Resilience and healthy aging across the life course: a longitudinal analysis of psychological wellbeing and physical adversity

With an unprecedented number of Canadians entering later life, there has never been a more important time to identify resources that individuals can utilize to improve their psychological wellbeing in the presence of physical limitations. The purpose of this project will be to use nationally-representative data from >50,000 adults aged >45 in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to, firstly, measure resilience, which is defined as high psychological wellbeing despite physical adversity. We will then look at how different individual, social, and environmental resources affect psychological responses to different levels of physical adversity, such as chronic pain, reduced mobility, and disability. Using this longitudinal dataset, we will identify strategies that older adults can utilize to foster greater resilience via these resources.