Psychology and Aging · 2014 · 31 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesBehavioral SciencesPsychologyDevelopmental PsychologyGerontologyLifespan DevelopmentDepressionLate AdulthoodLater AdulthoodLongitudinal ResearchMental HealthWell-being In AdulthoodLatent Change ModelingLongitudinal Change AnalysisLongitudinal Latent Mean ChangeWell-beingWell-being In Older Adults
The authors examined longitudinal change in positive affect (PA), a component of subjective well-being. Positive affect was assessed with the PA subscale of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977) in a sample of individuals from the PAQUID cohort (n = 3,777; age 62-101 years, M = 75.46, SD = 6.91 at Wave 1) over a period of 22 years (10 waves of data). Latent growth curve modeling was used to assess change in PA. A quadratic latent growth curve was found to characterize the latent growth pattern of PA in our sample, indicating linear change before a decline phase. These results were discussed with reference to the well-being paradox.