Associations of awareness of age-related change with emotional and physical well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis
This systematic review aimed to synthesize and quantify the associations of awareness of age-related change (AARC) with emotional well-being, physical well-being, and cognitive functioning.
We conducted a systematic review with a correlational random effects meta-analysis. We included quantitative studies, published from January 1, 2009 to October 3, 2018, exploring associations between AARC and one or more of the following outcomes: emotional well-being, physical well-being, and cognitive functioning. We assessed heterogeneity (I2) and publication bias.
We included 12 studies in the review, 9 exploring the association between AARC and emotional well-being and 11 exploring the association between AARC and physical well-being. No study explored the association between AARC and cognitive functioning. Six articles were included in the meta-analysis. We found a moderate association between a higher level of AARC gains and better emotional well-being (r = .33; 95% CI 0.18, 0.47; p <.001; I2 = 76.01) and between a higher level of AARC losses and poorer emotional (r = −.31; 95% CI −0.38, −0.24; p < .001; I2 = 0.00) and physical well-being (r = −.38; 95% CI −0.51, −0.24; p < .001; I2 = 83.48). We found a negligible association between AARC gains and physical well-being (r = .08; 95% CI 0.02, 0.14; p < .122; I2 = 0.00). Studies were of medium to high methodological quality.
There is some indication that AARC gains and losses can play a role in emotional well-being and that AARC losses are associated with physical well-being. However, the number of included studies is limited and there was some indication of heterogeneity.
CRD42018111472.
History
Publication title
The GerontologistVolume
60Issue
6Pagination
e477-e490ISSN
0016-9013Department/School
Wicking Dementia Research Education CentrePublisher
Gerontological Society AmerPlace of publication
1275 K Street Nw Suite 350, Washington, USA, Dc, 20005-4006Rights statement
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Repository Status
- Open