WEDNESDAY, Jan. 18, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Feelings of closeness with loved ones and active lives are providing a majority of American seniors with the sense that they're aging successfully, a new study finds.
Ninety-two percent of the 205 older, community-living adults (age 60 and above) in the California study rated themselves as aging successfully. However, contrary to expectations, their feelings of successful aging weren't related to age, ethnicity, level of education, martial status, or income, the study authors found.
Instead, having close friends, participation in activities, visiting with family and spending time reading and listening to the radio were what made these people feel they were aging successfully.
"As Americans look forward to longer life expectancies, defining healthy aging through the eyes of older adults will serve to enhance the overall health of the community by allowing us to develop programs and offer resources to help older Americans lead quality lifestyles," study lead author Dr. Dilip Jeste, director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research in Aging at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.
The study appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about healthy aging.
