Assimilative and accommodative coping in older adults with and without sensory impairment: four-year change and prospective relations with affective well-being

Abstract

Objectives: Sensory impaired older adults may be particularly dependent on coping strategies such as assimilation (or tenacious goal pursuit [TGP]) and accommodation (or flexible goal adjustment [FGA]) to secure high levels of well-being. We investigated if late-life changes in these coping strategies and prospective associations of TGP and FGA with affective well-being vary according to sensory impairment status. Method: Our study sample consisted of 387 adults aged 72-95 years (M ¼ 82.50 years, SD ¼4.71 years) who were either visually impaired (VI; n ¼ 121), hearing impaired (HI; n ¼ 116), or sensory unimpaired (UI; n ¼ 150). One hundred sixty-eight individuals were reassessed after approximately 4 years. Results: Both VI and HI revealed a decrease in TGP, whereas TGP remained stable in UI. For FGA, a significant increase in HI was observed, whereas a significant decline emerged in UI. Controlling for age, gender, and cognitive abilities, higher TGP at baseline was significantly associated with higher negative affect 4 years later in VI. Moreover, the positive association between baseline FGA and subsequent positive affect was stronger in HI than in UI older adults. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that older adults with sensory impairments reveal trajectories of assimilative and accommodative coping and associations of TGP and FGA with affective well-being that are different from sensory unimpaired individuals. ARTICLE HISTORY

Perceived Stress Predicts Subsequent Self-Reported Problems With Vision and Hearing: Longitudinal Findings From the German Ageing Survey

“…Interventions to reduce stress or to promote the use of adaptive coping strategies when facing and dealing with stressors might help to reduce the various health risks that stress conveys ( Aldwin et al, 2021 ; Almeida et al, 2002 ; Thoits, 2010 ), including the risk of impaired vision or hearing. Different coping strategies, such as flexible goal adjustment, have already been found to be associated with higher well-being among sensory impaired older adults ( Boerner & Wang, 2012 ; Brennan-Ing et al, 2013 ; Heyl et al, 2007 ; Wettstein et al, 2019 ), and these strategies might also contribute to preventing the onset or progression of sensory deficits by avoiding or reducing stress and by buffering the detrimental effect of stress. Treatment and prevention of sensory impairment might thus benefit from taking a psycho-ophthalmological and psycho-audiological perspective by not only focusing on medical and biological risk factors for vision and hearing loss, but also on psychological factors that might contribute to the onset or progression of sensory impairments.…”

Associations of self-reported vision problems with health and psychosocial functioning: A 9-year longitudinal perspective

“…Also, supporting visually impaired individuals in making use of compensatory resources such as cognitive abilities, which seem to gain in importance for independent functioning and well-being when sensory impairment sets in (Heyl & Wahl, 2012; Wettstein et al, 2015), is a promising approach. In addition, coping strategies that promote maintenance of health and well-being, particularly accommodative strategies of flexible goal adjustment and goal disengagement (Brandtstädter, 2015), but also the combined use of several strategies, have been found to reduce the negative consequences of impaired vision (Boerner & Wang, 2012; Heyl et al, 2007; Wettstein et al, 2019), and should therefore be promoted among individuals with vision loss.…”

“…For several well-being and subjective age views outcomes, our findings rather suggest a higher long-term adaptational potential with advancing age, supporting that “visually impaired elderly can effectively compensate for or otherwise adapt to declines in competence domains” (Burmedi et al, 2002, p. 15). Interventions to counteract long-term detrimental consequences of vision loss for psychosocial functioning, for example, by promoting helpful coping strategies (Boerner, 2004; Boerner & Wang, 2012; Brennan-Ing et al, 2013; Heyl et al, 2007; Wettstein et al, 2019), might therefore be particularly beneficial for adults in midlife, rather than in late life.…”

Associations of Age and Pain With 9-Year Functional Health Trajectories

“…Also, we were unable to investigate the time-varying associations of coping strategies with functional health because accommodative coping was not assessed on every measurement occasion. However, coping strategies may be subject to change when individuals grow older (Brandtstädter & Greve, 1994; Diehl et al, 2014) and when they are affected by chronic conditions (Wahl et al, 2005; Wettstein et al, 2019), which deserves additional investigation, particularly with regard to pain.…”