Abstract
Promoting health behaviors among older adults has become increasingly important given the accumulating health problems that can accompany older age. The present study examined the linkages between implicit theories regarding the modifiability of abilities, health behaviors, and subjective age among older adults. A total of 147 older adults (Mean age = 68.62, SD = 5.40) completed, among other measures, questions assessing their implicit theories of ability and their subjective age. They also reported their perceptions of the benefits of different health behaviors (i.e., healthy sleep and diet habits, exercising, and seeking help for hearing or vision problems) for slowing the effects of aging as well as their intentions to engage in those behaviors. As hypothesized, we found that the more older people believed that abilities are changeable, the more they perceived benefits of health behaviors, which in turn increased their intentions. Also, the greater their intentions, the younger the subjective age they reported. The finding that perceived benefits mediated the relationship between implicit theories and intentions toward health behaviors may have important implications for designing interventions to promote and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle in later life. Interventions that focus on modifying fixed mindsets regarding general abilities could indirectly yield positive consequences on intentions to engage in health behaviors by leading older people to see those behaviors as useful for slowing the effects of aging.