scholarly journals Childhood Adversity and Depression among Older Adults: Results from a Longitudinal Survey in China

Author(s):  
Yue Li ◽  
Jiehu Lu

This study examined the association of childhood adversity with depression or severity of depressive symptoms among Chinese older adults, using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The data is from a nationally representative sample of Chinese residents aged 45 or older and surveys of the sample population were conducted in 2011 and 2013; and individuals aged at 60 years or older, and interviewed for depressive symptom were included in this study. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that the likelihood of depression was significantly associated with poor parental mental status, physical abuse, and emotional abuse during childhood. Our study adds to research in the area of adverse childhood events and its effect on adult psychological and physical well-being.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254717
Author(s):  
Mohammad Asyraf ◽  
Michael P. Dunne ◽  
Noran N. Hairi ◽  
Farizah Mohd Hairi ◽  
Noraliza Radzali ◽  
...  

Objectives Childhood adversity has been linked with later victimization of young and middle-aged adults, but few studies have shown persistence of this effect among elders, especially outside of North America. This research examined the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and elder abuse among older adults aged 60 years and over in Malaysia. Design Cross sectional data were collected via face-to-face interview from June to August 2019. Setting Eight government community health clinics in Kuala Pilah, a district in Negeri Sembilan state approximately 100km from Malaysian capital city Kuala Lumpur. Participants Older adults aged 60 years and above (N = 1984; Mean age 69.2, range 60–93 years) attending all eight government health clinics in the district were recruited for a face-to-face interview about health and well-being. Measurement The Adverse Childhood Experience International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) were utilized to estimate childhood adversity and elder abuse respectively. Results Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between the number of cumulative ACEs and elder abuse. Compared to older adults with no self-reported adversity, those reporting three ACEs (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.84,3.87) or four or more ACEs (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.16, 2.48) had higher risk of any elder abuse occurrence since age 60 years. The effect was most prominent for financial and psychological elder abuse. The associations persisted in multivariate logistic regression models after adjusting for sociodemographic and health factors. Conclusion Early life adversities were significantly associated with victimization of older adults. Social and emotional support to address elder abuse should recognize that, for some men and women, there is a possibility that vulnerability to maltreatment persisted throughout their life course.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S589-S589
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Bei Wu ◽  
David Matchar

Abstract The new framework of resilient aging has gained its importance in recent years. This symposium provides new findings on resilience and health among the Chinese population. Using data collected among 430 Chinese older adults in Honolulu, the first presentation examines resilience as an explanatory mechanism linking neighborhood social environment and well-being. Results showed that neighborhood cohesion was positively related to psychological well-being and life satisfaction. Resilience contributed to a substantial portion of the associations. Using the same data, the second presentation examines the association between immigrant status and oral health related quality of life (OHQoL) and the moderating role of resilience. Findings showed that U.S.-born Chinese immigrant older adults had better OHQoL than their foreign-born Chinese American counterparts. Resilience was positively associated with OHQoL for the former but not for the latter. The third paper presents findings from the same dataset along with a survey of 800 older adults in Wuhan, China. The positive relationship between attitudes towards aging and self-rated health (SRH) was found to be moderated by resilience such that higher levels of resilience weakened this association substantially. Both the positive focal relationship and the moderating effect appeared to be stronger among participants in Honolulu. Using both datasets, the fourth paper investigates patterns of intergenerational transfer and their relationships with SRH as well as the meditating effect of resilience. Findings highlighted the beneficial health effects of receiving emotional support from adult children as well as the mediating role of resilience for older females in both study sites.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S239-S239
Author(s):  
Neil Charness ◽  
Balaji Narasimhan

Abstract Extended Reality (XR), which encompasses Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), holds a great deal of promise for improving the health and well-being of older adults. These opportunities include providing rehabilitation, physical exercise, skills training, leisure opportunities, and support for instrumental activities of daily living. Further, XR presents novel assessment opportunities. This session will explore the potential of XR solutions, and also crucial barriers to XR implementation, adoption, and engagement, particularly with respect to the “digital divide.” Some older adults, for a number of reasons, experience greater challenges adopting and using newer technologies. This session will start with a broad overview of issues related to XR solutions and will identify critical research needs, with an emphasis on the needs of older adults. This will be followed by a presentation of older adults’ perceptions of XR using data derived from a large, nationally representative sample. While some older adults reported not being ready for XR solutions, many older adults reported being willing to accept them to support optimal aging. Next, a study is presented that directly compares older adults’ perceptions of presence and immersion in virtual spaces. Using VR to assess wayfinding and navigation abilities of older adults is discussed next. The final talk will present VR usability issues derived from interview and focus group data. The session discussant will bring an interdisciplinary perspective to these important issues.


