Feeling Younger as a Stress Buffer: Subjective Age Moderates the Effect of Perceived Stress on Change in Functional Health

Feeling younger than one's chronological age is associated with various beneficial health outcomes. However, apart from these direct health effects, little is known about the role of subjective age as a potential "buffer" and compensatory resource that might counteract the detrimental effect of health risk factors. We investigated whether the effect of perceived stress as a major health risk factor on change in functional health is smaller among individuals who feel younger. Additionally, we analyzed whether this "stress buffer effect" of subjective age varies by chronological age. Longitudinal data from the German Ageing Survey comprising 3 years (2014-2017) were used (N = 5,039; mean age at baseline: M = 63.91 years, SD = 10.80 years, range 40-95 years). Latent change score models revealed that, controlling for baseline functional health as well as for sociodemographic variables, greater perceived stress was associated with a steeper decline in functional health. This effect increased in size with advancing chronological age. Moreover, a younger subjective age was associated with a less steep decline in functional health. Subjective age additionally exhibited a stress buffer effect: Among individuals who felt younger, the association of greater perceived stress with steeper functional health decline was weaker. This stress buffer effect of subjective age became larger with increasing age. Our findings thus suggest that, particularly among older adults, a younger subjective age might help to buffer functional health decline, not only by directly affecting functional health, but also by compensating and counteracting the detrimental effect of stress on functional health.