Table 1
Sociodemographic characteristics of middle and older age of African American.
| CHARACTERISTICS | N (%) | MEAN (SD) |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Female | 111 (62.36) | |
| Male | 64 (35.96) | |
| Other | 3 (1.69) | |
| Age (years) | 61.5 (11.4) | |
| 40–49 | 30 (16.95) | |
| 50–59 | 42 (23.73) | |
| 60–69 | 59 (33.33) | |
| 70+ | 46 (25.99) | |
| Education | ||
| High school or less | 47 (26.40) | |
| More than high school | 131 (73.60) | |
| Marital status | ||
| Single1 | 120 (67.24) | |
| Married | 58 (32.58) | |
| Location of residence | ||
| City | 90 (50.56) | |
| Rural | 19 (10.67) | |
| Suburb | 69 (38.76) | |
| Ethnicity | ||
| Non-Hispanic/Latino | 169 (94.94) | |
| Hispanic/Latino | 9 (5.06) | |
| Income (USD) | ||
| ≤20,000 | 57 (32.57) | |
| 20,001–30,000 | 30 (17.14) | |
| 30,001–50,000 | 30 (17.14) | |
| >50,000 | 58 (33.14) | |
| Weight status | 30.2 (7.4) | |
| Underweight (BM I2< 18.5 kg/m2) | 6 (3.37) | |
| Normal (18.5 kg/m < BMI < 24.9 kg/m2) | 40 (22.47) | |
| Overweight (25 kg/m2 ≤ BMI < 29.9 kg/m2) | 55 (30.90) | |
| Obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) | 77 (43.26) |
[i] Note: 1 Never married, widowed, divorced, separated, BMI = body mass index.
Table 2
Characteristics of aging anxiety constructs of middle- and older- aged African Americans.
| AGING ANXIETY CONSTRUCTS | MEAN (SD) | MEDIAN |
|---|---|---|
| Fear of older adults | 19.10 (3.23) (Min. = 11, Max. =25) | 19 |
| Psychological concerns | 18.15 (2.55) (Min. = 9, Max. =25) | 18 |
| Physical appearance | 17.27 (3.07) (Min. = 10, Max. =25) | 17 |
| Fear of loss | 10.92 (3.93) (Min. = 5, Max. =25) | 11 |
| Total score of aging anxiety | 65.44 (7.87) (Min. = 51, Max. =100) | 65 |
[i] Note: SD = standard deviation. 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) measuring aging anxiety, with higher scores indicating higher anxiety levels (Lasher and Faulkender 1993).
Table 3
Characteristics of actual PA and attitude toward PA of middle- and older-aged African Americans.
| INTENTION AND ACTUAL PA | MEAN (SD)7 | MEDIAN |
|---|---|---|
| Intention1 | 3.58 (1.37) (Min. = 1, Max. = 5) | 4 |
| General2 | 3.86 (2.48) (Min. = 0, Max. = 8) | 3 |
| Strengthening3 | 2.95 (2.14) (Min. = 0, Max. = 8) | 3 |
| Stretching4 | 3.02 (2.11) (Min. = 0, Max. = 8) | 3 |
| Attitude toward PA | (Min. = 1, Max. = 7) | |
| Useful/useless | 2.03 (1.82) | 1 |
| Healthy/unhealthy | 1.74 (1.67) | 1 |
| Good/bad | 1.58 (1.52) | 1 |
| Enjoyable/unenjoyable | 2.47 (1.94) | 2 |
| Interesting/boring | 2.51 (1.94) | 2 |
| Pleasant/unpleasant | 2.46 (1.94) | 2 |
| Attitude toward advantages/disadvantages of PA5 | 5.31 (4.47) | 3 |
| Attitude toward enjoyment of PA6 | 7.43 (5.35) | 7 |
| Total score of attitudes toward PA | 12.75 (9.01) | 11 |
[i] Note: 1 I intend to perform PA for 30 min/day for at least 3 days/week over the next 2 months (future). 2 During the past seven days, on how many days did you walk for at least 10 min at a time for fun, relaxation, exercise, or to walk the dog? 3 How many times per week do you do physical activities specifically designed to strengthen your muscles such as lifting weights or doing calisthenics (e.g., exercising large muscle groups)? 4 How many times per week do you do physical activities designed to stretch your muscles, such as yoga or exercises like bending side-to-side, toe-touching, and leg stretches? 5-point Likert scale (1 = not likely at all to 5 = very likely) for strengthening and stretching exercises. 9-point Likert scale (0 = 0 days to 7 = 7 days) for other physical activity questions (CDC, 2017). 5 PA attitudes by perceived positive or negative effects of being physically active (e.g., PA is useful/useless, healthy/unhealthy, and good/bad) 6 Affective attitude as indicated by the enjoyment level of doing PA (e.g., PA is enjoyable/unenjoyable, interesting/boring, and pleasant/unpleasant). A 7-point Likert scale was used to assess attitudes, where a score of 1 indicated a positive attitude, and a score of 7 indicated a negative attitude. (Ajzen 1991)]. PA = physical activity, 7 SD = standard deviation.
