Journal of Community Health Vol. 7, No. 2, Winter 1981 DIMENSIONS OF HEALTH AND THEIR IMPORTANCE FOR MORALE IN OLD AGE: A MULTIVARIATE EXAMINATION Jay A. Mancini, Ph.D., and William H. Quinn, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: Numerous researchers have pointed to the centrality of health in personal adaptation in the later years. This investigation examines morale in regard to 16 health indicators. Probability techniques were used to draw a sample of 104 noninstitutionalized people, 65 years of age and older. Product- moment correlations indicated a substantial relatedness among the health indicators. A principal components factor analysis generated five health dimensions: Assessing and Promoting Own Health, Health Behavior and Facilities, Disease and Its Control, Sensory Abilities, and Source of Care. Morale was bivariately related most to the individual measures of fatigue, comparative health level, visual acuity, and general self-rated health. A multiple regression analysis indicated that morale was reported to be higher among those who felt more rested upon wakening in the morning, who had better visual abilities, and who saw their health level as being at least as good as in the past. Though health is a central concern at all stages of life, it becomes even more important for older adults. The state of one's health can overwhelmingly influence the quality of life and tends to affect one's morale, social life, and in- terpersonal relationships. 1 The frail older adult may not interact freely with family and friends, may not be able to use time as he or she wishes, and, in general, may not be able to maintain ongoing contact with the social milieu. 2-6 The morale of older adults concerns us most, ::the extent to which an individual feels contented with present existence, has a positive attitude toward own aging, feels affectively stable, and has a sense of integration with society" 7-9 Over the years a multitude of variables relating to morale have been examined, but only a few have been found to be important across varying groups of old people. Larson, after surveying the gerontological studies of morale conducted in the past 30 years, reports that it relates consistently to health, more so than any other variable that has been considered.I° The effect that health has on morale is both direct and indirect. H Streib and Schneider have called health and its components a :~massive situational influence", meaning that health level mediates how other, so-called independent variables Dr. Mancini is Assistant Professor of Family Development at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 202 Wallace Annex, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061. Dr. Quinn is Assistant Professor of Family Life at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79406. This study was supported in part by a Biomedical Research Support Grant from the National Institutes of Health. It was presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society, San Diego, November 1980. 118 0094-5145/81/1600-0118500.95 ©Human Sciences Press