Late-Life Decline in Well-Being Across Adulthood in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States: Something Is Seriously Wrong at the End of Life

Throughout adulthood and old age, levels of well-being appear to remain relatively stable. However, evidence is emerging that late in life well-being declines considerably. Using long-term longitudinal data of deceased participants in national samples from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology and aging 2010-06, Vol.25 (2), p.477-485
Main Authors: Gerstorf, Denis, Ram, Nilam, Mayraz, Guy, Hidajat, Mira, Lindenberger, Ulman, Wagner, Gert G, Schupp, Jürgen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Adulthood
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Death
Death and Dying
Developmental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Germany
Health Status
Health Surveys
Human
Humans
Impending
Male
Middle Aged
Models, Psychological
Older people
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychosocial Factors
Psychosocial functioning
Quality of life
Quality of Life - psychology
United Kingdom
United States
Well Being
Wellbeing
Young Adult
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Summary:Throughout adulthood and old age, levels of well-being appear to remain relatively stable. However, evidence is emerging that late in life well-being declines considerably. Using long-term longitudinal data of deceased participants in national samples from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we examined how long this period lasts. In all 3 nations and across the adult age range, well-being was relatively stable over age but declined rapidly with impending death. Articulating notions of terminal decline associated with impending death, we identified prototypical transition points in each study between 3 and 5 years prior to death, after which normative rates of decline steepened by a factor of 3 or more. The findings suggest that mortality-related mechanisms drive late-life changes in well-being and highlight the need for further refinement of psychological concepts about how and when late-life declines in psychosocial functioning prototypically begin.
ISSN:0882-7974
1939-1498
DOI:10.1037/a0017543