Primary- and secondary-control strategies in later life: Predicting hospital outcomes in men and women

Community-dwelling individuals (n = 143, 73-98 years old) were assessed to consider if their use of task-specific control strategies predicted hospital outcomes in the subsequent 2 years. The authors were interested in whether men and women facing health-induced task restrictions benefited equally from the use of primary- and secondary-control strategies. Gender interacted with primary-control strategies; men's more frequent use of these proactive strategies generally related to fewer hospital admissions. Gender also interacted with secondary-control strategies; women's more frequent use of compensatory (self-protective) strategies corresponded to fewer hospital admissions and shorter hospital stay durations. Taken together, our findings suggest that men benefit by adopting certain primary-control strategies and women benefit by adopting certain compensatory secondary-control strategies.