Table 2 Univariate associations between socio-demographic, health-related and psychosocial variables and fear of falling and avoidance of activity

Socio-demographic

-Age (M, SD)

77.2 (4.6)

78.2 (4.9)*

77.1 (4.7)

78.3 (4.8)*

-Sex (female)

64.8%

80.6%**

67.9%

77.3%**

-Educational level (low)¹

59.4%

66.8%**

59.9%

66.7%

-Living alone

50.0%

60.3%**

52.4%

57.8%

Health-related

-Activity of daily living (M, SD)²

15.9 (3.5)

19.0 (4.9)*

15.8 (3.4)

19.4 (5.0)*

-Impaired vision (M, SD)²

2.7 (1.3)

3.1 (1.6)*

2.7 (1.3)

3.1 (1.7)*

-Impaired hearing (M, SD)²

2.7 (1.1)

2.8 (1.1)

2.7 (1.0)

2.8 (1.1)

-Perceived general health (poor/fair)

64.9%

75.3%**

63.3%

78.4%**

-Number of chronic conditions (M, SD)

2.2 (1.5)

2.5 (1.7)*

2.1 (1.5)

2.6 (1.7)*

-Cognitive functioning (M, SD)³

32.1 (3.8)

31.8 (3.7)

32.1 (4.0)

31.7 (3.4)

-One or more falls in previous six months

49.0%

63.6%**

50.3%

62.9%**

Psychosocial

-General self-efficacy (M, SD)³

55.8 (10.2)

52.3 (11.9)*

55.6 (10.4)

52.4 (11.9)*

-Mastery (M, SD)³

21.7 (4.5)

20.6 (4.7)*

21.9 (4.7)

20.2 (4.4)*

-Social support interactions (M, SD)³

29.5 (6.3)

29.5 (7.3)

29.9 (6.3)

29.1 (7.3)

-Feelings of loneliness (all the time/mostly/often)

13.5%

21.3%**

12.5%

23.4%**

-Feelings of anxiety (M, SD)²

6.5 (4.1)

8.4 (4.8)*

6.6 (4.2)

8.5 (4.7)*

-Symptoms of depression (M, SD)²

6.1 (3.6)

7.7 (4.2)*

6.3 (3.7)

7.5 (4.2)*