%0 Journal Article
%T Cognitive Beliefs and Future Time Perspectives: Predictors of Mortality and Longevity
%A Prem S. Fry
%A Dominique L. Debats
%J Journal of Aging Research
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.4061/2011/367902
%X On the basis of postulates derived from cognitive-behavioral theory, research and therapy, the authors explored the extent to which older adults' cognitive beliefs of a just world and their perspectives on future time and similarity or self-continuity with the future self are predictors of long-term survival. After baseline assessment of health and cognitive beliefs and future perspectives of time and self-continuity as predictors of mortality, 440 participants (ages 65 to 87) were followed longitudinally for 6.5 years. Consistent with our hypotheses, findings demonstrated that a significantly higher percentage of survivors were individuals who showed higher scores on beliefs in a just world and on both the future time perspective and the future self-continuity perspective at the time of baseline assessments. Conversely, mortality risk was much higher for individuals who scored low on these predictor variables, and high on distrust. Implications for health and longevity are discussed. 1. Introduction To date, one of the most understudied etiologies of older adultsĄŻ survival and longevity has been the role of their cognitive beliefs and worldviews that possibly interact with their functional and mental capacities to endure, challenge, overcome, and survive in the face of the numerous struggles and obstacles in advanced old age. In earlier research on predictors of mortality, the focus has been exclusively on variations in physical health and sociodemographic variables to explain and predict differences in longevity and mortality rates across a wide age range. More recently, studies have explored the relationship between the 5-factor personality traits [1¨C4] and other stress-inducing traits of perfectionism and dysfunctional dependency traits to predict greater longevity or increased risk of mortality [5]. The present study presents a clear departure from earlier studies that have focused on sociodemographic and personality factors to explain and predict differences in all-cause mortality rates in later life. The goal of the present research is to move outside the personality and traits model to other second-order cognitive-behavioral factors to predict differences in all-cause mortality rates in later life. Cognitive-behavioral theorists argue on both theoretical and empirical grounds that individualsĄŻ cognitive beliefs exert a great deal of influence on their health, resilience, and longevity and may logically be assumed to be robust predictors of impending mortality or conversely of longevity. However, the ability of cognitive belief systems to predict
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jar/2011/367902/