Table 4
Aging anxiety and different sociodemographic characteristics of African American middle age and older adults.
| CHARACTERISTICS | AGING ANXIETY CONSTRUCTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FEAR OF OLDER ADULTS | PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCERNS | PHYSICAL APPEARANCE | FEAR OF LOSS | TOTAL SCORE OF AGING ANXIETY | |
| MEAN (SD) | MEAN (SD) | MEAN (SD) | MEAN (SD) | MEAN (SD) | |
| MEDIAN (IQR)1 | MEDIAN (IQR)1 | MEDIAN (IQR)1 | MEDIAN (IQR)1 | MEDIAN (IQR)1 | |
| Gender | |||||
| Female | 19.02 (3.09) | 17.88 (2.17) | 17.05 (2.82) | 10.67 (3.98) | 64.67 (7.45) |
| 19 (16–21) | 18 (16–19) | 17 (15–19) | 11 (8–13) | 64 (60–69) | |
| Male | 19.31 (3.49) | 18.84 (2.82) | 17.68 (3.50) | 11.26 (3.90) | 67. 03 (8.43) |
| 20 (16–21) | 19 (18–21) | 18 (15–20) | 11 (9–14) | 67 (61–74) | |
| p-Value | 0.4071 | 0.0063 | 0.3160 | 0.0289 | 0.0334 |
| Age (years) | |||||
| 40–49 | 19.53 (3.25) | 18.60 (3.10) | 16.41 (3.58) | 9.8 (4.52) | 64.25 (8.46) |
| 19 (18–21) | 18 (17–20) | 16 (14–17) | 9.5 (6–14) | 64 (58.5–71) | |
| 50–59 | 19.76 (3.68) | 17.95 (2.64) | 16.40 (2.98) | 10.78 (3.89) | 64.90 (8.64) |
| 20 (17–23) | 19 (16–20) | 16 (14–19) | 11 (8–13) | 64.5 (58–71) | |
| 60–69 | 18.84 (3.05) | 18.32 (2.45) | 18.06 (3.31) | 11.44 (3.77) | 66.67 (7.72) |
| 19 (16–21) | 18 (17–20) | 19 (15–20) | 11 (10–14) | 66 (61–73) | |
| 70+ | 18.63 (2.94) | 17.91 (2.24) | 17.63 (2.13) | 11.10 (3.77) | 65.28 (6.92) |
| 19 (16–20) | 18 (17–19) | 18 (16–19) | 11 (10–13) | 65 (60–70) | |
| p-Value | 0.3065 | 0.8260 | 0.0133 | 0.4597 | 0.5153 |
| Education | |||||
| High school or less | 19.06 (3.55) | 17.84 (3.02) | 17.17 (3.61) | 10.74 (3.12) | 64.71 (7.67) |
| 19 (16–21) | 19 (15–20) | 17 (14–19) | 11 (8–13) | 65 (58–70) | |
| More than high school | 19.11 (3.12) | 18.26 (2.37) | 17.30 (2.87) | 10.98 (4.19) | 65.70 (7.96) |
| 19 (16–21) | 18 (17–20) | 17 (15–19) | 11 (8.13) | 65 (60–72) | |
| p-Value | 0.8757 | 0.9284 | 0.8522 | 0.6683 | 0.5629 |
| Marital status | |||||
| Single3 | 19.18 (3.28) | 18.05 (2.62) | 17.15 (2.97) | 10.59 (3.88) | 64.97 (7.89) |
| 19 (16.5–21) | 18 (16–20) | 17 (15–19) | 11 (8–13) | 65 (59–71) | |
| Married | 18.93 (3.13) | 18.34 (2.42) | 17.51 (3.29) | 11.60 (3.97) | 66.39 (7.81) |
| 19 (16–21) | 18.5 (17–20) | 17 (15–20) | 12 (10–14) | 66.5 (60–72) | |
| p-Value | 0.5753 | 0.7573 | 0.6049 | 0.0472 | 0.2659 |
| Location of residence | |||||
| City | 18.98 (3.26) | 18.20 (2.84) | 17.33 (3.11) | 10.55 (3.86) | 65.02 (7.52) |
| 19 (16–21) | 19 (17–20) | 18 (15–19) | 11 (8–13) | 0265 (60–71) | |
| Non-city | 19.21 (3.21) | 18.10 (2.24) | 17.20 (3.05) | 11.29 (3.98) | 65.87 (8.24) |
| 19.5 (16–21) | 18 (17–20) | 17 (15–19.5) | 11 (9–13) | 65 (60–72) | |
| p-Value | 0.5954 | 0.5191 | 0.7707 | 0.3112 | 0.7018 |
| Income (USD) | |||||
| ≤20,000 | 18.92 (3.25) | 17.80 (2.83) | 16.92 (3.26) | 9.78 (4.01) | 63.33 (7.83) |
