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“Gray Hair is a Crown of Glory”: A Multivariate Analysis of Wellness, Resilience, and Internalized Ageism in Older Adulthood

Fullen, Matthew Christopher

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Educational Studies.
The purpose of this study was to examine older adults’ wellness and resilience, identify whether these constructs were related to perceptions about older adulthood, and juxtapose a wellness and resilience paradigm of aging against models that focus on the biomedical aspects of aging. The study used descriptive and multivariate analyses to examine data collected from a sample of individuals ages 56 to 97 who were residing in age-restricted, independent living housing communities across Franklin County (N = 200). The analyses revealed numerous statistically significant relationships among the study variables. Group differences revealed that older members of the sample had higher levels of wellness (p = .01) and resilience (p = .001), and those who indicated self-rated depression symptoms had lower levels of wellness, resilience, and positive age perception, along with higher levels of internalized ageism (p < .01). Regression analyses revealed that resilience (p < .01) and physical wellness (diet and exercise) (p < .01) were predictors of total age perception; resilience (p = .01) and total wellness (p < .001) were significant predictors of positive self-perceptions of aging; and physical wellness (diet and exercise) (p < .01) and age (p < .01) were significant predictors of internalized ageism. Additional analysis revealed that the effect for age was conditional upon resilience level, in which individuals 75 years and older with low levels of resilience were far more likely to experience internalized ageism. Additionally, a discriminatory analysis revealed that the ability to cope and resilience had the strongest association with whether or not individuals rated themselves as suffering from depression symptoms. Exploratory analyses also revealed that wellness explained a far greater share of variance in happiness, life satisfaction, and self-rated physical health than whether individuals met the traditional biomedical criteria for successful aging. The results of this study provide empirical support for the relationship between wellness, resilience, and age perception, suggesting that holistic, strengths-oriented models of aging may be needed to complement biomedical, pathogenic conceptualizations of the aging process.
Darcy Haag Granello (Advisor)
Paul Granello (Committee Member)
Virginia Richardson (Committee Member)
362 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fullen, M. C. (2016). “Gray Hair is a Crown of Glory”: A Multivariate Analysis of Wellness, Resilience, and Internalized Ageism in Older Adulthood [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1477987561803291

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fullen, Matthew. “Gray Hair is a Crown of Glory”: A Multivariate Analysis of Wellness, Resilience, and Internalized Ageism in Older Adulthood. 2016. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1477987561803291.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fullen, Matthew. " “Gray Hair is a Crown of Glory”: A Multivariate Analysis of Wellness, Resilience, and Internalized Ageism in Older Adulthood." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1477987561803291

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)