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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the association between chronological age, disability and mental health in later life. Secondary analysis of data from a national probability sample of Jewish persons age 60 and over in Israel ( n = 2079) was employed. Mental health, measured on a 12-item mood scale, was successively regressed on age, sociodemographic characteristics, functional disability and physical health status, and on the interaction of age and disability. A significant negative association between age and mood emerged when confounding variables were not controlled ( β = -0.19). This association remained, to a lesser degree, after sociodemographic variables were entered ( β = -0.11). The addition of disability and health variables reversed the direction of the association ( β = 0.05). Finally, the entry of the interaction term (age x disability) bolstered the net association of age and mood ( β = 0.27). The analysis underscored the interaction of age and disability as a major threat to mental health in current aging cohorts.