Self and Health: Factors That Encourage Self-Esteem and Functional Health

Objectives. We are interested in whether functional health enhances self-esteem, as well as whether self-esteem, worker, parent, and friend identities are related to changes in functional health over a 2-year period of study. Methods. Data were collected in 1992 and 1994 from 737 older workers livin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2006-01, Vol.61 (1), p.S44-S51
Main Authors: Reitzes, Donald C., Mutran, Elizabeth J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Confidence
Discriminant analysis
Female
Health
Health Status
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Older people
Self Concept
Self Esteem
Self image
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Summary:Objectives. We are interested in whether functional health enhances self-esteem, as well as whether self-esteem, worker, parent, and friend identities are related to changes in functional health over a 2-year period of study. Methods. Data were collected in 1992 and 1994 from 737 older workers living in a North Carolina metropolitan area. Functional health is derived from questions asking respondents about their difficulties performing seven activities. We use Rosenberg's (1965) 10-item scale to tap self-esteem, and identities are measured with 10 adjective pairs that cover being competent, confident, and sociable as a worker, parent, and friend. Results. Several findings are of interest. Better functional health is associated with greater self-esteem over 2 years, and self-esteem is positively related to changes in functional health. In addition, worker identity and some social background factors are associated with positive changes in self-esteem. Discussion. The findings suggest that good health may contribute to positive self assessments, but also the less well-studied expectation that self processes are associated with positive changes in health. Individuals may be motivated by their desire to affirm a sense of self-worth and positive identities to maintain and improve their physical health.
ISSN:1079-5014
1758-5368
DOI:10.1093/geronb/61.1.S44