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 Predicting Perceived Health of Older Adults: The Role of Health, Personality, and Resilience

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 227-228
Author(s):  
Rotem Arieli ◽  
Joseph Kim ◽  
Peter Martin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Personality Assessment ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Perceived Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Resilience Scale ◽  
Supplemental Health Insurance

Abstract Past research has not addressed how domain-specific “health” personality traits are associated with resilience and well-being. The purpose of this study was to determine pathways from health personality to perceived health, mediated by resilience. Data included 3,907 participants, 65 and older, collected by a large provider of Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance. The Health Personality Assessment (health neuroticism, health extraversion, health openness, health agreeableness, and health conscientiousness), Brief Resilience Scale, and perceived health were measured. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap mediation were conducted in Mplus. The hypothesized model resulted in a marginal fit, so direct paths from health openness and health conscientiousness to perceived health were added, resulting in an improved fit, χ2(192)=1660.96, RMSEA=.04, CFI=.95; χ2∆(2)=403.99, p<.001. Health neuroticism and health extraversion negatively predicted perceived health, fully mediated by resilience, β=-.11, p<.001, and β=-.01, p<.05, suggesting that people anxious about their health or that talk about their health had significantly lower levels of resilience. Resilience positively predicted perceived health, indicating that more resilient people reported better health. Higher levels of health openness predicted significantly lower levels of perceived health, β=-.19, p<.001. Greater levels of health conscientiousness predicted better perceived health, β=.20, p<.001, and resilience in-turn positively related to perceived health, β=.08, p<.001. Health personality and resilience explained 25.3% of variance in perceived health. This study exemplifies the importance of health personality and resilience in predicting perceived health for older adults. Future research should examine interventions focused on health personality increasing resilience, as older adults with higher resilience reported significantly better health.

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 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.

scholarly journals Health Personality and Well-Being: An Overview

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 632-633
Author(s):  
Peter Martin ◽  
Joseph Kim ◽  
Rotem Arieli ◽  
Nicholas Cone
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Personality Assessment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Interindividual Differences ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Optimal Health ◽  
Person Centered Approach

Abstract It is well established that there are interindividual differences in many areas of well-being. Based on previous segmentation research and work connecting personality traits to health outcomes, we developed the health personality segmentation model. The health personality segmentation model takes a person-centered approach to provide optimal health care based on segmenting individuals through health personality factors. The presentation provides an overview of health personality, defined as a set of individual dispositions that are directly related to health. We introduce the Health Personality Assessment based on our health personality segmentation model, and we link health personality with resilience, activation, as well as with physical and emotional well-being. Future research should evaluate the usefulness of this assessment in applied healthcare settings.

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.

scholarly journals Understanding Health Concerns of Older Adults: Health Personality, Health Activation, and Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 632-632
Author(s):  
Peter Martin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Personality Assessment ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Measurement Properties ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Relationship Of

Abstract Individuals display different levels of concern about their health. These overall concerns may be a result of health personality dispositions based on the five-factor model of personality. They include health neuroticism, health extraversion, health openness, health agreeableness, and health conscientiousness. Furthermore, whether older adults take active care of their health and how they view their overall physical and emotional well-being may depend on these health personality dispositions. This symposium sheds light on the association between health personality, resilience, activation, and well-being. The first presentation provides an overview of our health personality conceptual model and summarizes measurement properties of the Health Personality Assessment. The second presentation highlights demographic differences in health personality. Gender, age, marital status, and regional differences in health personality are reported. The third presentation links health personality with levels of health activation and resilience. Direct and indirect effects of health personality on resilience and health activation are presented. Finally, we highlight results about the relationship of health personality with physical and emotional well-being in later life. All five health personality dispositions directly related to physical and mental health. Our discussion emphasizes practical implications for health practitioners and outlines future research on health personality and outcomes.

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.

Lighting and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias: Spotlight on sleep and depression

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 405-422
Author(s):  
MG Figueiro ◽  
HC Kales
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disease ◽  
Sleep Disturbances ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pharmacological Intervention ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Positive Results

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is the collective term for a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which there is presently no cure. This paper focuses on two symptoms of the disease, sleep disturbances and depression, and discusses how light can be used as a non-pharmacological intervention to mitigate their negative effects. Bright days and dark nights are needed for health and well-being, but the present components of the built environment, especially those places where older adults spend most of their days, are too dimly illuminated during the day and too bright at night. To be effective light needs to be correctly specified, implemented and measured. Yet, without the appropriate specification and measurement of the stimulus, researchers will not be able to successfully demonstrate positive results in the field, nor will lighting designers and specifiers have the confidence to implement lighting solutions for promoting better sleep and mood in this population.

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