Physical and mental decline and yet rather happy? A study of Danes aged 45 and older.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Little is known about whether the feeling of happiness follows the age-related
decline in physical and mental functioning. The objective of this study was to analyze
differences with age in physical and mental functions and in the feeling of happiness
among Danes aged 45 years and older. METHOD: Three Danish population-based surveys
including 11,307 participants aged 45+ years, of whom 2411 were in the age group of
90+, were conducted in the period 1995-2001. The participation rate in the three surveys
was between 63% and 82% and the same design and the same instrument were used. Self-reported
mobility, a cognitive composite score, and a depression symptomatology score including
a question about happiness were assessed. T-score metric was used to compare across
domains and age groups. RESULTS: Overall, successively older age groups performed
worse than the youngest age group (45-49 years), and the estimated linear decline
was greater after age 70 than before age 70. For example, when comparing the oldest
age group (90+ years) with the youngest, the T-score differences were found to be
the largest for the mobility score (men: 40.2, women: 41.4), followed by the cognitive
function (men: 22.0, women: 24.9), and the total depression symptomatology score (men:
15.5, women: 17.4). Conversely, the T-score difference in happiness was small (men:
5.6, women: 6.0). CONCLUSION: Despite markedly poorer physical and mental functions
with increasing age, in this Danish sample age did not seem to affect happiness to
a similarly notable extent, although, in this study, cohort and age effects cannot
be disentangled.
Type
Journal articleSubject
agingcognitive composite score
depression symptomatology
happiness
mobility
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Cognition
Cohort Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Denmark
Depression
Female
Happiness
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Motor Activity
Surveys and Questionnaires
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14672Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1080/13607863.2014.944089Publication Info
Vestergaard, Sonja; Thinggaard, Mikael; Jeune, Bernard; Vaupel, James W; McGue, Matt;
& Christensen, Kaare (2015). Physical and mental decline and yet rather happy? A study of Danes aged 45 and older.
Aging Ment Health, 19(5). pp. 400-408. 10.1080/13607863.2014.944089. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14672.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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James Walton Vaupel
Research Professor Emeritus in the Sanford School of Public Policy
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