Decline in life satisfaction in old age: Longitudinal evidence for links to distance-to-death.

Abstract

Using 12-year longitudinal data from deceased participants of the Berlin Aging Study (N = 414; 70–103 years at first occasion; M = 87 years) askew examined if and how old and very old individuals exhibit terminal decline in reported life satisfaction at the end of life. Relative to distance from birth (i.e., chronological age), distance to death was associated with steeper average decline per year. Distance to death accounted for more variance in interindividual differences in life satisfaction change than did age. By applying change-point growth models to mortality-related change, we identified a time point about four years prior to death at which decline showed a two-fold increase in steepness relative to the pre-terminal phase. For the oldest old (85+ years at baseline), a three-fold increase was observed. Established mortality predictors such as sex, comorbidities, risk for dementia, and intellectual functioning accounted for only small portions of interindividual differences in mortality-related change in life satisfaction. We conclude that late-life changes in subjective well-being are related to mechanisms predicting death and suggest routes for further inquiry.