| 19 (17–21) | 18 (15–20) | 17 (14–19) | 10 (6–13) | 63 (57–68) | |
| 20,001–30,000 | 19.40 (3.38) | 18.51 (2.94) | 17.96 (3.61) | 10.23 (3.32) | 66.27 (7.81) |
| 19 (17–22) | 19 (17–21) | 18.5(15–20) | 10.5 (9–12) | 66 (61–73) | |
| 30,001–50,000 | 19.03 (3.18) | 18.46 (2.40) | 17.56 (3.21) | 11.76 (4.52) | 66.83 (8.43) |
| 19 (16–21) | 19 (17–20) | 18 (16–19) | 11 (10–14) | 66 (62–72) | |
| >50,000 | 19.22 (3.27) | 18.20 (2.19) | 17.15 (2.48) | 11.89 (3.59) | 66.48 (7.59) |
| 19.5 (16–21) | 18 (17–20) | 17 (15–19) | 12 (10–14) | 65 (61–71) | |
| p-Value | 0.9056 | 0.5531 | 0.4098 | 0.0140 | 0.0875 |
[i] Note: 1 Interquartile range. 2 Standard deviation 3 Never married, widowed, divorced, and separated. Bolded p-values indicate a significant relationship. 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) measuring aging anxiety, with higher scores indicating higher anxiety levels (Lasher and Faulkender 1993).
Table 5
Aging anxiety, aging anxiety constructs, and PA.
| FEAR OF OLDER ADULTS | PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCERNS | PHYSICAL APPEARANCE | FEAR OF LOSS | TOTAL SCORE OF AGING ANXIETY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intention1 | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | 0.2160 | 0.0925 | 0.0210 | 0.0266 | 0.1523 |
| p-Value | 0.0038 | 0.2220 | 0.7806 | 0.7241 | 0.0435 |
| General2 | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.0732 | 0.0469 | 0.0221 | –0.0330 | 0.1549 |
| p-Value | 0.3316 | 0.5358 | 0.7694 | 0.6614 | 0.0401 |
| Strengthening3 | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.03395 | –0.0290 | –0.1870 | –0.0740 | –0.0679 |
| p-Value | 0.6529 | 0.7015 | 0.0126 | 0.3262 | 0.3703 |
| Stretching4 | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | 0.0672 | –0.0155 | –0.0743 | 0.0221 | 0.0804 |
| p-Value | 0.3723 | 0.8382 | 0.3252 | 0.7692 | 0.2886 |
[i] Note: 1 I intend to perform PA for 30 min/day for at least 3 days/week over the next 2 months (future). 2 During the past seven days, how many days did you walk for at least 10 min at a time for fun, relaxation, exercise, or to walk the dog? 3 How many times per week do you do physical activities specifically designed to strengthen your muscles, such as lifting weights or doing calisthenics (e.g., exercising large muscle groups)? 4 How many times per week do you do physical activities designed to stretch your muscles, such as yoga or exercises like bending side-to-side, toe-touching, and leg stretches? 5-point Likert scale (1 = not likely at all to 5 = very likely) for strengthening and stretching exercises. 9-point Likert scale (0 = 0 days to 7 = 7 days) for other physical activity questions (CDC, 2017). 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) measuring aging anxiety, with higher scores indicating higher anxiety levels (Lasher and Faulkender 1993).Bolded p-values indicate a significant relationship.
Table 6
Aging anxiety and attitudes toward PA.
