Abstract

Major concerns surrounding successful aging include maintenance of physical, psychological, and social capabilities that impact daily, independent functioning. Members of older age groups (60+ years) desire higher overall functioning and quality of life (QOL) versus simply longer life years. Perception of self strongly contributes to engagement in daily activities and feelings of self-worth. However, there is a dearth of psychometrically sound, age-appropriate measures of self-perceptions, specifically how adults perceive their physical self and abilities. A primary goal for this project was to examine the factor structure of the Perceived Quality of Life scale, a 20-item self-survey with three subdomains (i.e., physical health, social health, cognitive health) for use with adults 60+ (N=156, Mage = 71.6). Using principal component analysis, one, two, and three component solutions were examined using varimax and promax rotation. Either a three-component solution with promax rotation or a hierarchical approach with a general component and three primary components produced the clearest simple structure for the PQOL. Since self-perceptions contribute to participation in daily activities, self-health management, and leisure pursuits, effective assessment of older adult self-constructs is critical in understanding successful aging.