Are they half as strong as they used to be? An experiment testing whether age-related social comparisons impair older people's hand grip strength and persistence

OBJECTIVE: To assess how age-related social comparisons, which are likely to arise inadvertently or deliberately during assessments, may affect older people's performance on tests that are used to assess their needs and capability. DESIGN: The study randomly assigned participants to a comparison with younger people or a no comparison condition and assessed hand grip strength and persistence. Gender, education, type of residence, arthritis and age were also recorded. SETTING: Age UK centres and senior's lunches in the South of England. PARTICIPANTS: An opportunity sample of 56 adults, with a mean age of 82.25 years. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Hand grip strength measured using a manual hand dynamometer and persistence of grip measured using a stopwatch. RESULTS: Comparison caused significantly worse performance measured by both strength (comparison =6.85 kg, 95% CI 4.19 kg to 9.5 kg, control group =11.07 kg, 95% CI 8.47 kg to 13.68 kg, OR =0.51, p=0.027) and persistence (comparison =8.36 s, ...