The role of positive psychological wellbeing in walking speed differences among married and unmarried English older adults

Abstract

Objectives: Walking speed has been identified as an important indicator of functional independence and survival among older adults, with marital status being related to walking speed differences. We explored explanatory factors, with a focus on positive psychological wellbeing, in walking speed differences between married and non-married individuals in later life. Methods: We used wave 8 (2016/17) cross-sectional data from adults aged 60–79 years who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (n = 3,743). An Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was used to compute walking speed differences between married and unmarried individuals, and the portion of those differences that could be explained by characteristic differences in those groups, particularly wellbeing. Results: Overall, married individuals had walking speeds that were 0.073 m/s (95% confidence interval: 0.055–0.092 m/s) faster than their unmarried counterparts. This was primarily driven by differences between the married and separated/divorced group, and the widowed group. Included covariates explained roughly 89% of the overall walking speed difference. Positive psychological wellbeing consistently explained a significant portion of walking speed differences, ranging between 7% to 18% across comparisons. Conclusion: Although wealth has been previously found to partially explain walking speed differences by marital status, we found that positive psychological wellbeing also demonstrated pertinence to these differences.

Keywords:

• Gait speed
• wellbeing
• depression
• physical activity
• wealth
• Oaxaca-Blinder
• aging

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available to researchers. The UK Data Service provides access to ELSA: https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-5050-24, study number 5050.

Additional information

Funding

ELSA is funded by the National Institute on Aging [R01AG017644] and by UK Government Departments coordinated by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).