Psychological Resilience Protects Against Earlier Death in Older Adults

THURSDAY, Sept. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Psychological resilience protects against all-cause mortality in older adults, according to a study published online Sept. 3 in BMJ Mental Health.

Aijie Zhang, from the School of Public Health (Shenzhen) at Sun Yat-sen University in China, and colleagues used data from 10,569 participants (aged 50 years and older) in the Health and Retirement Study (2006 to 2008) to explore the association between psychological resilience and all-cause mortality.

The researchers observed an almost linear association between psychological resilience and mortality risk. When adjusting for attained age, sex, race, and body mass index, higher levels of psychological resilience were associated with a lower risk for all-cause mortality in models (hazard ratio, 0.750 per one standard deviation increase in psychological resilience). After further adjusting for self-reported diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and hypertension, the association persisted (hazard ratio, 0.786), as well as when accounting for smoking and other health-related behaviors (hazard ratio, 0.813).

“Various factors, including but not limited to, meaning in life, positive emotions, self-rated health and satisfaction with social support, have been identified as potential influences on psychological resilience,” the authors write. “Triggering these positive emotions may enhance the protective effects of psychological resilience and mitigate the negative impact of accumulated adversity on mental health in adults.”

Abstract/Full Text