Age, Perceptions of Mattering, and Allostatic Load.

OBJECTIVES: Engagement in close personal ties has been shown to reduce risk for morbidity and mortality. In this study, we assess the extent to which one dimension of social relationships, mattering to others, conditions the positive relationship between age and allostatic load (AL). We do so to test the assumption that age-related declines in health are less prominent among those with high levels of mattering.

METHOD: Poisson regression models were estimated using data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (NSAHS). The NSAHS is a community-based study of 1,026 African American and White study participants, aged 22 to 69 years, residing in Davidson County, Tennessee.

RESULTS: Analyses revealed that mattering conditioned or modified the relationship between age and AL. Specifically, we found that AL increases with age and this increase was significantly greater among those with moderate or low perceptions of mattering to others.

DISCUSSION: This study confirms that perceptions of mattering to one's significant others are inversely related to physical health problems. This is so because mattering captures the positive and protective aspects of these relationships.