Abstract

The ability to savor positive life events is associated with higher emotional well-being; however, few studies have examined savoring ability in older adults. The present study used a longitudinal design to examine changes in perceived savoring abilities and associations with perceived health in older adulthood. Older adults (N=131) reported on beliefs about savoring and perceived health at baseline and 2½ years later. Perceived anticipation (savoring the future) and reminiscing (savoring the past) abilities declined from baseline to follow-up. Better perceived health at baseline predicted greater perceived reminiscing and anticipation abilities at follow-up. Greater perceived ability to savor the present moment at baseline predicted better perceived health at follow-up. Aging and poorer health focus older adults’ thoughts on present-moment pleasures, which may benefit health, but may also lead to reductions in perceived anticipation and reminiscing abilities.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-15-2017

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Personality and Individual Differences, v. 105, p. 164-169.

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This manuscript version is made available under the CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

The document available for download is the author's post-peer-review final draft of the article.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.09.049

Funding Information

This research was supported by the Dana Foundation and the National Institute of Aging (AG026307-R01, AG033629-K02, AG028383-P30, AG048697-F31).

Related Content

Refer to Web version on PubMed Central for supplementary material.

Additional Files
NIHMS820577-supplement.docx (71 kB)
Supplementary Material
Download

Additional files available below

Share

COinS