Levels of and Changes in Life Satisfaction Predict Mortality Hazards: the Role of Physical Health, Perceived Control, and Social

It is well-documented that well-being typically evinces precipitous at the end of life. However, research has primarily taken a approach by knowing the outcome (date of death) aligning in retrospect how well-being has changed for people with documented events. In the present study, we made use of a predictive by examining whether and how levels of and in life satisfaction prospectively predict hazards and delineate the role of contributing factors, including, perceived control, and social orientation. To do so, we applied shared growth-survival models to 20-year longitudinal data from 10,597 (n = 1,560 or 15% deceased; age at: M = 44 years, SD =17, range: 18–98 years) from the national German-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). Our findings showed that lower levels and declines of life satisfaction each uniquely predicted higher mortality. Results also reveal moderating effects of age and perceived control: Life levels and changes had stronger predictive effects for mortality among older adults. Perceived control is associated with lower mortality; however, this effect is diminished for those who experience accelerated satisfaction decline. Variance decomposition suggests that predictive of life satisfaction trajectories were partially unique(3–6%) and partially shared with physical health, perceived, and social orientation (17–19 %). Our discussion on the strengths and challenges of a predictive approach to link changes (in life satisfaction) to mortality hazards and considers of our findings for healthy aging.