Sense of control, quality of life, and frail older people.

Publisher Summary Sense of control and quality of life for older people are intimately interrelated. Sense of control is a pivotal contributor to a wide variety of behaviors including intellectual performance and coping with stress and to both mental and physical well-being, which are essential elements of the quality of life. People are able to maintain a stable sense of the self despite the gradual and slow changes in themselves and their social environment that accompany aging. Child development and adult cognitive intervention literatures provide some clues about the environmental conditions that may link increasing disability with a diminishing sense of control. Children and adolescents are likely to develop a positive sense of control when the environment is characterized as offering choice as opposed to constraint and as being contingent, sensitive to one's goals, desires, and supportive, that is, providing constructive feedback. A sense of control may influence subjective or perceived health through its effects on the salience and labeling of bodily complaints as symptoms.