Youthful feelings were shown to have a positive effect on the mental and\nphysical conditions of the elderly. On the contrary, elderly people whose\nself-perceived age is older than their chronological age were shown to experience\nnegative health outcomes. This study investigated whether the\nself-perceived age (younger or older) relative to chronological age promotes\nsocial activity. The baseline data acquired from 3094 older adults as part of\nthe Keeping Active across Generations Uniting the Youth and the Aged study\nwas used in the current study. The participants completed a questionnaire\nthat solicits information pertaining to sociodemographic factors, felt age,\nself-rated health, physical activity, depression, disease burden, fall history,\nfear of falling, level of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) and social\nactivity. The discrepancy between felt age and chronological age was defined\nas the self-perceived age. Self-perceived age was calculated by subtracting\nthe participantâ??s chronological age from the felt age, and the score for the\ndifference was divided by the chronological age. The Japan Science and\nTechnology Agency Index of Competence was used to evaluate social activity.\nRegression analysis results revealed that a younger self-perceived age was associated\nwith higher social activity after controlling for sociodemographic\nfactors, self-rated health, depression, physical activity, disease burden, level of\nIADL, fall history and fear of falling. Fall history was significantly associated\nwith higher social activity in young-old participants (65 - 74 years) (p =\n0.014) but not in old-old participants (>75 years). This study suggests that a\nyounger self-perceived age in older adults would lead to a high-level living\nfunction. This finding may provide useful information for interventions aimed at the promotion of health and/or the prevention of frailty.
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