The Role of Self-Efficacy in the Variation of Health Outcomes Late in Life

As the population of the United States ages, variation in late-life health and wellbeing outcomes
have become an increasingly popular and necessary area of scientific exploration. Previous
research has identified ageism (Levy et al., 2000) and perceived age discrimination (Han &
Richardson, 2015; Marquet et al., 2019) as factors that negatively impact outcomes for older
adults. Further, as conceptualized through the Stereotype Embodiment Theory (Levy, 2009),
self-perceptions of aging have been found to mediate the influence of perceived age
discrimination on health outcomes. Individuals from stigmatized groups have a physiological
reaction (i.e., a stress response) to negative age stereotypes (Levy et al., 2000) and other forms of
discrimination (Lui & Quezada, 2019). Therefore, analyzing the Stereotype Embodiment Theory
and Transactional Model of Stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987) in combination allows one to
consider the variation of aging outcomes as subject to individual factors involved in stress
appraisal and coping. The current study utilized public data from 676 older adults who
participated in two waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2012; 2016). First, conditional
process analysis was employed to confirm self-perceptions of aging as a mediator between
perceived age discrimination and outcomes. Next, the potential protective effects of self-efficacy
in the stress appraisal process were explored. Results confirmed the indirect effect of perceived
age discrimination on health outcomes and life satisfaction through self-perceptions of aging.
However, the analysis did not provide evidence for self-efficacy’s moderating effect on the
relationship between perceived age discrimination and self-perceptions of aging. This study
provides additional support for the Stereotype Embodiment Theory and offers individual
differences in stress appraisal as an explanation for variation in late-life wellness.