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Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach

PURPOSE: Growing evidence indicates that a higher sense of purpose in life (purpose) is associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases and mortality. However, epidemiological studies have not evaluated if change in purpose is associated with subsequent health and well-being outcomes. DESIGN: We ev...

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Autores principales: Kim, Eric S., Chen, Ying, Nakamura, Julia S., Ryff, Carol D., VanderWeele, Tyler J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8669210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34405718
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08901171211038545
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author Kim, Eric S.
Chen, Ying
Nakamura, Julia S.
Ryff, Carol D.
VanderWeele, Tyler J.
author_facet Kim, Eric S.
Chen, Ying
Nakamura, Julia S.
Ryff, Carol D.
VanderWeele, Tyler J.
author_sort Kim, Eric S.
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: Growing evidence indicates that a higher sense of purpose in life (purpose) is associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases and mortality. However, epidemiological studies have not evaluated if change in purpose is associated with subsequent health and well-being outcomes. DESIGN: We evaluated if positive change in purpose (between t(0); 2006/2008 and t(1);2010/2012) was associated with better outcomes on 35 indicators of physical health, health behaviors, and psychosocial well-being (at t(2);2014/2016). SAMPLE: We used data from 12,998 participants in the Health and Retirement study—a prospective and nationally representative cohort of U.S. adults aged >50. ANALYSIS: We conducted multiple linear-, logistic-, and generalized linear regressions. RESULTS: Over the 4-year follow-up period, people with the highest (versus lowest) purpose had better subsequent physical health outcomes (e.g., 46% reduced risk of mortality (95% CI [0.44, 0.66])), health behaviors (e.g., 13% reduced risk of sleep problems (95% CI [0.77, 0.99])), and psychosocial outcomes (e.g., higher optimism (β = 0.41, 95% CI [0.35, 0.47]), 43% reduced risk of depression (95% CI [0.46, 0.69]), lower loneliness (β = −0.35, 95% CI [−0.41, −0.29])). Importantly, however, purpose was not associated with other physical health outcomes, health behaviors, and social factors. CONCLUSION: With further research, these results suggest that sense of purpose might be a valuable target for innovative policy and intervention work aimed at improving health and well-being.
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spelling pubmed-86692102021-12-15 Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach Kim, Eric S. Chen, Ying Nakamura, Julia S. Ryff, Carol D. VanderWeele, Tyler J. Am J Health Promot Quantitative Research PURPOSE: Growing evidence indicates that a higher sense of purpose in life (purpose) is associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases and mortality. However, epidemiological studies have not evaluated if change in purpose is associated with subsequent health and well-being outcomes. DESIGN: We evaluated if positive change in purpose (between t(0); 2006/2008 and t(1);2010/2012) was associated with better outcomes on 35 indicators of physical health, health behaviors, and psychosocial well-being (at t(2);2014/2016). SAMPLE: We used data from 12,998 participants in the Health and Retirement study—a prospective and nationally representative cohort of U.S. adults aged >50. ANALYSIS: We conducted multiple linear-, logistic-, and generalized linear regressions. RESULTS: Over the 4-year follow-up period, people with the highest (versus lowest) purpose had better subsequent physical health outcomes (e.g., 46% reduced risk of mortality (95% CI [0.44, 0.66])), health behaviors (e.g., 13% reduced risk of sleep problems (95% CI [0.77, 0.99])), and psychosocial outcomes (e.g., higher optimism (β = 0.41, 95% CI [0.35, 0.47]), 43% reduced risk of depression (95% CI [0.46, 0.69]), lower loneliness (β = −0.35, 95% CI [−0.41, −0.29])). Importantly, however, purpose was not associated with other physical health outcomes, health behaviors, and social factors. CONCLUSION: With further research, these results suggest that sense of purpose might be a valuable target for innovative policy and intervention work aimed at improving health and well-being. SAGE Publications 2021-08-18 2022-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8669210/ /pubmed/34405718 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08901171211038545 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Quantitative Research
Kim, Eric S.
Chen, Ying
Nakamura, Julia S.
Ryff, Carol D.
VanderWeele, Tyler J.
Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach
title Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach
title_full Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach
title_fullStr Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach
title_full_unstemmed Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach
title_short Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach
title_sort sense of purpose in life and subsequent physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health: an outcome-wide approach
topic Quantitative Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8669210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34405718
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08901171211038545
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