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. 2019 Nov 14:10:2516.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02516. eCollection 2019.

Are Psycho-Behavioral Factors Accounting for Longevity?

Rocío Fernández-Ballesteros  1 , Macarena Sánchez-Izquierdo  2
Affiliations

Are Psycho-Behavioral Factors Accounting for Longevity?

Rocío Fernández-Ballesteros et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

The general objective of this article is to critically review the state of the art regarding current factors accounting for aging, longevity and successful longevity. There are two major constructs which most authors are employing to account for longevity: genetic or intrinsic components versus environmental or extrinsic factors. This classification has important flaws: (i) From an epigenetic standpoint, such a polar classification could lead to misconceptions since both factors are interdependent through lifelong interactions. (ii) There are no specifications regarding these "environmental" factors, which include a broad heterogeneity of conditions (physical, economic, social, and cultural aspects as well as behavioral ones such as lifestyle) but do not include personal conditions, such as psychological characteristics. The review of the new paradigm called successful aging yields an important set of psycho-behavioral factors, and although population indexes such as Disability Free Life Expectancy (DFLE) or Healthy Life expectancy (HLE) have been developed, authors do not take into consideration healthy or successful longevity as a potential prolongation of the new paradigm of active or successful aging. There is a broad corpus of research literature supporting the importance of psycho-behavioral (PB) factors intervening in the ways of aging, specifically intelligence and cognitive functioning, positive emotion and control, personality traits, psychosocial, physical conditions, and lifestyles, all of which are highly associated with active aging, health, longevity, and survival. The importance of these factors accounting for longevity, and successful longevity must be taken into consideration as a pending issue in gerontology.

Keywords: aging; healthy longevity; predictors of longevity; psycho-behavioral factors; successful longevity.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Share of persons surviving to successive ages for persons born 1851 to 2031, England and Wales. Office for National Statistics (ONS). Life expectancy figures are not available for the United Kingdom before 1951; for long historic trends England and Wales data are used. The Interactive data visualization is available at OurWorldinData.org. There you find the raw data and more visualizations on this topic. Licensed under CC-BY-SA by the author Max Roser.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
(A) The probabilistic-epigenetic framework (modified from Gottlieb, 1991). Reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder. Copyright by American Psychological Association. (B) Reciprocal Determinism Theory. The person, his/her behavior and the context, all mutually influence each other (reciprocal determination) (Modified from Bandura, 1978). Reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder. Copyright by American Psychological Association. (C) Environment, Organism, Basic Behavioral Repertoires (BBRs) and Behaviors Interactions across Life Cycle (Modified from Fernández-Ballesteros and Staats, 1992). Reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder. Copyright by Advances in Behavior Research an Therapy.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Four domains model of aging well (modified from Fernández-Ballesteros, 2019). Reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder. Copyright by Cambridge University Press.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Products of human mind across history and, since 1850 increasing longevity and cognitive functioning. Reprinted with the permission of the copyright holders. (A) Reprinted from The Lancet, 374(9696), Christensen et al. (2009) Ageing populations: the challenges ahead, 1196–1208, 2009. With permission from Elesevier. (B) Reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder. Reprinted from American Psychological Association, Neisser, U. (Ed.). (1998). The rising curve: Long-term gains in IQ and related measures.
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