Subjective wellbeing and longevity: Findings from a 22-year cohort study

Objective: The health implications of positive affect (PA) are still a matter of debate. The present study examined the longitudinal relationships between subjective wellbeing (SWB) components (i.e., Life satisfaction, PA and negative affect (NA)) and all-cause mortality in older adults.

Methods: Discrete-time survival analysis within the structural equation modeling framework was applied to data from the PAQUID Cohort (n=3777, baseline age 62-101years) including ten time periods spanning 22years. Time-invariant (age, gender, baseline life satisfaction, diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia status) and lagged time-varying (PA, NA, dementia, functional status and self-rated health) predictors were included sequentially in the analyses.

Results: When included together in the model, only PA among the SWB components showed a significant association with longevity, which persisted (OR=.962, 95% CI=.938, .986) even after adjustment for the interaction between PA and NA, and after additional adjustment for prior medical conditions, functional status and self-rated health.

Conclusions: In congruence with positive psychology, PA proved to be an independent protective factor regardless of variations in NA, which did not seem to be a mortality risk factor.