Personal Experiences of Age Discrimination in Different Life Domains: Determinants and Consequences

Age discrimination is pervasive in society which bears far-reaching consequences for individuals in terms of decreased psychological and physical health. Age discrimination can be experienced in different life-domains and perceived as a social (others’ experiences) or as a personal phenomenon (own experiences). Our first goal was to examine country- and age-related differences in personal experiences of age discrimination in distinct life domains, reported by 2,817 participants aged 40 to 90 years from the US, China, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan. As another goal, we investigated the impact of age discrimination on life satisfaction. Personal age discrimination was domain-specific, with more experiences reported in the family, work, and personality domains. Personal age discrimination increased with age and was higher in China and Taiwan. Age discrimination negatively predicted life satisfaction. This negative effect was more pronounced if age discrimination was experienced in domains with high subjective importance.

Discrepancies between subjective importance and actual everyday practice among very old adults and the consequences for autonomy

Background An individual’s everyday practice in very old age is based on stable dispositions and on the living conditions associated with the person’s stage of life. Age-associated changes in living conditions can cause discrepancies between the person’s dispositions and actual everyday practice that have consequences for the quality of life. Objective The aim of this paper is to look more closely at such discrepancies and their associations with living conditions in very old age (long-term care needs, multimorbidity, care tasks) as well as with the feeling of autonomy as an aspect of quality of life. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from the first wave of the NRW80+-study on the quality of life of people aged 80 years and over. Data on the subjective importance of five areas of everyday practice and on the frequency of translating these dispositions into practice were used. The analysis focuses on the occurrence of large discrepancies that arise if the subjective importance of an everyday practice deviates considerably from the frequency of performing it. Results Among the very old population surveyed, solitary activities are considered the most important, and they are carried out most often. Multimorbidity, long-term care needs, and private care responsibilities are significantly associated with the experience of large discrepancies. Finally, very old adults with large discrepancies report feelings of reduced autonomy. Conclusion These initial results show that age-associated changes in living conditions can be accompanied by difficulties for very old adults to put their dispositions into practice. Attention should be paid to such discrepancies to avoid negative consequences for quality of life.

The Relationship Between Olfactory Function and Emotional Contagion

Introduction Research has provided evidence for the transfer of single emotions including anger, anxiety and happiness through olfactory chemosignals, yet no work has examined the role of odour function in the aggregation of more complex emotional states or in the emotional contagion process. The aim of the present study was to ascertain whether an individual’s tendency to experience emotional aggregation was affected by objective measures of their olfactory function and subjective self-assessments of the importance of their own olfactory system. Methods In this study (N = 70), participant pairs were first assessed individually for olfactory threshold and odour identification, then completed the Importance of Olfaction Questionnaire. Each pair subsequently took part in two collaborative tasks. Individual emotion measures were taken before, during and after the completion of the two tasks. Results Multilevel structural equation modelling revealed that individuals’ within-dyad positive emotional agreement scores were associated with both their ‘importance of olfaction’ scores and their olfactory function. A significant association was also found between olfactory performance and the Importance of Olfaction scores. Conclusions These results provide evidence that the subjective importance an individual assigns to their sense of smell can predict their susceptibility to experience emotional aggregation during active, collaborative tasks. Implications The findings suggest that individuals’ tendency and capability to detect and respond to emotional chemosignals, a process required for olfactory-facilitated emotional contagion, may be affected by individual differences in olfactory function and subjective attitudes toward olfaction.

Quality of life in urologic cancer patients: importance of and satisfaction with specific quality of life domains

Purpose Quality of life (QoL) has been the subject of increasing interest in oncology. Most examinations of QoL have focused on health-related QoL, while other factors often remain unconsidered. Moreover, QoL questionnaires implicitly assume that the subjective importance of the various QoL domains is identical from one patient to the next. The aim of this study was to analyze QoL in a broader sense, considering the subjective importance of the QoL components. Methods A sample of 173 male urologic patients was surveyed twice: once while hospitalized (t1) and once again 3 months later (t2). Patients completed the Questions on Life Satisfaction questionnaire (FLZ-M), which includes satisfaction and importance ratings for eight dimensions of QoL. A control group was taken from the general population (n = 477). Results Health was the most important QoL dimension for both the patient and the general population groups. While satisfaction with health was low in the patient group, the satisfaction ratings of the other seven domains were higher in the patient group than in the general population. The satisfaction with the domain partnership/sexuality showed a significant decline from t1 to t2. Multiple regression analyses showed that the domains health and income contributed most strongly to the global QoL score at t2 in the patient group. Conclusion Health is not the only relevant category when assessing QoL in cancer patients; social relationships and finances are pertinent as well. Importance ratings contribute to a better understanding of the relevance of the QoL dimensions for the patients.

