scholarly journals Characteristics of Financial Exploitation in a Sample of Israeli Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 770-770
Author(s):  
Gali Weissberger ◽  
S Duke Han ◽  
Amit Shrira

Abstract Financial exploitation (FE) negatively affects wellbeing in older adulthood. However, characteristics of FE and its health correlates remain poorly understood. In this study, 138 Israeli older adults answered questions regarding FE history, and completed physical and mental health questionnaires. Of 138 participants, 23 reported a history of FE. FE participants were older (M birth year = 1950.35; sd = 9.65) than non-FE participants (M birth year = 1953.79; sd = 6.06; p = 0.028) and reported lower household income (p=0.001). Groups did not differ in education level or sex breakdown. The FE group reported older subjective age (p = 0.022), worse subjective cognition (p = 0.007), more depressive symptoms (p=0.002), and marginally higher anxiety symptoms (p = 0.099) than the non-FE group. Groups did not differ in reported levels of social support or number of medical conditions. When covarying for age, differences between groups in subjective cognition and depressive symptoms remained significant (ps ≤0.022), while subjective age differences became marginal (p = 0.07). The FE group responded to follow-up questions regarding FE experiences. Reported perpetrators included companies/businesses (most commonly reported, 30%), strangers, friends/neighbors, service providers, and family. Eleven reported losing 100 NIS to 10,000 NIS, and 10 reported losing 10,001 to over 100,000 NIS. Additionally, six FE participants reported that the FE is ongoing, and two reported additional FE experiences. Findings suggest that FE is related to mental and physical health of older adults. Findings also provide preliminary information regarding characteristics of FE in a sample of Israeli older adults.

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Joseph Dearborn ◽  
Michael A Robbins ◽  
Merrill F Elias

Several investigators have observed lowered risk of depression among obese older adults, coining the “jolly fat” hypothesis. We examined this hypothesis using baseline and a 5-year follow-up body mass index, depressive symptoms, and covariates from 638 community-based older adults. High objectively measured body mass index and functional limitations predicted increased future depressive symptoms. However, symptoms did not predict future body mass index. Self-reported body mass index showed similar associations despite underestimating obesity prevalence. Results did not differ on the basis of gender. Results for this study, the first longitudinal reciprocal risk analysis between objectively measured body mass index and depressive symptoms among older adults, do not support the “jolly fat” hypothesis.


Author(s):  
Joel R Petashnick ◽  
Amit Shrira ◽  
Yaakov Hoffman ◽  
Yuval Palgi ◽  
Gitit Kavé ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives The present study examined the longitudinal relationships between subjective age (SA) and future functional status in later life, via depressive symptoms. Additionally, we assessed the role of subjective nearness to death (SNtD) as a potential moderator within these pathways. Methods Older adults (average age 81.14 at T1) were interviewed once a year for three consecutive years (N=224 at T1, N=178 at T2, and N=164 at T3), Participants reported their SA, SNtD, depressive symptoms, and functional status. Additionally, grip strength was employed as an objective measure of functional status. Results Data analysis revealed distinct pathways leading from T1 SA to T3 functional status through T2 depressive symptoms. Moreover, T1 SNtD was found to significantly moderate most of these indirect pathways, so that the mediation model of T1 SA-T2 depressive symptoms-T3 functional status was mostly significant among those who felt closer to death. Discussion The findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanism through which SA predicts long-term functioning sequelae by underscoring the indirect effect of depressive symptoms. They further indicate the importance of gauging the effects of SNtD on these longitudinal relationships. Present results may further contribute to establishing an integrative model for predicting long-term functional outcomes based on older adults' earlier subjective views of aging.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Rhodes ◽  
Emily E Abenne ◽  
Ashley M Meierhofer ◽  
Moshe Naveh-Benjamin

Age differences are well established for many memory tasks assessing both short-term and long-term memory. However, how age differences in performance vary with increasing delay between study and test is less clear. Here we report two experiments in which participants studied a continuous sequence of object-location pairings. Test events were intermixed such that participants were asked to recall the precise location of an object following a variable delay. Older adults exhibit a greater degree of error (distance between studied and recalled locations) relative to younger adults at short (0-2 intervening events) and longer delays (10-25 intervening events). Mixture modeling of the distribution of recall error suggests that older adults do not fail to recall information at a significantly higher rate than younger adults. Instead, what they do recall appears to be less precise. Follow up analyses demonstrate that this age difference emerges following only one or two intervening events between study and test. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that aging does not greatly impair recall from the focus of attention but age differences emerge once information is displaced from this highly accessible state. Further, we suggest that age differences in the precision of memory, but not the probability of successful recall, may be due to the use of more gist-like representations in this task.


2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joelle Jobin ◽  
Carsten Wrosch

This study examined age-related associations between goal disengagement capacities, emotional distress, and disease severity across older adulthood. Given that an age-related increase in the experience of stressors might render important goals unattainable, it is expected that goal disengagement capacities would predict a decrease in the severity of experienced illness (i.e., the common cold) by preventing emotional distress (i.e., depressive symptoms), particularly so among individuals in advanced (as compared to early) old age. This hypothesis was tested in a 6-year longitudinal study of 131 older adults (age range = 64 to 90). Regression analyses showed that goal disengagement capacities buffered 6-year increases in older adults’ cold symptoms, and that this effect was significantly pronounced among older-old participants. Mediation analyses further indicated that changes in depressive symptoms exerted an indirect effect on the age-related association between goal disengagement and changes in cold symptoms. The study’s findings suggest that goal disengagement capacities become increasingly important for protecting emotional well-being and physical health as older adults advance in age.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eun Young Choi ◽  
Young Sun Kim ◽  
Hee Yun Lee ◽  
Hye Ri Shin ◽  
SeolWoo Park ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari

