The additive impact of multiple psychosocial protective factors on selected health outcomes among older adults

Our objective was to investigate the additive properties of five psychosocial protective factors: purpose-in life, resilience, optimism, internal locus of control and social connections. Self-reported psychological (depression, stress) and physical (health status, functionality) health outcomes and measured healthcare utilization and expenditures were included. The study sample was identified from adults age >65 who completed a health survey during May-June 2019 (N = 3,577). Each of the five protective factors was dichotomized as high/low (1/0) and counted with equal weighting. The protective factors were additive such that significant improvements in psychological and physical health outcomes were evident across factor subgroups: as the number of factors increased, health outcomes improved. The magnitude of the improvements was greatest between 0 and 1 factor. In addition, a significant linear trend for reduced healthcare expenditures ($1,356 reduction per factor added) was evident. Interventions promoting at least one protective factor would be beneficial for older adult populations. ? 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Automated summary

The study found that the five psychosocial protective factors (purpose-in life, resilience, optimism, internal locus of control, and social connections) have a positive impact on the psychological and physical health of older adults. As the number of these protective factors increases, health outcomes improve, with the greatest improvement observed between 0 and 1 factor. Additionally, there is a significant linear trend of reduced healthcare expenditures with an increase in protective factors.