The Role of Self-Efficacy in the Variation of Health Outcomes Late in Life

Abstract

As the population of the United States ages, variation in late-life health and wellbeing outcomes have become an increasingly popular and necessary area of scientific exploration. Previous research has identified ageism (Levy et al., 2000) and perceived age discrimination (Han & Richardson, 2015; Marquet et al., 2019) as factors that negatively impact outcomes for older adults. Further, as conceptualized through the Stereotype Embodiment Theory (Levy, 2009), self-perceptions of aging have been found to mediate the influence of perceived age discrimination on health outcomes. Individuals from stigmatized groups have a physiological reaction (i.e., a stress response) to negative age stereotypes (Levy et al., 2000) and other forms of discrimination (Lui & Quezada, 2019). Therefore, analyzing the Stereotype Embodiment Theory and Transactional Model of Stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987) in combination allows one to consider the variation of aging outcomes as subject to individual factors involved in stress appraisal and coping. The current study utilized public data from 676 older adults who participated in two waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2012; 2016). First, conditional process analysis was employed to confirm self-perceptions of aging as a mediator between perceived age discrimination and outcomes. Next, the potential protective effects of self-efficacy in the stress appraisal process were explored. Results confirmed the indirect effect of perceived age discrimination on health outcomes and life satisfaction through self-perceptions of aging.

However, the analysis did not provide evidence for self-efficacy’s moderating effect on the relationship between perceived age discrimination and self-perceptions of aging. This study provides additional support for the Stereotype Embodiment Theory and offers individual differences in stress appraisal as an explanation for variation in late-life wellness.