Development of the “Construction of Aging Strategies” Questionnaire

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Abstract

The work describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a tool aimed at assessing the strategies used to promote successful aging. In the context of increasing life expectancy and the number of older people in the general population, the issue of maintaining and improving the quality of life of older people is particularly acute. Science has accumulated a large amount of data on the mechanisms and factors influencing aging. Moreover, these factors can be modeled by the person himself. However, there are no tools that would allow us to assess these mechanisms and the frequency of their use in a one’s life, both current and retrospectively. The study participants included 170 adults aged 40–75 years. Based on theoretical analysis, 22 strategies were formulated, each of which was assessed on a 5-point scale. To check the convergent validity, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile questionnaire, the K.Riff Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Aging Perception Questionnaire, and questions from a demographic survey were used. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, four scales were identified: “Strategies for maintaining health”, “Metacognitive strategies”, “Strategies for self-development” and “Generative strategies”. Scale reliability and confirmatory analysis confirmed the suitability of the resulting instrument as well as its consistency with the empirical data. Analysis of convergent validity showed that the selected scales were associated with indicators of a healthy lifestyle, psychological well-being, positive ideas about aging and the desire to change something in one’s life for the sake of a prosperous old age. The results obtained can be used both for scientific study of the mechanisms of futurization of aging, and for practical work on assessing resources for the formation of aging and building individual aging trajectories.

General Information

Keywords: construction of aging strategies, futurization of aging, aging, effective aging, validization, healthy aging

Journal rubric: Empirical and Experimental Research

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2024.110

Funding. The study was supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation, grant no. 22-28-00869; https://rscf.ru/en/project/22-28-00869.

Received: 09.09.2023

Accepted:

For citation: Strizhitskaya O.Y., Petrash M.D. Development of the “Construction of Aging Strategies” Questionnaire. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 2024. Vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 158–173. DOI: 10.21638/spbu16.2024.110. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Olga Y. Strizhitskaya, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of the Department of Developmental Psychology and Differential Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Saint-Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7141-162X, e-mail: o.strizhitskaya@spbu.ru

Marina D. Petrash, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Department of Developmental and Differential Psychology, Saint Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4542-7289, e-mail: m.petrash@spbu.ru

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