Trajectories of Subjective Well-being and Ethnicity in Old Age

自20世纪50年代以来，主观幸福感（Subjective well-being， SWB）一直是心理学和社会老年学的核心课题。它是指人们对自己生活的评价，包括认知评价、积极影响和消极影响。从生命历程的角度，我们建议分析美国黑人、西班牙裔和白人在老年时期的主观幸福感。我们有四个具体目标：(a)定量描述从60岁至90年代主观幸福感的整体变化轨迹或年龄规范，(b)研究主观幸福感年龄规范的异质性，(c)评估心理资源（即控制和自尊）和生活环境（即社会关系、经济状况和健康状况）在影响主观幸福感年龄规范及其子轨迹方面的相对重要性，以及(d)分析直接、间接、种族对主观幸福感年龄规范和子轨迹的交互作用。为了实现上述具体目标，我们建议分析9项美国老年人纵向研究的数据。分析策略将包括多层次分析、聚类分析、多项逻辑分析和结构方程建模的组合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Subjective well-being (SWB) has been a core subject in psychological and social gerontology since the 1950's. It refers to people's evaluations of their lives, which involve cognitive assessment, positive affect, and negative affect. From a life course perspective, we propose to analyze how SWB unfolds in old age among black, Hispanic, and white Americans. We have four specific aims: (a) to depict quantitatively the overall trajectory or age norm of intrapersonal changes in SWB from age 60 up to the 90's, (b) to examine the heterogeneity underlying the age norm of SWB, (c) to assess the relative importance of psychological resources (i.e., control and self-esteem) and life circumstances (i.e., social relations, financial status, and health status) in influencing the age norms of SWB and their sub-trajectories, and (d) to analyze the direct, indirect, and interaction effects of ethnicity on the age norms and sub-trajectories of SWB. To accomplish the above specific aims, we propose to analyze data from nine longitudinal studies of older Americans. The analytical strategies will include a combination of multi-level analysis, cluster analysis, multinomial logit analysis, and structural equation modeling.