The Dialectics of Forgetting and Remembering Across the Adult Lifespan

Abstract. Conflict avoidance increases across the adult lifespan. This cross-sectional study looks at conflict avoidance as part of a mechanism to regulate belongingness needs ( Sheldon, 2011 ). We assumed that older adults perceive more threats to their belongingness when they contemplate their future, and that they preventively react with avoidance coping. We set up a model predicting conflict avoidance that included perceptions of future nonbelonging, termed anticipated loneliness, and other predictors including sociodemographics, indicators of subjective well-being and perceived social support (N = 331, aged 40–87). Anticipated loneliness predicted conflict avoidance above all other predictors and partially mediated the age-association of conflict avoidance. Results suggest that belongingness regulation accounts may deepen our understanding of conflict avoidance in the second half of life.

Download Full-text

I Rate My Memory Quite Similar at Age 40 and at Age 70

GeroPsych ◽

10.1024/1662-9647/a000239 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 235-244

Author(s):

Boo Johansson ◽

Marcus Praetorius Björk ◽

Valgeir Thorvaldsson

Keyword(s):

Change Score ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Memory Decline ◽

Memory Factor ◽

Invariance Testing ◽

Adult Lifespan ◽

Memory Functioning ◽

Acceptable Model ◽

Score Model ◽

Old Men

Abstract. In 1987, we administered a subjective memory questionnaire to 143 40-year-old men, and 30 years later 67 of them again responded to the same questionnaire at age 70. At the follow-up, we also instructed participants to answer the questionnaire in the same manner as they thought they did at age 40 and to perform a picture recognition and a public event test. We employed confirmatory factor analysis to model a latent subjective memory construct. A single-factor solution provided acceptable model fit to data (χ2(12) = 9.33, p = .68; χ2(12) = 10.48, p = .57) and a decent reliability at both ages for the subjective memory measurements (omega = .82 and .93, respectively). Our longitudinal invariance testing revealed only a partial weak invariance. We also fitted a latent change-score model to the data. As expected, participants on average rated their memory as poorer at age 70 than at 40. Those who reported better overall health and less anxiety reported less memory decline up to age 70. Notably, this was also the case for those who rated memory as worse at age 40. Higher stress and depression at age 70, however, were associated with worse subjective memory already at age 40. The correspondences between memory ratings and tests were low. The correlation between the subjective memory factors at age 40 and 70 was 0.58, while the correlation between the memory factor at age 70 and the retrospective subjective memory factor was 0.87. Our findings suggest that subjective memory is quite consistent, and that we are inclined to preserve the continuity of our own memory functioning over the adult lifespan.

Download Full-text