Longitudinal associations between emotional well-being and subjective health from middle adulthood to the beginning of late adulthood

Abstract

Objective Emotional well-being may predict future health and vice versa. We examined the reciprocal associations between emotional well-being and subjective health from age 36 to 61.

Methods and Measures The data were drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development and included information from 36-, 42-, 50- and 61-year-olds (N = 336). The emotional well-being indicators included life satisfaction and negative and positive mood. The subjective health indicators were self-rated health and psychosomatic symptoms. The analyses were conducted with random intercept cross-lagged panel models.

Results Within-person cross-lagged associations were found between emotional well-being and subjective health. Fewer psychosomatic symptoms at ages 36 and 50 predicted higher life satisfaction at ages 42 and 61, respectively. A lower negative mood at age 42 and a higher positive mood at age 50 predicted fewer psychosomatic symptoms at 50 and 61, respectively. Conversely, a higher negative mood at ages 36 and 50 predicted better self-rated health at ages 42 and 61, respectively.

Conclusion The relationship between emotional well-being and subjective health appears to be reciprocal. Both emotional well-being and subjective health predicted each other even 6–11 years later. However, associations may depend on the variables and age periods investigated.