Envelhecimento bem-sucedido: avanços na compreensão do fenômeno em contextos do Norte e Nordeste do Brasil.

Abstract

Inserted in Research Line 2 – Psychological Processes and Health of the Graduate Program in Psychology. Successful aging is a multidimensional construct influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors. This dissertation aimed to advance the understanding of factors associated with successful aging from a biopsychosocial perspective and is composed of two complementary studies. The first study investigated the role of psychosocial resources in the relationship between physical health and successful aging using a parallel mediation model estimated through Structural Equation Modeling. The sample comprised 538 community-dwelling older adults from Northeastern Brazil. The findings showed that psychosocial resources fully mediated the association between physical health and successful aging, whereas psychological distress did not present a significant mediating effect, indicating that biomedical conditions alone are insufficient to explain successful aging. The second study proposed and tested a hierarchical biopsychosocial model to explain successful aging among 303 community-dwelling older adults from Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted through the sequential entry of variable blocks based on a conceptual framework. The final model explained 47.4% of the variance in successful aging, demonstrating incremental contributions of sociodemographic characteristics, physical health and functional status, psychological distress, psychosocial resources, and self-rated health. In the final model, family income, functional limitations, number of chronic conditions, anxiety, perceived stress, resilience, and self-rated health remained significantly associated with successful aging. Taken together, the findings reinforce the multidimensional nature of successful aging, highlight the importance of integrating different biopsychosocial domains, and contribute to the refinement of explanatory models of aging, expanding evidence from Brazilian contexts and supporting future research and strategies aimed at promoting healthy aging.