Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of study participants by level of purpose in life (N=13,770)
| Characteristic | Sense of Purpose in Life |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total n=13,770 |
1st Quartilea n=3,485 |
2nd Quartileb n=3,216 |
3rd Quartilec n=3,511 |
4th Quartiled n=3,132 |
Missing n=426 |
|
| Sociodemographic Factors | ||||||
| Mean Age (SD) | 69.8 (9.6) | 71.6 (10.3) | 70 (9.7) | 68.9 (9.1) | 67.8 (8.6) | 75.2 (10.1) |
| Gender | ||||||
| Male (%) | 5,730 (41.6) | 1,439 (41.3) | 1,357 (42.2) | 1,494 (42.6) | 1,293 (41.3) | 147 (34.5) |
| Female (%) | 8,040 (58.4) | 2,046 (58.7) | 1,859 (57.8) | 2,017 (57.4) | 1,839 (58.7) | 279 (65.5) |
| Marital Status | ||||||
| Not Married (%) | 5,181 (37.6) | 1,580 (45.3) | 1,249 (38.8) | 1,154 (32.9) | 963 (30.7) | 235 (55.2) |
| Married (%) | 8,589 (62.4) | 1,905 (54.7) | 1,967 (61.2) | 2,357 (67.1) | 2,169 (69.3) | 191 (44.8) |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||||
| White (%) | 10,659 (77.4) | 2,653 (76.1) | 2,555 (78.5) | 2,796 (79.7) | 2,398 (76.6) | 247 (60.3) |
| Black(%) | 1,765 (12.8) | 377 (10.8) | 371 (11.5) | 429 (12.2) | 483 (15.4) | 105 (24.7) |
| Hispanic (%) | 1,061 (7.71) | 372 (10.7) | 222 (6.9) | 219 (6.24) | 194 (6.19) | 54 (12.7) |
| Other (%) | 284 (2.06) | 83 (2.38) | 68 (2.1) | 66 (1.9) | 57 (2.35) | 10 (2.4) |
| Education | ||||||
| < High school (%) | 2,715 (19.8) | 1,018 (29.2) | 628 (19.6) | 511 (14.6) | 385 (12.3) | 173 (40.6) |
| High school (%) | 7,513 (54.7) | 1,883 (54.1) | 1,835 (57.1) | 1,949 (55.7) | 1,648 (52.8) | 198 (46.5) |
| ≥ College (%) | 3,515 (25.6) | 581 (16.7) | 749 (23.3) | 1,040 (29.7) | 1,090 (34.9) | 55 (12.9) |
| Insurance | ||||||
| Covered (%) | 12,198 (89.1) | 3,118 (90.3) | 2,869 (89.7) | 3,098 (88.8) | 2,724 (87.2) | 389 (92.8) |
| Not Covered (%) | 1,488 (10.9) | 337 (9.8) | 330 (10.3) | 392 (11.2) | 399 (12.8) | 30 (7.2) |
| Mean Total Wealth (per $1,000; SD) | 510 (124) | 350 (844) | 484 (128) | 551 (1060) | 690 (1689) | 349 (941) |
| Health behaviors | ||||||
| Currently Smoking (%) | 1,725 (12.6) | 548 (15.8) | 437 (13.7) | 385 (11.0) | 312 (10.0) | 43 (10.2) |
| Physically Inactive (%) | 9,484 (68.9) | 2,780 (79.9) | 2257 (70.3) | 2298 (65.5) | 1801 (57.5) | 348 (81.7) |
| Heavy Alcohol Use (%) | 1,216 (8.85) | 269 (7.73) | 294 (9.16) | 326 (9.30) | 298 (9.53) | 29 (6.81) |
| Sleep problems (%) | 5,571 (41.2) | 1,751 (51.1) | 1,369 (43.5) | 1,307 (37.9) | 961 (31.3) | 183 (44.2) |
| Unhealthy BMI (%) | 8,436 (62.0) | 2,228 (64.9) | 2,014 (63.3) | 2,101 (60.4) | 1,840 (59.3) | 253 (60.7) |
| Health Factors | ||||||
| Heart Disease (%) | 3,362 (24.4) | 1,077 (30.9) | 742 (23.1) | 827 (23.6) | 582 (18.6) | 134 (31.5) |
| Stroke (%) | 1,116 (8.11) | 407 (11.7) | 252 (7.85) | 237 (6.75) | 161 (5.1) | 59 (13.8) |
| Cancer (%) | 2,103 (15.3) | 599 (17.2) | 484 (15.1) | 524 (14.9) | 433 (13.8) | 63 (14.9) |
| Diabetes (%) | 2,729 (19.8) | 901 (25.9) | 633 (19.7) | 631 (18.0) | 451 (14.4) | 113 (26.8) |
| Hypertension (%) | 7,844 (57.0) | 2,172 (62.4) | 1,853 (57.7) | 1,928 (55.0) | 1,625 (51.9) | 266 (62.4) |
| Lung Disease (%) | 1,303 (9.5) | 458 (13.2) | 336 (10.5) | 291 (8.3) | 183 (5.85) | 35 (8.25) |
| Arthritis (%) | 8,318 (60.5) | 2,347 (67.4) | 1,949 (60.7) | 2,039 (58.1) | 1,7107 (54.9) | 266 (60.5) |
| Depression | ||||||
| Depressed | 1,881 (13.9) | 926 (27.1) | 430 (13.6) | 303 (8.7) | 133 (4.3) | 89 (21.8) |
| Not Depressed | 11,666 (86.1) | 2,485 (72.9) | 2,739 (86.4) | 3,166 (91.3) | 2,956 (95.7) | 320 (78.2) |
a
Quartile 1 (mean: 3.36; range: 1, 3.86)
b
Quartile 2 (mean: 4.29; range: 4, 4.57)
c
Quartile 3 (mean: 5.01; range: 4.6, 5.29)
d
Quartile 4 (mean: 5.75; range: 5.33, 6.00)