A longitudinal study of older adult members of a large health maintenance organization found that higher levels of body awareness were associated with significant longitudinal decreases in self-assessed health over time, controlling for physical and psychological health status, sex, age, and education. Also, psychological distress was a significant antecedent of body awareness. Individuals with higher distress had significant longitudinal increases in body awareness. However, physical illness was not associated significantly with changes in self-assessed health or body awareness over time. These results suggested that body awareness is part of a complex process through which global self-assessments of health are constructed.
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