scholarly journals Where We Live Matters: Residential Influences on Health and Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 651-651
Author(s):  
Yee To Ng ◽  
Elizabeth Munoz ◽  
Markus Schafer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Home Environment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Individual Outcomes ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Fall Risks ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Growing evidence indicates that residential contexts are implicated in the health and well-being of older adults. Operationalization of these contexts varies and includes psychosocial, physical and socioeconomic neighborhoods, and more proximal contexts (e.g., home environment). We aim to bring together a diverse set of papers focused on the living environment to understand how contextual factors are associated with individual outcomes. Muñoz and colleagues applied a lifespan perspective by evaluating associations between current and childhood neighborhood perceptions on cognitive health. Their results indicated that the association between perceived neighborhoods and cognition in adulthood was moderated by childhood neighborhoods. García and Ailshire contextualized the types of neighborhoods in which older Latinos live and how these influenced diabetes risk. They identified neighborhood clusters characterized by racial/ethnic and socioeconomic compositions and found that predominantly Latino neighborhoods with low SES were more likely to have diabetes compared to other neighborhood clusters. This symposium will also focus on the more proximal environment. Lee and Ailshire examined the neighborhood and home environment and found that the home’s proximity to green space and level of clutter within the home was associated with increased fall risks in older adults. Fingerman and colleagues coded older adults’ living spaces and found that personality type was associated with room conditions. Altogether, the presentations highlight the relevance of context measured across multiple levels of analyses and dimensions of well-being outcomes in aging individuals. Dr. Markus Schafer will provide a discussion of these findings and address the challenges and opportunities for future research.

The development of a brief measure of health personality

2020 ◽  
pp. 135910532093117
Author(s):  
Peter Martin ◽  
Joseph Kim ◽  
Angelica Jasper ◽  
Yousun Baek ◽  
Daniel Russell
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Personality Assessment ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Good Internal Consistency ◽  
Health And Well Being

The purpose of this research was to develop a brief assessment of health personality, defined as a set of individual dispositions that are directly related to health. In Study 1, an initial pool of items was developed with 615 older adults, 65 years of age and older. The scale was reduced to a 15-item version for use in applied health care settings. Results indicated that the ‘Health Personality Assessment scale’ has good internal consistency, and the five-factors correlated significantly with self-reported measures of physical health and well-being. In Study 2, the scale was cross-validated with 254 older adults from the Health Literacy and Cognitive Function among Older Adults Study. The scale was refined and a third study consisted of 3,907 older adults. Reliability and validity of the scale were confirmed. Future research should evaluate the usefulness of this scale in applied healthcare settings.

scholarly journals “Especially for People Our Age”: Exploring the Correlates of Ageism During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 601-601
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sublett ◽  
Michael Vale ◽  
Toni Bisconti
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented context for older adults where they may feel patronized, isolated, and fearful because of their greater risk of getting COVID-19 and being targets of ageism. Previous researchers have linked ageism negatively with health and well-being; although, the majority of this research has highlighted the negative, or hostile, aspects of ageism, and excluded the overaccommodative and patronizing qualities of benevolent ageism. Since the start of the pandemic, both forms of ageism have been noted to be more salient with claims of an ageism outbreak (Ayalon et al., 2020). The correlates of ageism during the COVID-19 pandemic are widely unknown, and the goal of this study was to explore whether experiences of ageism were related to different affective and health-related responses to the pandemic. In a sample of older adults (N=65) collected in September 2020, we found that benevolent ageism positively correlated with pandemic specific experiences of pity (r=.27, p<.05), loneliness (r=.30, p<.05), worry (r=.40, p<.01), and negatively related to self-reported physical health (r=-.31, p<.05) and emotional well-being (r=-.26, p<.05). Hostile ageism did not relate to pity, but positively correlated with loneliness (r=.25, p<.05) and worry (r=.37, p<.01), and negatively related to physical health (r=-.27, p<.05) and emotional well-being (r=-.38, p<.01). This work provides preliminary evidence of how the lives of older adults have been influenced by COVID-19 and the resulting ageism outbreak. Future research should continue this avenue of study with more expansive and inclusive samples and approaches as the pandemic is not over.

scholarly journals Exploring Gender Differences in Volunteer Behavior Among Older Asian Americans

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 24-25
Author(s):  
Patrick Ho Lam Lai ◽  
Christina Matz ◽  
Cal Halvorsen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Asian Women ◽  
Asian Men ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Prior research has documented the health and well-being effects of volunteerism in later life, and that positive outcomes increase in the first 100 volunteer hours/year and slightly increase between 100-200 hours. Given this, it seems that using an intersectional lens to explore disparities in volunteer behaviors and what might explain them is important from a health equity standpoint. Using data from 268,194 individuals aged 65-85 from the most recently available Volunteer Supplement of the Current Population Survey, this study found that White older adults were most likely to spend any time in volunteer activities, while Asian and Hispanic older adults were least, across all racial/ethnic groups. Further, the percentage of older Asian women volunteering in the 100-200 hour range (27%) was significantly higher than that of older Asian men (19%). Social and cultural factors that may explain these racial/gender differences and implications for recruiting older adults as volunteers are discussed.

