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Earlier Traumatic Experiences Damage Health of
Senior Citizens
Dec. 13, 2004 Traumatic experiences, like the
death of a spouse or child, that are experienced before age 65 appear to
cause damage to the health of people as the move past age 65. The damage
appears to be worse, say researchers, if the traumas occurred in
adulthood than if during childhood.
Cumulative trauma during a persons lifetime can
have an overall effect on health in ones later years, according to this
study that examines the consequences of traumatic events on older
adults physical health.
Also, traumas experienced in adulthood compared to
traumas experienced in childhood appear to cause more damage to an older
persons (65 and older) health, say researchers of a new study reported
on in the December issue of Psychology and Aging published by the
American Psychological Association (APA). Traumas are distinguished from
other types of stressful life events by their seriousness, like
experiencing a serious or life threatening illness, witnessing a violent
crime or being in combat.
In a study of 1,518 older adults from a nationwide
survey, researchers Neal Krause, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan,
Benjamin A. Shaw, Ph.D., of the University of Albany at SUNY and John
Cairney, Ph.D., at Toronto University examined whether cumulative trauma
across a person's lifetime affected a person's self-rated health,
occurrence of acute and chronic conditions and functional disability.
Three different ages in the study were examined: young old (65-74), old
old (75-84) and oldest old (85 and older).
The results show that trauma occurring between 18
and 30 years and between 31 to 64 years had the greatest affect on the
person's current health. Interestingly, say the authors, adversity
encountered in adult life affected adult health more than adversity
encountered in childhood. Trauma could have the same adverse effects on
children as adults, but the effects on children may dissipate by the
time they reach adulthood, said Krause.
The young old (age 65-74) seem to be affected the
most by their traumatic events and this may be because of historical
reasons, said Dr. Krause. This age group grew up after WWII during the
Eisenhower years and experienced good economic times for most of their
adulthood. They placed a lot of value on stability and living the
American Dream. If and when their expectations and dreams were changed
dramatically by a traumatic event, their coping abilities may not have
been developed enough to help them. This set them up for health problems
in their later years.
The second oldest group the old old group may
have built up some resilience from growing up in a time period that
prepared them for later adversities, said the authors. This group faced
WWII and was surrounded by all the stresses of war and economic
shortages. They were patriotic, self-reliant and had a respect for
authority and were able to handle self-sacrifice. These conditions
probably helped them develop some resilience against unexpected trauma
in their later years, said the authors.
Those born before 1919 (the oldest old) who entered
adulthood during the Great Depression a time of great insecurity may
be similar to the youngest group as far as being more vulnerable to
traumatic events. This group was likely to be more afraid of taking
risks because of growing up in an economic climate of desperation.
According to the authors, this age group may not have mastered certain
problem solving skills because of their fear of the unknown. This may
have hindered their ability to develop better coping responses to
adversity, said the authors.
Some of the 22 traumas examined in the study were:
had a spouse die; had a child die; had been in a disaster; had a
serious/life-threatening illness; had to repeat a year of school before
the age of 18; had either parent experience unemployment for a period of
time before the age of 18 or had either parent die before the age of 18.
From these study findings, said Dr. Krause, health
practitioners can extrapolate why some older people fall ill while
others do not. It may be necessary to routinely ask older people who
are having health problems if they experienced a trauma during the
intake examination. Many health care providers already ask about
stressful events when taking medical histories but knowing if trauma
existed may provide additional insight to a persons current state of
health, said Dr. Krause.
Article: A Descriptive Epidemiology of Lifetime
Trauma and the Physical Health Status of Older Adults, Neal Krause,
Ph.D., University of Michigan; Benjamin A. Shaw, Ph.D., University of
Albany, State University of New York; John Cairney, Ph.D., University of
Toronto; Psychology and Aging, Vol. 19, No. 4.
Full text of the article is available from the APA
Public Affairs Office or at
http://www.apa.org/journals/pag/press_releases/december_2004/pag194637.html
The American Psychological Association (APA), in
Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization
representing psychology in the United States and is the worlds largest
association of psychologists. APAs membership includes more than
150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.
Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations
with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA
works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means
of promoting health, education and human welfare.
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