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Do hassles and uplifts trajectories predict mortality? Longitudinal findings from the VA Normative Aging Study

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Abstract

We examined whether longitudinal patterns of hassles and uplifts trajectories predicted mortality, using a sample of 1315 men from the VA Normative Aging Study (mean age = 65.31, SD = 7.6). In prior work, we identified different trajectory classes of hassles and uplifts exposure and intensity scores over a period of 16 years. In this study, we used the probabilities of these exposure and intensity class memberships to examine their ability to predict mortality. Men with higher probabilities of high hassle intensity trajectory class and high uplift intensity class had higher mortality risks. In a model combining the probabilities of hassle and uplift intensities, the probability of high intensity hassle class membership significantly increased the risk of mortality. This suggests that appraisals of hassles intensity are better predictors of mortality than simple exposure measures, and that uplifts have no independent effects.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by NIH Grants R01 AG032037, AG002287, and AG018436, as well as a Merit Review and a Senior Research Career Scientist Award from the CSR&D Service, US Department of Veterans Affairs. The NAS is a research component of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC) and is supported by VA CSP/ERIC. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. This study was also supported by research funds of Chonbuk National University in 2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Studies, College of Human Ecology, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daeroh, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea

    Yu-Jin Jeong & Heidi Igarashi

  2. Program in Human Development and Family Sciences, School of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, Oregon State University, 424 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Carolyn M. Aldwin

  3. VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA

    Avron Spiro III

  4. Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Avron Spiro III

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  1. Yu-Jin Jeong
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  2. Carolyn M. Aldwin
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  4. Avron Spiro III
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Correspondence to Carolyn M. Aldwin.

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Authors Yu-Jin Jeong, Carolyn M. Aldwin, Heidi Igarashi, and Avron Spiro III declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

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Jeong, YJ., Aldwin, C.M., Igarashi, H. et al. Do hassles and uplifts trajectories predict mortality? Longitudinal findings from the VA Normative Aging Study. J Behav Med 39, 408–419 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-015-9703-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-015-9703-9

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