THE COMING AGE OF HUMAN LIFE EXTENSION: EXPLORATION OF ATTITUDES ON LIFE EXTENDING INTERVENTIONS IN SEPARATE SAMPLES OF YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS Loren A. Martin, Ph.D. Department of Clinical Psychology Azusa Pacific University Carstensen, L. (2015, February). This baby could Hall, S.S. (2013, May). On beyond 100. National live to be 142 years old: dispatches from the Geographic , 28-49. frontiers of longevity. Time Magazine .
KEY CONCEPTS • Weak Life Extension- increasing the average life expectancy without increasing the life span. Defined as living to age 100 for our purpose. • Strong Life Extension- increasing the life expectancy beyond the current life span estimate. Defined as living to age 150 for our purpose. • Indefinite Life Extension- increasing the life span an infinite number of years without any negative effects of aging
WEAK LIFE EXTENSION • Imagine that a pill is made available that would increase your life expectancy to 100 years. If you are to take this pill, as you grow older from this point onward, you would not experience any further decline in age related medical conditions. The pill only needs to be taken once, and is easily affordable. You will only be offered this pill today, and must decide whether you would like to use it now, or not at all. Assume that if this pill was made widely available, there would be no social or economic repercussions (e.g. larger workforce, lack of job openings for younger generations, scarce resources)
LIKERT RESPONSES
MORTALITY SALIENCE VULNERABILITY Age recognized as an important factor in mortality salience • Likert rating of physical health also recognized as an • important factor in mortality salience
QUALITY OF LIFE ENJOYMENT AND SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRE–SHORT FORM (Q-LES–Q-SF) Developed by Endicott et al., 1993. • • Used with both clinical and nonclinical populations 16 item short form condensed from original 93 item • instrument Measures quality of life in areas such as physical health, mood, • leisure activities, social relationships, and overall well being
DEATH ATTITUDE PROFILE-REVISED (DAP-R) • Revised version developed by Wong et al., 1994 • 32 statements measuring death attitudes on 7-point Likert scale • 5 different factors: fear of death and death avoidance (negative death attitudes), Approach-oriented death acceptance and escape-oriented death acceptance (positive death attitudes), neutral death acceptance (neutral death attitude)
SPIRITUAL BELIEFS SCALE (SBS) • Developed by Cicirelli, 2011 • Measures both religious and nonreligious transcendent experiences of spirituality • Only the religious subscale was used in this study consisting of 10 Likert items
GOD’S WILL SCALE (GW) • Developed by Winter et al., 2009 • Measures the willingness to defer to God’s will • 5 Likert items
AFTERLIFE BELIEFS • 3 Likert items developed for this study measuring the existence of an afterlife, the belief that the participant will participate in this afterlife, and the belief that his or her experience of the afterlife will be a positive one
INTRINSIC/EXTRINSIC SCALES OF RELIGIOSITY- REVISED (I/E-R) • Developed by Gorsuch & McPherson, 1989 • Measures the levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for the use of a religious framework by an individual • 14 Likert items measuring intrinsic orientation, extrinsic- personal orientation, and extrinsic-social orientation
STUDY I 197 PARTICIPANTS OUT OF A GROUP OF 1200 UG AND GRADUATE STUDENTS AT APU WHO WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED TO RECEIVE AN EMAIL INVITATION TO COMPLETE THE ONLINE SURVEY
OVERALL DIFFERENCES IN LIFE EXTENSION DESIRABILITY
GENDER DIFFERENCES
STUDY II 279 PARTICIPANTS AGED 65+ Ø 112 SURVEYS RETURNED VIA MAIL Ø 167 SURVEYS ADMINISTERED IN PERSON
OVERALL DIFFERENCES IN LIFE EXTENSION DESIRABILITY Outcome: Weak LE (100) > Strong LE (150) > Indefinite LE ( ∞ ) Comparing Different Forms of LE Desirability 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 W use W research S use S research I use I research Main Effect
