The Effect of Age on the Relationship Between Stress, Well-Being and Health in a Singaporean Sample Jo. A. Archer 1 & Z. M. Tony Lim 1 & Hui Chian Teh 1,3 & Weining. C. Chang 2 & S. H. Annabel Chen 1,4 Published online: 8 September 2015 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract This study investigates the relationship between stress, well-being and health in older adults compared to younger adults. This can help inform future interventions aiming to improve health in older adults. Data from 200 undergraduates and 84 older adults were analysed to assess the mediating and moderating role of well-being in the relationship between stress and perceived health in older adults. Age group was also analysed as a moderating factor. Age group significantly moderated the relationship between stress and well-being and stress and health, in both cases the association was weaker in the older adults. Mental well-being was a significant moderator in the relationship between perceived stress and perceived health in older adults, compared to the mediating role in the young. Higher well-being may serve as a protective factor in the link between stress and health in older adults. Keywords Ageing . Asia, Southeastern . Health . Stress . Psychological . Regression analysis Ageing Int (2015) 40:413–425 DOI 10.1007/s12126-015-9225-3 Jo. A. Archer and Z. M. Tony Lim contributed equally to this work. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12126-015-9225-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * S. H. Annabel Chen annabelchen@ntu.edu.sg 1 Division of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, 14 Nanyang Drive, HSS-04-19, Singapore 637332, Singapore 2 Office of Research in Clinical Sciences, Duke-NUS Graduate School of Medicine, Singapore, Singapore 3 Present address: University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia 4 Centre for Research and Development in Learning (CRADLE), Nanyang Technological University, 62 Nanyang Drive, Block N1.2-B1-02a, Singapore 637459, Singapore