scholarly journals The Impact of Life Events on the Oldest Old

Author(s):  
Peter Martin ◽  
Grace Da Rosa ◽  
Leonard W. Poon
Keyword(s):  
1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen M. Jennison

This article is an analysis of stressful life events, the buffering hypothesis, and alcohol use in a national sample of 1,418 respondents 60 years of age and over. The results indicate that older adults who experience stressful losses are significantly more likely to drink excessively than those who have not experienced such losses or who have experienced them to a lesser extent. Increased drinking among older adults may therefore be a reaction to life circumstances in which alcohol represents an attempt to cope with traumatic loss, personal as well as within the kinship network. Supportive resources of spouse, family, friends, and church appear to have a stress-buffering effects that reduces the excessive-drinking response to life crisis. Data suggest, however, that older persons are vulnerable to the magnitude of losses experienced as they grow older and lose more of their family, friends, and peers. These stressors appear to seriously impact their drinking behavior and are not effectively buffered. Respondents report that drinking may increase during periods of prolonged exposure to emotionally depleting life change and loss, when supportive needs may exceed the capacities of personal and social support resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Ashley Humphrey ◽  
Olivia Vari

Past research has found that a perceived meaning in life can act as a protective factor against adverse mental health symptomology, while also providing coping resources to buffer against the impact of negative life events. The current research investigated how the impact of self-perceived meaning in life as well as its predictors interact with stressors and worry related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected survey based data (n = 260) from Australian participants during the pandemic, measuring their meaning in life, orientation to differing life goals and COVID-19 related stressors via the impact of events scale. We found that meaning in life predicted less stress and worry associated with COVID-19. We also found that intrinsic based aspirations related positively to meaning in life within this context whereas extrinsic based goals related negatively to it, although these aspirations were not significant in reducing the stressors associated with COVID-19. These results reinforce past findings that meaning in life can effectively buffer against the impact of negative life events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. They also suggest that intrinsic based aspirations centred on relationships and self-acceptance may be an important mechanism in how people choose to pursue life meaning during uncertain life events.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Broeren ◽  
Carol Newall ◽  
Helen F. Dodd ◽  
Ruth Locker ◽  
Jennifer L. Hudson

AbstractThe current study investigated the longitudinal relationships among behavioral inhibition (BI), life events, and anxiety in a sample of 102 BI children and 100 behaviorally uninhibited (BUI) children aged 3 to 4 years. Children's parents completed questionnaires on BI, stressful life events, and anxiety symptoms, and were administered a diagnostic interview three times in a 5-year period. In line with our hypotheses, negative life events, particularly negative behavior-dependent life events (i.e., life events that are related to the children's own behaviors), and the impact of negative life events were predictive of increases in subsequent anxiety symptoms, the likelihood of having an anxiety disorder, and increased number of anxiety diagnoses over the 5-year follow-up period. Experiencing more positive, behavior-independent life events decreased the risk of being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Furthermore, differences were found in life events between BI and BUI children. That is, BI children experienced fewer positive and specifically positive behavior-dependent life events, and the impact of these positive life events was also lower in BI children than in BUI children. However, BI did not interact with life events in the prediction of anxiety problems as hypothesized. Therefore, this study seems to indicate that BI and life events act as additive risk factors in the development of anxiety problems.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e87653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara L. Tamers ◽  
Cassandra Okechukwu ◽  
Alex A. Bohl ◽  
Alice Guéguen ◽  
Marcel Goldberg ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 699-705
Author(s):  
Katherine K. Bedard-Thomas ◽  
Simona Bujoreanu ◽  
Christine H. Choi ◽  
Patricia I. Ibeziako

OBJECTIVES: We describe the prevalence and perceived impact of life events reported by medically hospitalized patients with somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRD) and highlight patient characteristics and outcomes associated with highly impactful life events. METHODS: Retrospective chart reviews were conducted of patients with SSRD at a tertiary pediatric hospital who were seen by the psychiatry consultation service and completed various instruments while medically admitted, including a de novo life events checklist. Descriptive statistics, correlations, χ2 tests, and internal consistency analyses were used. RESULTS: Charts of 70.2% of patients with SSRD who completed the life events checklist (N = 172; age range 8–25 years) were reviewed. Of those studied, 94% reported at least 1 life event in the last year, with academic events most prevalent, 81% reported life events across multiple domains, and 56% perceived the life event(s) as having a great impact on their lives. Patients who perceived more great impact life events were older, from households with lower median incomes, had higher self-reported somatization, greater functional disability, more comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, required more psychotropic medications, and had longer medical admissions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings reveal that although the majority of medically hospitalized patients with SSRD reported at least 1 relevant life event, it was the patients’ perception of the impact of the life event(s) that correlated with high levels of disability and health care use. An assessment of the perception of life events in patients with SSRD may help hospitalists and interdisciplinary providers identify high-risk patients for whom early psychiatry referrals can be made.


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Amelia Díaz ◽  
Eugenia Infanzón ◽  
Ángela Beleña

In this work we study the impact of relinquishment and the adoption process in posttraumatic symptoms and stressful life events in a group of 55 adults that were adopted as children after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The effects of institutionalization, maltreatment and traumatic revelation of the adopted status have also been studied. No significant differences were found between institutionalized and non-institutionalized adoptees in posttraumatic symptomatology and stressful life events frequency. However, maltreated adoptees scored significantly higher in intrusion, arousal and stressful life events frequency than non-maltreated. Similar differences were found in the comparison between adoptees with and without traumatic revelation; those adoptees who suffered traumatic revelation presented significantly higher intrusion, arousal and stressful life events frequency than those who did not suffer traumatic revelation. Traumatic revelation, alone or in association with maltreatment, seems to play an important role in posttraumatic symptoms in the sample studied.


2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 257-260
Author(s):  
Shaheen Shora ◽  
Elizabeth Stone ◽  
Keron Fletcher

Aims and MethodThe Impact of Events Scale was administered to 104 in-patients detoxing from alcohol or opiates to determine the prevalence of psychological trauma, the severity of its symptoms and the types of trauma responsible for symptoms.ResultsOut of the 104 in-patients undergoing detoxification, 75 had symptoms of psychological trauma; in 60 patients the symptoms were in the treatable range. Patients with alcohol-dependence were more severely affected. ‘Life events’ traumatised a higher proportion of individuals than ‘traumatic events’.Clinical ImplicationsPsychological trauma requiring treatment is commonly found in substance misusers. This is rarely addressed despite the cormorbid disorder running a complicated clinical course. There are conflicting opinions about best practice, but consideration should be given to providing patients with accessible treatments for psychological trauma.


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