Aging Across the Life Course: Research Collections Available from the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging

The creation and maintenance of sustainable data archives can be challenging, but it offers clear advantages. Properly curated data can be used by multiple researchers, testing a variety of hypotheses, and increasing the return on investment to the expensive process of data collection. Having an internally managed archival system also provides greater control and autonomy in the equitable distribution of data resources. This process ensures all researchers will have full use of the data for original research, teaching, and new directions once the data leaves the control of the local investigator’s control. This poster reviews the advantages of having a local strategy geared toward the preservation and sharing of gerontological research data. Using the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) as a working example, the poster offers an overview of collections at NACDA. Using our metadata tools and variable search database, NACDA can identify studies in its collections that examine aspects of aging and health among adults during their lifecourse. Many of the studies are longitudinal or repeat measure cross-sectional studies. We are also able to identify studies that focus on aging that are not maintained by NACDA but which are available to interested researchers. Using a strategy of archival preservation combined with a strong focus on productive research Innovation in Aging, NACDA has amassed data and metadata covering a wide array of studies worldwide that address the aging lifecourse. Because our collections are multinational, we share these data at no cost to interested users worldwide

Social Isolation and Well-Being Among Middle-Age and Older Adults: Before and During the COVID-19 Outbreak

This symposium brings together five studies that examined the relationship between social isolation and well-being. Two used pre-COVID data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). One aimed to identify patterns of social isolation trajectory in a 9-year period, where social isolation was conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. It identified four distinct patterns, and the pattern had a gradient relationship with health outcomes. Another examined the association between self-perceptions of aging (SPA) and social well-being among older adults. It found that positive SPA predicted increased social connectedness and reduced loneliness in four years. Two other studies were based on a longitudinal survey (COVID-19 Coping Survey) that began in April 2020. One reports that adults 55+ with comorbidity at pandemic onset had persistently elevated depressive symptoms in a 6-month period, regardless of their social isolation level. Another paper suggests that physical isolation at pandemic onset was associated with elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness throughout the following six months. The fifth paper was based on two-wave data—2019 survey and 2020 COVID supplement—from the National Aging and Health Trend Study (NAHTS). It found that older adults who were very socially isolated and completely homebound before the pandemic experienced less psychological distress during the outbreak than those who were very socially integrated and not homebound. The five studies highlight the multiple dimensions of social isolation, their antecedents and development over time, and their role in shaping mental health in a pandemic context.

Collection of free-living accelerometry data in large clinical studies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

The recent COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on clinical research, including recruitment and follow-up visits in new and ongoing studies, especially affecting ones focused on older, at-risk adults. As the objective assessment of physical activity with wearables is usually initiated during in-person visits, the collection of these data experienced substantial, unplanned gaps. We report the frequency of data collection (visits-per-month) in studies collaborating with the Accelerometry Resource Core (ARC) at Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health. We focus on two, NIH-funded, studies that implemented the ARC accelerometry protocol. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities that stopped visit 8 enrollment in early 2020 and reinstated in 2021 for visit 9, and the Peripheral Artery Disease Study of SOL that started the data collection in early 2021, first via the mail-in protocol, then shifting towards in-clinic visits. Through March 2020, ARC processed an average of 125 new accelerometry per month (SD = 54). There was no new data collected for the remainder of 2020. The collection restarted in January 2021 with an average of 55 (SD = 43) files a month in the first and 112 (SD = 53) in the second quarter of 2021. A total of 573 new accelerometry observations were collected across both studies since the first wave of COVID-19 in March 2020 including 282 observations collected exclusively using a mail-in protocol. This recovery of data collection demonstrates that wearable devices allow for safer, remote assessment of physical activity, function, and sleep eliminating the need for in-person visits.

Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Patterns Prior to and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Understanding patterns in the types of activities older adults engage in during physical activity and sedentary time could help shape intervention designs. Few studies have adequately described the physical activity and sedentary pursuits older adults undertake, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. To answer these questions, this symposium uses data from three recent studies: Adult Changes in Thought (ACT),an epidemiologic study with self-reported and device-based measures of physical activity and sedentary time including time spent in various domains of activity; Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Disease Health in Older Women (OPACH), an epidemiologic study with device and self-report measures of sedentary behavior; and an ongoing clinical trial, the Healthy Aging Resources to Thrive (HART) study with device and self-reported data on sitting time and patterns as well as physical activity. The first session in this symposium will present a description of the rates of meeting the aerobic, strength, and balance recommendations among older adults in the ACT study. Next, we will have a presentation describing sedentary activities in older adults by age, sex and device-based sitting patterns in the ACT study. In the third presentation we will use OPACH data to examine patterns and context of sedentary in relation to aging-related outcomes. Finally, we will describe changes in physical activity and sedentary time in the HART trial in the cohort enrolled prior to the COVID-19 pandemic vs. those enrolled during the pandemic. Our Discussant will provide new insights on the roles of sedentary behavior and physical activity in aging and health.

Health Resources and Well-Being in Optimal Aging: The Mediating Role of Selection, Optimization and Compensation Strategies

Aging and health issues continue to receive attention, especially under the global health challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It is important to understand how people adapt their lifespan development to face the gains and losses of resources. The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between health resources, selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) strategies and well-being with aging; to examine the impact of SOC strategies on health resources and well-being, and the link between health resources and well-being. Using structural equation modeling to analyze our hypotheses, a sample survey of 372 adults was conducted. The results showed that health resources were positively and significantly related to SOC and well-being. SOC strategies were positively and significantly related to well-being and SOC strategies partially mediated the link between health resources and well-being. The findings contribute to the literature by establishing a model and providing practical implications for individual behavior, as well as better understanding of the theoretical and practical implications of aging and health. A friendly community and organization may help people’s well-being in terms of physiology, psychology, society, and environment.

Uncertainty in Faith, Fear of Death? Transitions in Religious Doubt and Death Anxiety in Later Life

While religiosity is usually associated with lower death anxiety, holding doubts about one’s faith are associated with higher death anxiety. Using longitudinal data from the Religion, Aging, and Health Study (2001–2004), this study examines within-individual changes in religious doubt and death anxiety. Results from lagged dependent variable models suggest that compared to older adults who did not experience any doubt about their faith, those holding consistently high doubt or increasing or decreasing doubt reported greater death anxiety. Lingering religious doubt was associated with higher death anxiety among weekly religious attenders. Taken together, our findings suggest that being more assured in one’s faith and spiritual understanding may lead to a more peaceful experience when confronting thoughts about one’s own mortality, especially for older adults holding a stronger religious identity. We situate our findings within the literature on the “dark side” of religion and well-being in later life.