| FEAR OF OLDER ADULTS | PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCERNS | PHYSICAL APPEARANCE | FEAR OF LOSSES | TOTAL SCORE OF AGING ANXIETY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Useful/useless | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.1972 | –0.0451 | –0.0409 | –0.1008 | –0.1802 |
| p-Value | 0.0085 | 0.5533 | 0.5893 | 0.1815 | 0.0170 |
| Healthy/unhealthy | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.2685 | –0.1761 | –0.0953 | –0.1780 | –0.2877 |
| p-Value | 0.0003 | 0.0208 | 0.2121 | 0.0187 | 0.0001 |
| Good/bad | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.2070 | –0.1541 | –0.0500 | –0.0992 | –0.2180 |
| p-Value | 0.0057 | 0.0416 | 0.5098 | 0.1886 | 0.0037 |
| Enjoyable/unenjoyable | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.3418 | –0.2577 | –0.1064 | –0.1731 | –0.3731 |
| p-Value | <0.0001 | 0.0006 | 0.1585 | 0.0208 | <0.0001 |
| Interesting/boring | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.3388 | –0.17129 | –0.1149 | –0.1049 | –0.3060 |
| p-Value | <0.0001 | 0.0234 | 0.1289 | 0.1643 | <0.0001 |
| Pleasant/unpleasant | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.2730 | –0.2125 | –0.1010 | –0.1803 | –0.3277 |
| p-Value | 0.0002 | 0.0046 | 0.1725 | 0.0160 | <0.0001 |
| Attitude toward PA advantage/disadvantage1 | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.23011 | –0.1092 | –0.0618 | –0.12482 | –0.22623 |
| p-Value | 0.0020 | 0.1489 | 0.4136 | 0.0969 | 0.0025 |
| Attitude toward PA enjoyment2 | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.3312 | –0.2220 | –0.1235 | –0.1624 | –0.3572 |
| p-Value | <0.0001 | 0.0031 | 0.1014 | 0.0303 | <0.0001 |
| Total score attitude toward PA | |||||
| Correlation coefficient | –0.3221 | –0.2166 | –0.1038 | –0.1665 | –0.3438 |
| p-Value | <0.0001 | 0.0039 | 0.1690 | 0.0263 | <0.0001 |
[i] Note: 1 PA attitudes via the perceived positive or negative effects of being physically active (e.g., PA is useful/useless, healthy/unhealthy, and good/bad). 2 Affective attitude as indicated by the enjoyment level of participating in PA (e.g., PA is enjoyable/unenjoyable, interesting/boring, and pleasant/unpleasant). A 7-point Likert scale was used to assess attitudes, where a score of 1 indicated a positive attitude, and a score of 7 indicated a negative attitude. (Ajzen 1991). 3 Physical activity. 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) measuring aging anxiety, with higher scores indicating higher anxiety levels (Lasher and Faulkender 1993).
Bolded p-values indicate a significant relationship.
Table 7
Association between aging anxiety and its constructs, as well as the association between PA and attitudes toward PA, while controlling for different demographic variables.
| REFERENCE | ODDS RATIO | 95% CI1 | p-VALUE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fear of older adults | ||||
| Gender | Female | 1.993 | 1.03–3.85 | 0.0406 |
| Attitude toward PA2 enjoyment | 1.121 | 1.05–1.19 | 0.0003 | |
| Psychological concerns | ||||
| Attitude toward PA enjoyment | 1.066 | 1.01–1.12 | 0.0306 | |
| Physical appearance | ||||
| Age (years) | 40–49 vs. 50–59 | 1.568 | 0.53–4.63 | 0.4153 |
| 40–49 vs. 60–69 | 3.737 | 1.34–10.42 | 0.0118 | |
| 40–49 vs. ≥70 | 3.301 | 1.04–8.76 | 0.0408 | |
| 50–59 vs. 60–69 | 2.383 | 1.02–5.52 | 0.0428 | |
| 50–59 vs. ≥70 | 1.932 | 0.79–4.68 | 0.1444 | |
| 60–69 vs. ≥70 | 0.811 | 0.36–1.81 | 0.6099 | |
| Strengthening | 1.201 | 1.02–1.40 | 0.0237 | |
| Fear of loss | ||||
| Marital status | Married | 0.434 | 0.20–0.90 | 0.0264 |
| Income (USD) | ≤20,000 vs. 20,001–30,000 | 1.418 | 0.57–3.51 | 0.4502 |
| ≤20,000 vs. 30,001–50,000 | 3.501 | 1.31–9.34 | 0.0124 | |
| ≤20,000 vs. >50,000 | 2.276 | 1.02–5.06 | 0.0441 | |
| 20,001–30,000 vs. 30,001–50,000 | 2.469 | 0.82–7.37 | 0.1055 | |
| 20,001–30,000 vs. >50,000 | 1.605 | 0.62–4.15 | 0.3299 | |
| 30,001vs. >50,000 | 0.650 | 0.23–1.78 | 0.4042 | |
| Total score of aging anxiety | ||||
| Gender | Female | 2.354 | 1.19–4.63 | 0.0013 |
| Attitude toward PA enjoyment | 1.136 | 1.06–1.21 | <0.0001 | |
[i] Note: 5-point Likert scale (1 = not likely at all to 5 = very likely) for strengthening and stretching exercises. 9-point Likert scale (0 = 0 days to 7 = 7 days) for other physical activity questions (CDC, 2017). A 7-point Likert scale was used to assess attitudes, where a score of 1 indicated a positive attitude, and a score of 7 indicated a negative attitude (Ajzen 1991). 1 Confidence interval, 2 Physical activity. Bolded p-values indicate the significant relationship. 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) measuring aging anxiety, with higher scores indicating higher anxiety levels (Lasher and Faulkender 1993).