In total, 1,250 people from Washington, DC and six states, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia, responded to the survey.
Among the original findings, participants who identified as African American were more interested in health-related programs.
The researchers conducted another study to focus more closely on the responses of 178 African-American survey participants, the results of which were published in September.
With this subset, the researchers found that the most frequent concern about aging was fear of loss, which was highest among people with low incomes and those who lived alone.
Women who were 40–49 years old were more concerned about changes in their physical appearance than their male counterparts and participants in older age groups.
While rates of physical activity were lower than white survey respondents, overall African American participants had positive attitudes about physical activity, especially strengthening exercises.
“One of the most important findings is that higher positivity about physical activity is related to less anxiety about aging,” says Francis.