief Report
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 32 , Issue 7: Issue Theme: Sleep and Sleep Disorders in Older Adults , July 2020 , pp. 885 - 889
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2020

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