Primary and secondary control-enhancing strategies: Implications for health in later life

Objectives: The major goal of this article was to assess the link between:control-enhancing strategies and health in an older population. In particular, the use of primary-control strategies, which involve modifying the environment (e.g., actively persisting) and compensatory secondary-control strategies, which involve modifying the-self (e.g. expecting less of oneself) was studied. Methods: Participants (n = 241) in a large-scale longitudinal study were interviewed to assess their use of strategies:and their health. Results: Health (physical and perceived) was found to:vary for those using primary- and compensatory secondary-control strategies; however, the nature of this variation depended on age. Discussion: The findings may indicate that primary-control strategies have positive health implications for the young-old but that these same strategies become detrimental to health in late life. The findings could further suggest that compensatory secondary-control strategies become increasingly more adaptive in late life.