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Despite the fact that the literature suggests loneliness to undermine cognitive functioning in later life, no work has simultaneously examined the relationships between these constructs taking a multidimensional approach to the assessment of each. The present study explored relationships among social and emotional loneliness and both general crystallized (Gc) and general fluid (Gf) ability, as well as to several indices of everyday intellectual functioning in later life. Sequential regression analyses suggested that neither social nor emotional loneliness predicted Gc. However, only when eliminating health as a covariate was more social loneliness associated with lower scores for Gf. Surprisingly, more emotional loneliness was associated with higher scores for Gf. More social loneliness also predicted more everyday cognitive failures and with less positive lifestyle attitudes. These findings support a view of loneliness-cognition relationships in later life that reflects the multidimensional nature of each construct., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

We conducted this first ever study comparing reports of custodial grandchildren's (CG) psychological difficulties obtained jointly from 163 custodial grandmothers (CGM) and their CG between ages 6-12. Internalizing and externalizing difficulties were indicated by whether any of the corresponding scales on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ, reported by CGM) or Dominic Interactive (DI, reported by CG) reached the 90th percentile. Internalizing and externalizing difficulties were reported by informant types at rates higher than those typically observed in the general population, with externalizing difficulties being more prevalent among male CG. At the dichotomous level of (dis)agreement, nearly two-thirds of informant pairs showed concordance regarding whether or not they reported the CG at the 90th percentile on either externalizing and internalizing difficulties. When (dis)agreement was further broken into four specific categories (i.e., "neither report", "both report", "CGM only", and "CG only", CGM's use of mental health services, race, depressive and anxiety symptoms, harsh/punitive discipline, and warmth impacted such concordance as did CG's gender, age, and use of mental health services. The overall findings were remarkably similar regardless of which specific SDQ and DI scales were used in the analyses. The present study unearths new ground regarding the extent to which grandchildren's distress is similarly perceived by CG themselves versus their CGMs. Such findings are important to the extent that accurate estimates exist regarding the emotional difficulties CG face and lay the groundwork for timely and efficacious interventions designed to alleviate their distress., Competing Interests: We have no conflicts of interest of any type to report here.

Objective: Two-hundred thirty-nine grandparents who were raising their grandchildren were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward mental health and mental health care as well as their use of mental health services, each twice over a one-year time frame. Methods: Mental health attitudes were assessed utilizing self-report scales assessing openness to seeking help, biases regarding mental health and mental health professionals, and breadth regarding beliefs about the origins of mental/emotional distress. Results: Findings suggested that grandparent caregivers were generally positive regarding their willingness to seek mental health care, biases regarding mental health professionals, and beliefs about the origins of emotional distress. Factors that predicted mental health attitudes reflected grandparent personal characteristics, aspects of caregiving, and sample demographics. There was a relationship between attitudes toward mental health and the use of mental health-related services, and having sought help was associated with mental health attitudes and emotional distress at both occasions of measurement and over the one-year timeframe. Some modest evidence was found for the role of openness to seeking help in partially mediating relationships between emotional/caregiving-related distress and mental health care use. Conclusion: These findings are important in understanding not only grandparent caregivers' attitudes toward mental health, but also can serve as a basis for enhancing their use of mental health care services.

The present study tests predictions regarding skilled golf performance and age-based upon Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) theory. Participants were 1,324 adults (17-85 years old) who competed in a three-day major amateur golf tournament. Findings indicated that older golfers were most likely to identify difficulties in their games worthy of remediation, relied on performance-enhancing equipment to the greatest degree, and scored higher on SOC selection. For such players, SOC selection and remaining competitive predicted better tournament performance. Older players were also less likely to rate a variety of game improvement techniques as effective, less likely to engage in preround preparation, and were less likely than younger players to engage in SOC optimization and compensation strategies. This pattern of findings to a large extent also characterized middle-aged players. Despite a mixed picture of support for SOC theory, these findings provide valuable insights into its application to aging and the competitive sport domain.

Social services, including the child welfare system, are often heavily involved in situations where children are returned to the care of their parents, after being raised in kinship care by their grandparents. While previous research has highlighted custodial grandparents' service needs and the challenges they experience when accessing services and working with social service professionals, few studies have examined social services in the context of reunifying grandfamilies. Informed by bioecological theory, the aim of this qualitative study was to examine custodial grandmothers' perceptions of the role of social services in the process of their grandchildren being reunified with a biological parent. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 16 custodial grandmothers whose grandchildren had experienced reunification. Findings from a grounded theory analysis revealed grandmothers' perceptions that having a strong connection with a responsive caseworker facilitated successful reunification, as did ongoing efforts to address the parental issues that had resulted in the grandmother assuming a custodial role. Unfortunately, grandmothers also perceived barriers to successful reunification. These included having their perspectives dismissed by caseworkers and judges as well as the child welfare system prioritizing reunification, often to the perceived detriment of their grandchildren. Implications for policy and practice with reunifying grandfamilies are addressed., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

To explore those factors predicting continued involvement among hospice volunteers, this study collected data from questionnaires distributed among 53 individuals who were hospice volunteers, to include personal demographics and measures of locus of control, burnout, hospice self-efficacy, spirituality, and death anxiety. Participants were then contacted between 6 and 8 months later to assess whether they were still actively volunteering for hospice. Those who remained in hospice reported less burnout when adjusting for previous volunteer experience, age, education, and duration of volunteering and a combination of burnout, spirituality, and hospice self-efficacy accurately predicted group membership (completers vs. dropouts) in 82% of the cases. The implications of these exploratory findings for the retention of hospice volunteers are discussed in the context to carefully screening persons before they enter the hospice volunteer role and providing hospice volunteer training for them.