2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412097394
Author(s):  
Alan R. King

Personality traits provide natural mechanisms through which childhood maltreatment may translate into psychiatric symptomatology. The PID-5 has provided a DSM-supported exemplar for canvassing traits that may contribute to the developmental trajectories of many personality and mood disorders. This general population survey ( N = 2,430) examined associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACE questionnaire) and selected PID-5 trait indicators of emotional well-being (Depressivity, Anxiousness, and Emotional Lability). These associations were contrasted with others derived from traditional dimensional measures of childhood maltreatment. ACE counts and all six of the dimensional maltreatment indicators were linked to the three trait scores. Family emotional abuse and ACE counts provided equally strong correlates of Depressivity and Anxiousness. ACE counts and childhood sexual abuse were especially strong in their associations with all three traits. Graded relationships were found in these trait-adversity relationships with polyvictimized respondents generating the highest personality maladjustment. The odds of a trait score elevation (>1 SD) were raised substantially (two to five fold) by singular adversity exposures, and the co-occurrence of only two different forms of adversity maximized odds of extreme trait expression. These results contribute to an evidentiary base suggesting steeper developmental trajectories for personality maladjustment among maltreated youth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 293-294
Author(s):  
Yun Zhou ◽  
Bei Wu ◽  
Chenxin Tan

Abstract This study used Latent Class Analysis to examine patterns of social participation among older adults in the US, the UK, and China, from the three nationally representative surveys conducted in 2018-2019: The Health and Retirement Study, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Although the profiles of social participation were distinctively different, several common patterns were found: Comprehensive Participants, Occasional Participants, and Deficient Participants. It was estimated that less than 10% of older adults from these countries were extensively engaged in social participation. Seventy-seven percent of Chinese older adults were shown being “Deficient Participants”, and the percentages were 29% and 20% in the US and the UK, respectively. The findings showed positive associations of levels of participation with socioeconomic status and health. The magnitudes of these associations varied across the nations. Actions are needed to promote levels of participation for Chinese older adults.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S589-S590
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Sizhe Liu ◽  
Keqing Zhang ◽  
Bei Wu

Abstract Few studies have examined the association of social environment and well-being among Chinese older adults, the fastest growing aging population across all racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. To address this gap, the current study aims to examine the associations of neighborhood social cohesion with psychological distress and life satisfaction as well as the mediating role of resilience and the moderating roles of gender and place of birth using data collected among 430 Chinese older adults in Honolulu. Results show that neighborhood cohesion was significantly associated with both distress and life satisfaction, with resilience being a significant mediator. The association between neighborhood cohesion and distress was moderated by birth place such that the protecting effects of neighborhood cohesion on distress were only salient for the U.S.-born. Our findings indicate the importance of a cohesive social environment in shaping well-being of U.S. Chinese older adults, the U.S.-born in particular, living in Hawai’i.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 175-184
Author(s):  
Paulina Drożak ◽  
Katarzyna Augustowska ◽  
Łukasz Bryliński ◽  
Agata Bura ◽  
Martyna Drożak ◽  
...  

Introduction and purpose. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a major public health problem. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences among medical and dental students in Poland and to examine a relationship between ACEs and chosen factors associated with well-being of the students.Material and method. The research tool consisted of the Adverse Childhood Experiences standardized questionnaire and authors’ questions. 934 medical students and 228 dental students took part in the study (a total of 1162 participants). The respondents came from 18 Polish universities.Results. 57.40% of the students experienced at least 1 childhood adversity, 8.43% of them were affected by 4 or more ACEs. The most common adverse childhood experiences were: emotional neglect (23.06%), emotional abuse (22.98%) and mental illness or a suicide attempt in a household member (21.86%). On average, women experienced more childhood adversities than men. An overall graded relationship was found between ACEs and: frequent feelings of loneliness, low self-assessment of academic performance, problems with maintaining stable body weight, reaching for alcohol in order to de-stress and being non-religious.Conclusions. Adverse Childhood Experiences are common among Polish medical and dental students and are linked with multiple aspects of worsened well-being of the students. The study emphasizes a need to create strategies that aim to educate on Adverse Childhood Experiences in order to prevent them and help those who are affected by them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 823-823
Author(s):  
Hyung Wook Choi ◽  
Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili ◽  
Mat Kelly ◽  
Alexander Poole ◽  
Erjia Yan ◽  
...  

Abstract Researchers are increasingly interested in leveraging technology to support the physical and mental well-being of older adults. We systematically reviewed previous scholars’ criteria for sampling older adult populations, focusing on age cohorts (namely adults over 65) and their use of internet and smart technologies. We iteratively developed keyword combinations that represent older adults and technology from the retrieved literature. Between 2011 and 2020, 70 systematic reviews were identified, 26 of which met our inclusion criteria for full review. Most important, not one of the 26 papers used a sample population classification more fine-grained than “65 and older.” A knowledge gap thus exists; researchers lack a nuanced understanding of differences within this extraordinarily broad age-range. Demographics that we propose to analyze empirically include not only finer measures of age (e.g., 65-70 or 71-75, as opposed to “65 and older”), but also those age groups’ attitudes toward and capacity for technology use.


Author(s):  
Josefine Atzendorf ◽  
Stefan Gruber

AbstractEpidemic control measures that aim to introduce social distancing help to decelerate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their consequences in terms of mental well-being might be negative, especially for older adults. While existing studies mainly focus on the time during the first lockdown, we look at the weeks afterward in order to measure the medium-term consequences of the first wave of the pandemic. Using data from the SHARE Corona Survey, we include retired respondents aged 60 and above from 25 European countries plus Israel. Combining SHARE data with macro-data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker allows us to include macro-indicators at the country level, namely the number of deaths per 100,000 and the number of days with stringent epidemic control measures, in addition to individual characteristics. The findings show that both macro-indicators are influential for increased feelings of sadness/depression, but that individual factors are crucial for explaining increased feelings of loneliness in the time after the first lockdown. Models with interaction terms reveal that the included macro-indicators have negative well-being consequences, particularly for the oldest survey participants. Additionally, the results reveal that especially those living alone had a higher risk for increased loneliness in the time after the first COVID-19 wave.


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