Aging Anxiety and Related Factors of Middle-Aged Adults

Soon-Rim Suh; Hee-Jung Choi

doi:10.7475/KJAN.2013.25.4.464

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Suh and Choi: Aging Anxiety and Related Factors of Middle-Aged Adults

Original Research

Korean J Adult Nurs 2013;25(4):464-472.

Published online: 18 August 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7475/KJAN.2013.25.4.464

Aging Anxiety and Related Factors of Middle-Aged Adults

Soon-Rim Suh¹, Hee-Jung Choi^2,

^¹College of Nursing, Kyungpook National University, Daegue

^²Department of Nursing, Kaya University, Gimhae, Korea

Corresponding author: Choi, Hee-Jung Department of Nursing, Kaya University, 60 Samgye-dong, Gimhae 700-422, Korea. Tel: +82-55-330-1187, Fax: +82-55-330-1142, E-mail: daunhj@hanmail.net

Received 26 April 201314 July 2013 Accepted 19 August 2013

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify aging anxiety and influencing factors of middle-aged adults.

Methods

Descriptive correlation design was used. Three hundred and three middle-aged adults participated in the study and completed the questionnaires in the period from September 11 to October 15 of 2011. The data was analyzed using independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchial multiple regression analysis.

Results

Aging anxiety of middle-aged adults was higher than a moderate level. Socio-demographic variables such as age, religion, education, economic level, perceived health status and experience of living with older adults influenced significantly on aging anxiety. In contrast, general self-efficacy, aging knowledge and attitude toward older adults were negatively correlated with aging anxiety. Hierarchial multiple regression analysis incorporating these variables showed an explanation rate of aging anxiety at 21%. And religion, perceived health status, attitude toward older adults, and general self-efficacy were statistically significant among variables that influence on aging anxiety.

Conclusion

The findings of this study suggest that senior preparation programs that can enhance self-efficacy, induce positive attitude on older adults and promote health should be implemented to reduce aging anxiety of middle-aged adults.

Keywords: Aging anxiety, Knowledge, Attitude, Self-efficacy, Middle-aged

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Table 1.

General Characteristics of Participants. (N=303)

Characteristics	Categories	n (%)
Gender	Male	124 (40.9)
Gender	Female	179 (59.1)
Age (year)	40~49	172 (56.8)
Age (year)	50~59	131 (43.2)
Marital status	Married	286 (94.4)
	Widowed, divorce or	17 (5.6)
	other
Religion	Protestant	33 (10.9)
	Catholic	29 (9.6)
	Buddhist	133 (43.9)
	No affiliation	103 (34.0)
	Other	5 (1.6)
Education	≤Middle school	32 (10.6)
	High school	173 (57.1)
	≥College	98 (32.3)
Occupation	Yes	232 (76.6)
Occupation	No	71 (23.4)
Monthly income (10,000 won)	≤100	10 (3.3)
	100~＜250	79 26.1)
	250~＜400	119 (39.3)
	400~＜550	51 (16.8)
	≥550	44 (14.5)
Economic Status	Low	88 (29.0)
	Medium	168 (55.4)
	High	47 (15.6)
Perceived health status	Bad	21 (6.9)
	Fair	156 (51.5)
	Good	126 (41.6)
Experience of living with older adults	Yes	170 (56.1)
Experience of living with older adults	No	133 (43.9)

Table 2.

Correlation between Knowledge on Aging, Attitude toward Older Adults, Self-efficacy and Aging Anxiety. (N=303)

Variables	M±SD	1	2	3
Variables	M±SD	r (p)	r (p)	r (p)
1. Knowledge on aging	13.15±3.87
2. Attitude toward older adults	63.90±7.95	.17 (0.003)
3. General self-efficacy	27.68±5.02	.12 (0.037)	.31 (＜.001)
4. Aging anxiety	59.54±7.42	-.18 (＜.001)	-.30 (＜.001)	-.35 (＜.001)

Table 3.

Aging Anxiety according to General Characteristics of Participants. (N=303)

Characteristics	Categories	Aging anxiety
Characteristics	Categories	M±SD	F or t (p)	Scheffé
Gender	Male	58.89±7.67	0.01 (.946)
Gender	Female	59.99±7.23	0.01 (.946)
Age (year)	40~49	59.10±7.90	5.46 (.020)
Age (year)	50~59	60.11±6.73	5.46 (.020)
Marital status	Married	59.36±7.44	2.94 (.087)
Marital status	Widowed, divorce or other	62.53±6.55	2.94 (.087)
Religion	Protestant	57.09±9.44	2.65 (.033)
	Catholic	56.72±8.78
	Buddhist	59.92±6.61
	No affiliation	60.50±7.12
	Other	62.00±5.43
Education	≤Middle school	59.97±6.91	4.81 (.009)
	High school	60.52±6.47
	≥College	57.66±8.77
Occupation	Yes	58.89±7.60	0.68 (.409)
Occupation	No	61.66±6.43	0.68 (.409)
Monthly income (10,000 won)	≤100^a	62.50±6.15	4.26 (.002)	a＞b
	100~＜250	61.35±6.17
	250~＜400	59.78±6.72
	400~＜550	58.43±8.29
	≥550^b	56.23±9.24
Economic status	Low^a	64.33±4.32	11.33 (＜.001)	a, b＞c
	Medium^b	60.54±7.14
	High^c	57.49±7.59
Perceived health status	bad^a	64.33±4.32	11.33 (＜.001)	a＞b, c
	Fair^b	60.54±7.14
	Good^c	57.49±7.59
Experience of living with older adults	Yes	59.70±6.81	7.73 (.006)
Experience of living with older adults	No	59.50±8.12	7.73 (.006)

a, b, c: group for Scheffé test.

Table 4.

Factors Influencing on Aging Anxiety. (N=303)

Variable	Mode II				Model II
Variable	B	SE	β	t (p)	B	SE	β	t (p)
Age^a
50~59 years	0.36	0.83	.02	0.43 (.668)	-0.04	0.80	-.01	-0.05 (.959)
Religion^b
No religion	1.67	0.86	.11	1.96 (.051)	1.75	0.81	.11	2.16 (.031)
Education	-0.62	0.70	-.05	-0.88 (.379)	-0.38	0.67	-.03	-0.57 (.570)
Monthly income	-0.93	0.44	-.13	-2.11 (.364)	-0.61	0.42	-.09	-1.46 (.146)
Economic status	-1.28	0.70	-.11	-1.82 (.069)	-1.08	0.67	-.10	-1.61 (.108)
Perceived health status	-2.55	0.70	-.21	-3.65 (＜.001)	-1.80	0.68	-.15	-2.66 (.008)
Experience of living with OA^c
No experience of living with OA	-0.51	0.82	-.03	-0.62 (.537)	-1.00	0.78	-.07	-1.29 (.199)
Knowledge on aging					-0.12	0.10	-.06	-1.17 (.244)
Attitude toward older adults					-0.20	0.05	-.22	-3.89 (＜.001)
General self-efficacy					-0.28	0.08	-.19	-3.34 (.001)
	R²=.13, Adj. R²=.11, F=6.39, p＜.001				R²=.23, Adj. R²=.21, F=9.17, p＜.001

OA=older adults. a=Dummy coded (40~49 years=1, 50~59 years=2); b=Dummy coded (yes=1, no=0), c=Dummy coded (yes=1, no=0).

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