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Psychological Theories on Health and Aging

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

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Synonyms

Healthy aging; Psychological adjustment; Psychological concepts

Definition

Psychological Theories on Health and Aging refer to approaches that explain how healthy aging can be promoted and how diseases can be prevented or delayed. They provide starting points for interventions to support adaptation to health-related changes that become more and more prevalent in later life.

Introduction

Since the mid-twentieth century, the world population has experienced a significant increase in life expectancy and in the proportion of older adults in the total population. Population aging is essentially driven by increasing longevity and reflects that more people will survive to the oldest ages (United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Population Division 2013). A general and global increase in average life expectancy implies the question of whether these additional years will be spent in good health and highlights that the understanding of health in old age needs to be...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychogerontology, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen, Kobergerstrasse 62, 90408, Nürnberg (FAU), Germany

    Susanne Wurm

  2. Division of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 30, 7001, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    Benjamin Schüz

Authors
  1. Susanne Wurm
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  2. Benjamin Schüz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susanne Wurm .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

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Wurm, S., Schüz, B. (2017). Psychological Theories on Health and Aging. In: Pachana, N.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-082-7_134

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