Relations between health-related quality of life and well-being: The gerontologist's new clothes?

Is the recent construct of health-related quality of life (HQL) distinct fr om what gerontologists have long referred to as "well-being" or "life satis faction?" We addressed this question using data from men in the VA Normativ e Aging Study to examine relations among twelve scales assessing HQL and se ven scales of well-being (WB). We hypothesized that these two constructs wo uld be distinct factorially, and that the derived factors would have differ ent correlates. Correlations between scales of HQL and WE were moderate. Wh en the nineteen scales were factored, four factors were extracted with HQL and WE scales generally loading on separate factors. The factors had distin ct patterns of relations with general quality of life, personality, and the presence of a health problem, controlling for sociodemographics. These res ults suggest that HQL is distinct from the older construct of well-being. A lthough the two constructs are conceptually related, there is only a modera te amount of statistical overlap between them. Gerontologists should readil y adopt health-related quality of life, which maintains continuity with suc h classics as well-being. This new construct, although needing slight alter ations to broaden its assessment of well-being and life satisfaction, holds promise as more than an accessory in the study of health and well-being am ong older persons.