Research Highlight: Better satisfaction with aging could improve health and well-being | 2021-22 Fellow Julia Nakamura
New research from 2021-22 CAnD3 Fellow Julia Nakamura and colleagues finds that higher satisfaction with aging could lead to improved health and well-being outcomes. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, a cohort of 13,752 US adults over 50 years old, the researchers used 35 indicators of physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health and well-being to capture a comprehensive suite of outcomes. Out of the 35 indicators, improvements in 27 were associated with better aging satisfaction.
"With further research, our findings suggest that interventions to increase aging satisfaction might improve the health and wellbeing of our rapidly growing older adult population," said Julia in an interview with the University of British Columbia News.
Read the paper
Nakamura, J. S., Hong, J. H., Smith, J., Chopik, W. J., Chen, Y., VanderWeele, T. J., & Kim, E. S. (2022). Associations Between Satisfaction With Aging and Health and Well-being Outcomes Among Older US Adults. JAMA Network Open, 5(2), e2147797. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.47797
Read the UBC news releases
New research: When people’s attitudes about aging improve, better health may follow
When people’s attitudes about aging improve, better health may follow
More about Julia
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Julia Nakamura is a Master’s student in the Health Psychology Program at the University of British Columbia. Julia is interested in the aspects of psychological well-being that positively influence physical health outcomes, health behaviors, and psychosocial well-being in older adults. Her research lies at the intersection of health psychology, psychological well-being, gerontology, epidemiology, and translational science (e.g., working with organizations such as IDEO). As a CAnD3 Fellow, Julia hopes to build pan-Canadian, interdisciplinary collaborations, expand to other population survey data sources, and learn about new statistical methods in population data science. Julia's links: CAnD3 profile | Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Google Scholar |