Ethnicity and educational attainment are among the major social determinants of depression in the general population. While high education credentials protect individuals against depressive symptoms, this protection may be weaker for ethnic minority groups such as Hispanic Whites compared to the majority group (non-Hispanic Whites). Built on marginalization-related diminished returns (MDRs), the current study used 24-year follow-up data from a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older adults to explore ethnic variation in the protective effect of education levels against the burden of depressive symptoms over time. Data for this analysis were borrowed from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS 1992–ongoing), a nationally representative longitudinal study. HRS followed 8314 middle-aged and older adults (50+ years old) for up to 24 years. From this number, 763 (9.2%) were Hispanic White, and 7551 (90.8%) were non-Hispanic White Americans. Education level was the independent variable. We had two outcomes. Firstly, using cluster analysis, individuals were categorized to low- and high-risk groups (regarding the burden of depressive symptoms over 24 years); secondly, average depressive symptoms were observed over the 24 years of follow up. Age and gender were the covariates. Ethnicity was the moderator. Linear and logistic regression were used for analysis. Logistic regression showed that, overall, high educational credentials reduced the odds of chronic depressive symptoms over the 24 years of follow-up. Linear regression also showed that higher years of education were associated with lower average depressive symptoms over time. Both models showed statistically significant interactions between ethnicity and graduation, indicating a smaller protective effect of high education against depressive symptoms over the 24 years of follow-up time among Hispanic with respect to non-Hispanic White people. In line with the MDRs, highly educated Hispanic White Americans remain at high risk for depressive symptoms, a risk that is unexpected given their education. The burden of depressive symptoms, however, is lowest for highly educated non-Hispanic White Americans. Policies that exclusively focus on equalizing educational gaps across ethnic groups may fail to eliminate the ethnic gap in the burden of chronic depressive symptoms, given the diminished marginal health return of education for ethnic minorities. Public policies must equalize not only education but also educational quality across ethnic groups. This aim would require addressing structural and environmental barriers that are disproportionately more common in the lives of ethnic minorities across education levels. Future research should test how contextual factors, residential segregation, school segregation, labor market practices, childhood poverty, and education quality in urban schools reduce the health return of educational attainment for highly educated ethnic minorities such as Hispanics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S761-S761
Author(s):  
Ying-Yu Chao ◽  
Yu-Ping Chang ◽  
XinQi Dong

Abstract This study aimed to examine the association between different types of elder mistreatment and depressive symptoms among U.S. Chinese older adults. Data were from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE). Participants were 3,157 Chinese older adults who were 60 years and over (mean age = 72.8). Logistic regression analyses were performed. The results showed that participants with overall mistreatment (OR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.83-2.43), psychological mistreatment (OR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.78-2.51), physical mistreatment (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.10-2.99), and financial exploitation (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.11 – 1.60) were more likely to report more depressive symptoms. There was no significant association between sexual mistreatment and depressive symptoms (p = 0.07). Longitudinal studies are needed to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the pathways between elder mistreatment and depressive symptoms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 09 (04) ◽  
pp. 551-555
Author(s):  
Oscar H. Del Brutto ◽  
Robertino M. Mera ◽  
Victor J. Del Brutto

ABSTRACT Background: Stroke is a leading cause of disability in developing countries. However, there are no studies assessing the impact of nonfatal strokes on mortality in rural areas of Latin America. Using a population-based, prospective cohort study, we aimed to assess the influence of nonfatal strokes on all-cause mortality in older adults living in an underserved rural setting. Methods: Deaths occurring during a 5-year period in Atahualpa residents aged ≥60 years were identified from overlapping sources. Tests for equality of survivor functions were used to estimate differences between observed and expected deaths for each covariate investigated. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate Kaplan–Meier survival curves of variables reaching significance in univariate analyses. Results: Of 437 individuals enrolled over 5 years, follow-up was achieved in 417 (95%), contributing 1776 years of follow-up (average 4.3 ± 1.3 years). Fifty-one deaths were detected, for an overall cumulative 5-year mortality rate of 12.2% (8.9%–15.6%). Being older than 70 years of age, having poor physical activity, edentulism, and history of a nonfatal stroke were related to mortality in univariate analyses. A fully adjusted Cox proportional hazards model showed that having history of a nonfatal stroke (P = 0.024) and being older than 70 years of age (P = 0.031) independently predicted mortality. In contrast, obesity was inversely correlated with mortality (P = 0.047). Conclusions: A nonfatal stroke and increasing age increase the risk of all-cause mortality in inhabitants of a remote rural village. The body mass index is inversely related to death (obesity paradox).


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1282-1306
Author(s):  
Jinyu Liu ◽  
Lydia Li ◽  
Zhenmei Zhang ◽  
Hongwei Xu

Objectives: This study aimed to examine whether gender and marital status of coresiding adult children are associated with depressive symptoms of Chinese older adults. Methods: Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, linear regression analysis was conducted to identify longitudinal associations of intergenerational coresidence with depressive symptoms in rural and urban older Chinese. Results: Both rural and urban older adults living with unmarried sons had significantly higher depressive symptoms at four-year follow-up than those who did not live with children. Living with married sons was significantly associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms at four-year follow-up among rural elders only. Discussion: This study sheds light on the heterogeneity in the relationship between intergenerational coresidence and Chinese older adults’ psychological well-being by the gender and marital status of coresiding children. Further research is needed to understand the complex and dynamic household structures and health outcomes in later life.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document