Search

Objectives Some research conceptualizes routineness of daily life as an indicator of cognitive vulnerability that would lead to lower well-being in older age, whereas other research expects routineness to give rise to more meaning and stability in life and thus to higher well-being. Further research is needed to understand routineness in older adults in relation to cognitive abilities and well-being. This study examined routineness of social interactions. Methods We examined data from an event-contingent experience sampling study with 103 Swiss community-dwelling older adults (aged 65 to 84 years). Participants completed in-lab cognitive assessments (reasoning, episodic memory, speed, and vocabulary) and reported their well-being (positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction). For more than 21 days, participants reported the time and context of their social interactions (including modality, partner type, and location). Routineness of social interactions was defined as social interactions that occurred at the same time of day over the study period. It was calculated using recurrence quantification analysis. Results Linear regressions showed that higher routineness of social interaction in general, of social interaction through the same modality, and of social interaction with the same partner type were associated with higher positive affect. Higher routineness of social interaction in general was associated with lower negative affect. Routineness of social interactions was not associated with life satisfaction or cognitive abilities. Discussion A routine social life may increase older adults' affective well-being. Results are discussed in the context of activity engagement and time use in older age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Although higher activity diversity is associated with higher well-being at the between-person level, it is unknown whether a day with higher activity diversity is related to higher well-being within persons. Within 24 hr per day, there are a limited number of activities on which individuals could spend their time and energy. Personal resources could influence the expenditure of energy and thus the experience with daily activities. This study examined daily associations between activity diversity and well-being and whether age and self-related health moderated the associations. Methods For seven times per day over 2 weeks, 129 retired older adults (M age = 73.9 years, SD age = 5.6) reported their present activity engagement and positive and negative affect. Daily activity diversity was operationalized as the number of different activity types reported per day. Daily positive and negative affect were assessed as the average of a range of high- and low-arousal affective states. Self-rated health was assessed with an item from the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey at baseline. Results Multilevel models showed that daily activity diversity was unrelated, on average, to daily positive or negative affect at the between- and within-person levels. Daily activity diversity was associated with lower daily positive affect in participants with lower self-rated health, but the Johnson-Neyman regions of significance were outside of the range of observed data. Discussion Divergent patterns were observed in the within-person associations between activity diversity and well-being across participants. Results are discussed in the context of time use and well-being in older age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives While being socially active is beneficial for well-being in older age, it is unclear whether effects of social interactions on well-being indicate "the more the merrier" or if they have limits as individuals socialize more or less across different days. This study addressed diminishing returns to social interaction frequency for well-being. Method We examined data from an event-contingent experience sampling study from 116 Swiss older adults (65 to 94 years old) over 21 days. Participants reported face-to-face social interactions once they occurred and daily well-being (i.e. positive and negative affect, loneliness) in the evenings. Results On average, participants had 2.09 face-to-face social interactions per day. Linear and quadratic effects from multilevel models conjointly indicated that a higher number of daily social interactions was associated with higher daily positive affect and lower daily negative affect and loneliness, but that well-being reached its peak at 2–3 times above participants' typical daily interaction frequency. Once these numbers were surpassed, the benefit of additional social interactions diminished. Additionally, participants who typically had fewer social interactions, were unmarried, lived alone, and had more health conditions showed stronger associations between daily social interaction frequency and well-being. Discussion Our findings suggest the benefits of social interactions on well-being exhibit diminishing returns. Social interactions may play a bigger role in older adults with less satiation for desire to belong and a limited future time perspective. We discuss these findings in terms of the belongingness hypothesis and the socioemotional selectivity theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Individuals' social connections and interpersonal experiences can both shape and be shaped by cognitive functioning. This study examines longitudinal within-person associations between quality of social relations, structure of social relations, and cognitive functioning in older age. Methods We examined 16-year longitudinal data (3 waves) from 497 older adults (M = 66.07 years, SD = 0.83, range = 64–68 years) from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development and Aging. Quality of social relations was measured by scales on perceived emotional support, instrumental support, and social integration. Structure of social relations was measured by self-reported number of leisure time partner types, indicating social network diversity. Cognitive functioning was assessed as a latent construct consisting of five cognitive tests (i.e. Information, Similarities, Letter Fluency, Picture Completion, Block Design). We used a random intercept cross-lagged panel model in the analysis. Results At the within-person level, prior quality of social relations, but not structure of social relations, was positively associated with subsequent cognitive functioning. Moreover, prior cognitive functioning was positively associated with subsequent structure of social relations, but not with quality of social relations. Discussion Quality of social relations is a protective factor of cognitive aging. Additionally, responding to prior lower cognitive functioning, social network diversity reduced, but quality of social relations did not seem to change. Overall, this study suggested that social relations and cognitive functioning mutually influence each other, but different aspects of social relations (i.e. quality, structure) might have different directional associations with cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study investigated linear and nonlinear age effects on language use with speech samples that were representative of naturally occurring conversations. Method Using a corpus-based approach, we examined couples' conflict conversations in the laboratory. The conversations, from a total of 364 community-dwelling German-speaking heterosexual couples (aged 19–82), were videotaped and transcribed. We examined usage of lower-frequency words, grammatical complexity, and utterance of filled pauses (e.g. äh ["um"]). Results Multilevel models showed that age effects on the usage of lower-frequency words were nonsignificant. Grammatical complexity increased until middle age (i.e. 54) and then declined. The utterance of filled pauses increased until old age (i.e. 70) and then decreased. Discussion Results are discussed in relation to cognitive aging research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]