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Cohort comparisons: emotional well-being among adolescents and older adults
Authors Momtaz Y, Hamid T, Ibrahim R
Received 30 January 2014
Accepted for publication 27 February 2014
Published 10 May 2014 Volume 2014:9 Pages 813—819
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S61636
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single-blind
Peer reviewer comments 2
Yadollah Abolfathi Momtaz,1 Tengku Aizan Hamid,1,2 Rahimah Ibrahim1,2
1Institute of Gerontology, 2Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Background: There are several negative stereotypes about older adults that have negatively influenced people's attitude about aging. The present study compared emotional well-being between older adults and adolescents.
Methods: Data for this study came from 1,403 community-dwelling elderly persons and 1,190 secondary school students and were obtained from two national cross-sectional surveys. Emotional well-being was measured using the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index. Data analysis was conducted using a multivariate analysis of covariance with SPSS software version 20 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA).
Results: Elderly people significantly scored higher levels of emotional well-being (mean, 62.3; standard deviation, 22.55) than younger people (mean, 57.9; standard deviation, 18.46; t, 5.32; P≤0.001). The findings from the multivariate analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between older adults and younger people in emotional well-being [F(3, 2587)=120.21; P≤0.001; η2=0.122] after controlling for sex.
Conclusion: Contrary to negative stereotypes about aging, our findings show a higher level of emotional well-being among older adults compared with younger people.
Keywords: aged, ageism, emotional well-being, positive aging
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