engleski

Contribution of sociodemographic and psychological factors to survival in very old persons

Very old persons may be an important source of information on adaptive capacity in ageing, and its determinants. The aim of the presented research was to explore the associations and contribution of sociodemographic factors and psychological factors: family relationship, quality of life and subjective functioning, to the oldest-old persons’ survival in ten-years follow- up period (project HECUBA, HRZZ IP-01-2018-2497). Participants were 191 persons aged 80 to 97 years (on average 88 years), 73% women, residents of 13 retirement homes in Zagreb, Croatia. Questionnaire for the Oldest-Old was administered individually, as a structured interview, in 2008. The participants’ age of death was checked in 2018. Their average survival age was 92 years. The only significant gender difference was longer education in male participants. Longer survival correlated with greater number of children and better quality of life. The set of observed variables predicted 10% of the oldest-old survival variance, with greater number of children as a single significant predictor of all participants’ longer survival. In the subsample of women, 16.4% of the survival variance was predicted, with longer education and greater number of children significantly contributing to their longer survival. The findings suggest the need for further longitudinal research on the sociodemographic and psychological determinants of longevity, in order to improve the quality of life and the services for the growing number of very old persons.

oldest-old persons, longevity, quality of life, number of children, gender differences

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