Measuring Adults' Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC)

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请寻求2年的资金，以开发一个可靠和有效的自我报告问卷，以评估中年和老年人的意识与健康相关的变化（AARC）。Diehl和Wahl（2010）将AARC定义为“所有那些使一个人意识到他或她的行为，表现水平或体验生活的方式随着年龄的增长而改变的经历（即，实足年龄）”（第340页）。发展和验证这一测量工具对于经验性地建立AARC概念以及在随后的研究中表明这一新概念具有超越传统的“主观老化”和“年龄同一性”概念的解释价值是必不可少的。因此，这项申请符合探索/发展补助金（R21）机制，该机制“旨在通过为这些项目的早期和概念阶段提供支持，鼓励探索和发展研究项目”（PA-10-069）。本研究的主要目的有三：1.建立测量成人AARC的问卷的项目库：这一目标建立在主要研究者过去三年所做的理论工作的基础上。这项工作在2008年获得了美国老年学协会颁发的社会老年学理论创新奖。主要研究员与AARC有关的经验工作现在集中于为多维问卷的第一版生成详尽的项目库。为了生成这样一个项目库，将对10个中老年人焦点小组进行调查，并从转录的焦点小组方案中提取问卷项目，从而生成问卷的初始版本。2.确定新问卷的心理测量学特性：将使用两个独立的成人样本确定AARC问卷的心理测量学特性。初始版本将提供给北方科罗拉多的400名中年和老年人（年龄范围40至90岁）的代表性样本。使用从该样本中获得的数据，可靠性（例如，内部一致性，重测信度）和有效性（例如，预测和收敛效度）将建立和表现不佳的项目 将被消除。然后，将向丹佛大都市区的600名中年和老年人的第二个代表性样本提供修订版的问卷。将进行额外的心理测量工作，以使用第二个样本的数据完善问卷。3.为了生成两种简短形式的问卷以用于不同的设置：使用来自两个样本的数据并应用项目反应理论（IRT），将创建10个项目和5个项目版本的问卷。这些简短的表格将被设计用于大规模调查，生态瞬时评估研究和实验室研究。这些简短的形式也非常适合在临床实践中使用。 公共卫生相关性：本申请提出了一个多维问卷的发展，以衡量成年人的意识与健康相关的变化（AARC）。从公共卫生的角度来看，这样的措施是相关的，因为成年人对衰老的自我感知是重要的现实生活结果的有力预测因素，如预防性健康行为和发病率。然而，到目前为止，还没有复杂的措施，以多方面的方式评估中年和老年人的AARC。这项新措施意义重大，因为它将丰富几个领域的健康相关研究，包括临床实践环境中的工作。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks 2 years of funding to develop a reliable and valid self-report questionnaire to assess middle-aged and older adults' Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC). Diehl and Wahl (2010) defined AARC as "all those experiences that make a person aware that his or her behavior, level of performance, or ways of experiencing life have changed as a consequence of having grown older (i.e., chronological age)" (p. 340). Developing and validating this measurement instrument is essential for establishing the AARC concept empirically and for showing in subsequent studies that this new concept has explanatory value beyond the traditional concepts of "subjective aging" and "age identity." Thus, this application is consistent with the Exploratory/ Developmental Grant (R21) mechanism which "is intended to encourage exploratory and developmental research projects by providing support for the early and conceptual stages of these projects" (PA-10-069). The proposed project has three specific aims: 1.To develop the item pool for the questionnaire measuring adults' AARC: This aim builds on the theoretical work that the Principal Investigator has done over the past 3 years. This work was recognized in 2008 by an award from the Gerontological Society of America for theoretical innovation in social gerontology. The Principal Investigator's empirical work related to AARC is now focused on the generation of an exhaustive item pool for a first version of a multi-dimensional questionnaire. To generate such an item pool, 10 focus groups with middle-aged and older adults will be conducted and questionnaire items will be derived from the transcribed focus group protocols, resulting in an initial version of the questionnaire. 2. To establish the psychometric properties of the new questionnaire: The psychometric properties of the AARC questionnaire will be established using two independent samples of adults. The initial version will be given to a representative sample of 400 middle-aged and older adults (age range 40 to 90 years) in Northern Colorado. Using the data obtained from this sample, reliability (e.g., internal consistency, test-retest reliability) ad validity (e.g., predictive and convergent validity) will be established and poorly performing items will be eliminated. The revised version of the questionnaire will then be given to a second representative sample of 600 middle-aged and older adults in the Denver metropolitan area. Additional psychometric work will be performed to refine the questionnaire using the data from this second sample. 3. To generate two short forms of the questionnaire for use in different settings: Using the data from both samples and applying Item Response Theory (IRT), a ten-item and a five-item version of the questionnaire will be created. These short forms will be designed for possible use in large-scale surveys, ecological momentary assessment studies, and laboratory-based studies. These short forms are also highly desirable for use in clinical practice. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This application proposes the development of a multidimensional questionnaire to measure adults' Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC). Having such a measure is relevant from a public health perspective because adults' self-perceptions of aging are powerful predictors of important real-life outcomes, such as preventive health behaviors and morbidity. Yet, to date there are no sophisticated measures available that assess middle-aged and older adults' AARC in a multidimensional way. The new measure is significant because it would enrich health-related research in several areas, including work in clinical practice settings.