Correlates of subjective health in older adults: A meta-analysis

Age-associated changes of subjective health and associations of subjective health with physical health, functional health, and mental health were meta -analyzed in older adults (M age > 60 years), An age-associated decline of subjective health, which was stronger in old-old samples than in young-old samples, was found. Subjective health was correlated with the indicators of objective health, but the association with physical health was stronger th an with functional health, Correlations of subjective health with physical health and functional health were lower in the old-old than in the young-ol d samples, whereas associations of subjective health with mental health wer e stronger in older samples. Furthermore, the size of the association betwe en subjective and objective health varied by the method of assessment of ob jective health, showing highest associations with symptom checklists and re sults of medical examinations due to strict protocols.