GENDER AND RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES IN LED LE type Result for LE type Result for Christian GENDER vs Non-Christian Weak LE use M > F Weak LE use Non-Chr. > Chr. Weak LE research No significant Weak LE research Non-Chr. > Chr. difference Strong LE use Non-Chr. > Chr. Strong LE use M > F Strong LE research Non-Chr. > Chr. Strong LE research No significant Indefinite LE use No significant difference difference Indefinite LE use No significant Indefinite LE Non-Chr. > Chr. difference research Indefinite LE M > F research
AGE AND EDUCATION DIFFERENCES IN LED LE type Differences seen LE type Differences seen for for EDUCATION AGE Weak LE use GS > SC > HS > BHS Weak LE use No significant differences Weak LE research GS > CG > SC > HS Weak LE research No significant > BHS differences Strong LE use GS > HS Strong LE use YO > MO; YO > OO Strong LE research No significant (no sig. dif b/t MO & differences OO) Indefinite LE use No significant Strong LE research No significant differences differences Indefinite LE No significant Indefinite LE use YO > MO ; YO > research differences OO(no sig. dif b/t MO & OO) Indefinite LE No significant research differences
Religious beliefs Positive Death Affect Intrinsic Meaning Positive Religiosity Derived from Expectation Approach Escape Religion of Afterlife Acceptance Acceptance Weak Life Strong Life Indefinite Life Inverse Relationship Extension Extension Extension Positive Relationship Demographics Negative Death Affect Quality o Non- More Fear of Death Male Young Old Life Christian Education death avoidance
SIGNIFICANT LIFE EXTENSION DESIRABILITY FACTORS Desire-Facilitating Factors (at any LED level use or research) Male gender Non Christian religious affiliation Higher education level Younger age Higher quality of life Lower Mortality Salience Vulnerability (age and subjective physical Health) Negative attitudes towards death: fear of death, death avoidance, and overall negative death affect Weak LE (100yrs) > Strong LE (150 yrs) > Indefinite (no age-related death) Surveys given in-person Non- Facilitating / Non-Hindering Factors (at any LED level use or research) Race/Ethnicity* Catholic vs. Protestant Level of extrinsic religiosity
SIGNIFICANT LIFE EXTENSION DESIRABILITY FACTORS Desire-Hindering Factors (at any LED level use or research) Female gender Christian religious affiliation Lower education level Older age Lower quality of life Higher Mortality Salience Vulnerability (age and subjective physical Health) Hope of a positive afterlife Positive Death attitudes: approach-oriented acceptance and escape-oriented acceptance Higher intrinsic religiosity Higher level of religious-based meaning making Indefinite (no age-related death) < Strong LE (150 yrs) < Weak LE (100yrs) Mailer Surveys
COMPARISON OF STUDIES Study I Study II • Surveys were completed online • Surveys were completed in person or via mail • Mean age of 197 participants was 24.27 • Mean age of 279 participants was 77.08 • Included God’s Will Scale • Included Education and Christian vs. non-Christian
COMPARISON OF STUDIES: RESULTS Study I Study II • Death attitudes related to LED • Death attitude findings confirmed and extended • Religious beliefs and religiosity related to LED • Religious belief and religiosity findings confirmed and extended • No relationship with age or quality of life • Age and quality of life related to LED
LIMITATIONS • Different survey administration methods • Mostly white sample- 60% and 94% respectively • Mostly Christian sample- 95% and 82% respectively
FUTURE RESEARCH • Research should also be conducted looking at how the attitudes and attributes of physicians and other health care providers who are part of the decision-making process are related to life extension attitudes. • Physicians’ level of religiosity, psychological factors, and ethical concerns were found to affect their decision to withhold or withdraw life sustaining treatment in Chung, Yoon, Rasinski, & Curlin (2016). Chung, G.S., Yoon, J.D., Rasinski, K.A., & Curlin, F.A. (2016) US physicians’ opinions about distinctions between withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment. Journal of Religion And Health. Doi: 10.1007/s10943-015- 0171-x
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • Dr. Scott Ballinger • Dr. Kelsey Fitzgerald • Dr. Theresa Tisdale • Rev. Dr. David Sellen • Dr. Lynn Wood
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