scholarly journals Marriage, Cohabitation, and Divorce in Later Life

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan L Brown ◽  
Matthew R Wright
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Divorce Rate ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Family Change ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Source Of Care ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Older adults are at the forefront of family change as a declining share experiences lifelong marriage and rates of cohabitation and divorce in later life continue to rise. The goal of this article is to review recent scholarship on marriage, cohabitation, and divorce among older adults and identify directions for future research. The varied family experiences characterizing the later life course demonstrate the importance of moving beyond marital status to capture additional dimensions of the marital biography, including transitions, timing, duration, and sequencing. Cohabitation operates as an alternative to marriage for older adults and is increasingly replacing remarriage following divorce or widowhood. The gray divorce rate has doubled in recent decades as older adults abandon marriage in favor of unmarried partnerships or singlehood. The retreat from marriage among older adults raises important questions about the ramifications of family change for health and well-being as well as access to caregivers given that spouses historically have been the primary source of care.

Negative Social Ties: Prevalence and Consequences

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Offer
Keyword(s):  
Job Performance ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Individual Outcomes ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Job Performance And Satisfaction ◽  
Health And Well Being

Recent decades have seen a surge of interest in negative ties and the negative aspects of social relationships. Researchers in different fields have studied negative ties and their consequences for various individual outcomes, including health and well-being, social status in schools and other organizations, and job performance and satisfaction, but they have mainly done so in disconnect. The result is a dearth of theoretization, manifested in a multitude of concepts and measures, that has made synthesis difficult and left numerous questions unanswered. By critically assessing these literatures, this review maps unresolved issues and identifies important lacunae in current investigations of negative ties. It is organized around three key issues: What are negative ties? How prevalent are they and where do they come from? And what are their consequences? The review concludes by proposing an agenda for future research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 47 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Obesity and COVID-19: A Perspective from the European Association for the Study of Obesity on Immunological Perturbations, Therapeutic Challenges, and Opportunities in Obesity

Obesity Facts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gijs H. Goossens ◽  
Dror Dicker ◽  
Nathalie J. Farpour-Lambert ◽  
Gema Frühbeck ◽  
Dana Mullerova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Therapeutic Strategies ◽  
Medical Society ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Research Initiatives ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Increased Susceptibility

Accumulating evidence suggests that obesity is a major risk factor for the initiation, progression, and outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO), as a scientific and medical society dedicated to the promotion of health and well-being, is greatly concerned about the concomitant obesity and COVID-19 pandemics and their impact on health and society at large. In this perspective, we will address the inherent immunological perturbations and alterations in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with obesity and COVID-19, and discuss how these impairments may underlie the increased susceptibility and more detrimental outcomes of COVID-19 in people with obesity. Clearly, this has important implications for preventive measures, vaccination, and future therapeutic strategies to combat COVID-19. Furthermore, we will highlight important knowledge gaps and provide suggestions for future research and recommendations for policy actions. Since many new reports on COVID-19 rapidly appear, the present perspective should be seen as a focus for discussion to drive forward further understanding, research initiatives, and clinical management of COVID-19.

scholarly journals PSYCHOLOGICAL AND HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF HELPING OTHERS: INNOVATIVE METHODS TO UNDERSTAND STRAINS AND GAINS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S234-S235
Author(s):  
William E Haley ◽  
Karl Pillemer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Family Caregiving ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Prosocial Behaviors ◽  
Epidemiological Methods ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Innovative Methods ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Older adults are often involved in prosocial behaviors including volunteering, informal assistance to family members, or extensive caregiving for family with chronic disease or disability. Many studies find that volunteering and providing informal support can enhance health and well-being, but family caregiving has generally been characterized as being highly stressful and harmful to health and well-being. Recent research has suggested that involvement in prosocial activities, including caregiving, can actually build resilience and buffer the impacts of stress, and that the commonalities across different types of prosocial behaviors in older adults deserve greater attention. This symposium brings together researchers who are using innovative methods to study prosocial behaviors, including measuring daily experiences and their linkages with affect, epidemiological methods, and use of health outcomes including serum biomarkers of inflammation and immunity, activity tracking, and mortality. Results across the presentations show that the effects of helping others can be considered as mixed blessings, with potentially harmful and helpful effects depending on contextual factors. Factors including a history of adverse childhood experiences, and dementia caregiving, can create particular challenges. The Discussant, Dr. Karl Pillemer, will discuss implications for future research on volunteering, informal assistance to family, and family caregiving. He will also address ways that gerontological researchers can present a more balanced public narrative about how stressful experiences such as caregiving can produce not only negative affect, but also potentially positive health benefits, resilience to stress, and personal growth.

Challenges and opportunities for the affective sciences.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Fox ◽  
Regina Lapate ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman ◽  
Richard J Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Core Feature ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Improved Methods ◽  
Health And Well Being

Emotion is a core feature of the human condition, with profound consequences for health, wealth, and wellbeing. Over the past quarter-century, improved methods for manipulating and measuring different features of emotion have yielded steady advances in our scientific understanding emotional states, traits, and disorders. Yet, it is clear that most of the work remains undone. Here, we highlight key challenges facing the field of affective sciences. Addressing these challenges will provide critical opportunities not just for understanding the mind, but also for increasing the impact of the affective sciences on public health and well-being.

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