“I’m just a girl; not a White girl”: Intersectionality and Early Adolescents’ Race-x-Gender Identities

Social identity is defined, in part, as the sense of “we-ness” one forms with a social group. The social identity literature, however, is largely divided by identities—with racial identity conceptualized, measured, and interpreted separately from gender identity—rather than examining how youth understand these group memberships at their intersections (i.e., “we” Black girls or “we” White boys). The current mixed-method analysis examines the subjective importance and meaning of Black and White early adolescents’ (Mage = 12.51; N = 63) racial by gender identities. Black girls, in particular, rated their intersectional identities as important and White adolescents, overall, rated intersectionality as low in importance. Qualitative analyses further reveal that youth reason about the (in)significance of intersectionality on different levels: personal (the self), relational (others, peers), and structural (stereotypes, discrimination). We discuss contributions for studying identity development and intersectionality during adolescence.

Importance of Competences in Communication, as Perceived by Business Leaders

From the perspective of a hierarchically ordered company, the expectations of company leaders concerning their employees' necessary competencies play a greater role than vice versa. This paper light on the expectations of leaders and sub-leaders of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises concerning the competencies of employees in neighbouring parts of Hungary and Slovakia.The authors' collected 28 scientific papers on the issue of communication competencies in order to map out 21 "common denominators" derived from the combined competence lists. A survey was conducted with 222 respondents to measure the subjective importance assigned to these traits and to observe the respondents' attitudes towards the effectiveness of communication training programmes they had participated in. On the Hungarian side, speech competence proved to be the most crucial competence for business leaders, followed by attention/reflection and interpersonal communication skills. In Slovakia, persuasion was reported to be the most crucial trait, the second most important is the application of confirmation and feedback, and the third is speech competence. In terms of the participants' past communication training experiences, the competences of group communication, assertiveness and leadership skills were reported to have been the main areas of focus. The findings indicate that overall satisfaction with communication training programmes depends on neither the amount of participants' leadership experience nor the companies' field(s) of activity, nor the nationality (i.e. the venue) of the companies. The overall satisfaction rate is 2.53 on a four-grade scale among those who ever attended communication training programmes.

Not all depressive symptoms matter equally: Ratings of the relative importance of nine DSM symptoms in a sample of Indian adolescents

Background: There is widespread debate about the extent to which western diagnostic criteria for depression are appropriate cross-culturally. A key aspect of this debate involves the extent to which individual symptoms are considered important, impairing, and concerning by individuals in low- and middle-income countries. Here, we describe a novel method to understand the degree to which symptoms of depression are most important to individuals, and we illustrate its application in a non-western sample.Methods: We surveyed 1,237 Indian adolescents (47.8% female, Mage= 14.11). Adolescents received the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, a measure of nine DSM-derived depressive symptoms. For each symptom, participants answered three questions designed to assess the degree to which they perceive the symptom as distressing and impairing. The three scores were averaged to form a Subjective Importance Rating (SIR) for each symptom.Results: Anhedonia received the highest SIR, followed by Sad Mood, Suicidal Ideation, and Feeling like a Failure; Psychomotor Problems received the lowest SIRs. Females reported greater SIRs than males, and older students reported greater SIRs than younger students. There was a non-linear relationship between participants' own depressive symptoms and SIRs.Limitations: Participants were recruited from the general population; findings may not generalize to patients or individuals in other countries.Conclusion: Not all symptoms of depression were viewed as equally important. We discuss how the SIR approach can help global mental health researchers identify specific symptoms that are considered most concerning, evaluate the cross-cultural relevance of western diagnostic criteria, and inform the validation of measurement tools.