CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION, AND SWIFT UTILIZATION OF MEDICAL-CARE AMONG THE ELDERLY - STUDY-II

This study examined age differences in the timing of the decision to s eek medical care. The data were obtained from a longitudinal study of 366 community dwelling adults aged 45 to 93 years. Subjects were paire d for age, gender, and health status, and both members of a pair were interviewed when either one initiated a medical visit for a new proble m. This allowed the authors to examine delay in care-seeking for indiv iduals with new symptoms who did not seek care as well as those who di d. Survival analysis was used to test hypotheses respecting age differ ences for total delay (the time from first noticing symptoms until cal ling for care) and its two constituent phases: appraisal delay (sympto m onset until deciding one was ill) and illness delay (decision one wa s ill until calling for care). Older persons were expected to be more avoidant of uncertainty and conserving of physical and psychic resourc es and thus quicker to seek care. The results and findings on reasons for delay support the uncertainly avoidance hypothesis but did not rep licate signs of higher levels of avoidance behavior by middle-aged sub jects than by older subjects.