Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-dwq4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T02:29:00.205Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Customary Physical Activity, Psychological Well-being and Successful Ageing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Kevin Morgan ,
Helen Dalleosso ,
E. Joan Bassey ,
Shan Ebrahim ,
P. H. Fentem  and
T. H. D. Aire
T. H. D. Aire
Affiliation:
Department of Health Care of the Elderly, and Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Profiles of customary physical activity (CPA) and psychological wellbeing were obtained from a random community sample of 1,042 individuals aged 65 years and over. Activities were assessed with regard to their estimated minimum energy cost and/or their assumed contribution to functional capacity. The structure of CPA, and associations between activity levels, morale and mental health were then investigated. Women and men showed clear differences in the organisation of their activity patterns, and these differences were reflected in activity–affect relationships. For men, factor scores derived from the first principal component of CPA emerged as significant, though modest, predictors of well-being in regression and discriminant analyses. For women, however, activity factor scores failed significantly to predict levels of morale or mental health when medical and demographic factors were controlled. The results indicate that, among the present cohort of retired and elderly people, relationships between customary physical activity levels and psychological well-being are weak, indirect and gender-specific.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 1991 , pp. 399 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baltes, M. M., Wahl, H.-W. and Schmid-Furstoss, U. 1990. The daily life of elderly Germans: activity patterns, personal control, and functional health. Journal of Gerontology, 45, 173–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bassey, E. J. B., Dudley, B. R. and Harries, U. J. 1986. A new portable strain-gauged hand-grip dynamometer. Journal of Physiology, 373, 6P.Google Scholar
Bassey, E.J., Morgan, K., Dallosso, H. M. and Ebrahim, S. B. J. 1989. Flexibility of the shoulder joint measured as range of abduction in a large representative sample of men and women over 65 years of age. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 55, 353–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassey, E. J., Patrick, J. M., Irving, J. M., Blecher, A. and Fentem, P. H. 1983. An unsupervised ‘aerobics’ physical training programme in middle aged factory workers: feasibility, validation and response. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 52, 120–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bedford, A., Foulds, G. A. and Sheffield, B. F. 1976. A new personal disturbance scale: DSSI/Sad. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 387–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carp, F. M. 1990. Leisure activities of retired persons in the United States: comparisons with retired persons in the People's Republic of China. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 31, 45–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dallosso, H. M., Morgan, K., Bassey, E. J., Ebrahim, S. B. J., Fentem, P. H. and Arie, T. H. D. 1988. Levels of customary physical activity among the old and the very old living at home. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 42, 121–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, C. T. M. and Knibbs, A. V. 1971. The training stimulus: the effect of intensity, duration and frequency of effort on maximum aerobic power output. Internationale Zeitschrift für Angewandte Physiologic einschliesslich Arbeitsphysiologie, 29, 299–305.Google ScholarPubMed
Folkins, C. H. and Sime, W. E. 1981. Physical fitness training and mental health. American Psychologist, 36, 373–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
George, L. K. 1978. The impact of personality and social status factors upon levels of activity and psychological well-being. Journal of Gerontology, 33, 840–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gray, J. A. M. 1985. Education for health in old age. In Gray, J. A. M., (ed.), Prevention of Disease in the Elderly, 214–25. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Hughes, J. R. 1984. Psychological effects of habitual aerobic exercise: a critical review. Preventive Medicine, 13, 66–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larson, R. 1978. Thirty years of research on the subjective well-being of older Americans. Journal of Gerontology, 33, 109–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lemon, B. W., Bengston, V. L. and Peterson, J. A. 1972. An exploration of the activity theory of aging: activity types and life satisfaction among in-movers to a retirement community. Journal of Gerontology, 27, 511–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, K., Dellosso, H. M. and Ebrahim, S. B. J. 1985. A brief self-report scale for assessing personal engagement in the elderly: reliability and validity. In Butler, A. (ed.), Ageing: Recent Advances and Creative Responses, pp. 298–304. Croom Helm, London.Google Scholar
Morgan, K., Dallosso, H. M., Arie, T., Byrne, E. J., Jones, R. and Waite, J. 1987. Mental health and psychological well-being among the old and the very old living at home. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 801–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neugarten, B. L., Havighurst, R.J. and Tobin, S. S. 1961. The measurement of life satisfaction. Journal of Gerontology, 16, 134–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Brien, S. J. and Vertinsky, P. A. 1991. Unfit survivors: exercise as a resource for aging women. Gerontologist, 31, 347–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pohjolainen, P. 1991. Social participation and life-style: a longitudinal and cohort study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 6, 109–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shephard, R. J. and Montelpare, W. 1988. Geriatric benefits of exercise as an adult. Journal of Gerontology, 43, M86–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veale, D. M. W. de C. 1987. Exercise and mental health. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 76, 113–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, V., Wylie, M. and Sheafor, B. 1966. An analysis of a short self-report measure of life-satisfaction: correlation with later judgement. The Gerontologist, 6, 31 (abstract).Google Scholar