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Contemporary conceptualizations of mindfulness refer to paying attention to the present moment with an open and nonjudgmental attitude. Empirical research is increasingly focusing on mindfulness as a dynamic and multifaceted state that can fluctuate across situations and time. The present study aimed to extend existing knowledge by using experience-sampling methodology to examine state-level mindfulness, pleasant/unpleasant event occurrence, and affective well-being in the everyday lives of middle-aged and older adults. A community-based sample of 157 participants aged 53-86 (M = 69.36, SD = 5.80) was recruited in May-June 2020. Participants completed assessments of multidimensional state mindfulness, hassle and uplift occurrence, and positive and negative affect on their smartphones, four times a day over 10 consecutive days. (Total observations: 4,761; M = 30.32, SD = 8.78.) Multilevel models indicated that the state mindfulness-facets present-moment attention and nonjudgmental acceptance were predictive of greater affective well-being in older adulthood. Furthermore, nonjudgmental acceptance appeared to buffer affective reactivity to daily hassles, and importantly, this effect was stronger at older ages. Mindful states did not appear to provide any further boost to uplift-related mood. The findings suggest that occasions characterized by relatively high present-moment attention and nonjudgmental acceptance may contribute to enhanced emotional well-being in later adulthood. Furthermore, adopting a nonevaluative and accepting orientation toward momentary experiences may be a psychological strategy that has particular utility for mitigating emotional reactivity to daily stressors with increasing age. Future research should investigate multidimensional state mindfulness and affective well-being for middle-aged and older adults participating in mindfulness-based interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Objectives Remaining engaged with life is a hallmark of aging well and pursuing personally meaningful activities is presumably important for late-life affect. We examined how moment-to-moment variability in meaning and degree of challenge ascribed to daily activities relate to positive and negative affect in very old adults. Possible moderating effects of between-person differences in conscientiousness on meaning-affect associations were also examined. Methods Participants were 73 adults aged 89 years on average from the Australian Daily Life Time-Sampling module of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging. Participants provided self-report data on activity engagement (meaning and challenge associated with activities) and affect, on 5 occasions per day for a period of 7 consecutive days. Results Within-person associations of activity meaning with affect varied as a function of within-person challenge ratings. Specifically, gains in positive affect associated with meaningful activity were more strongly evident when activities were regarded as more challenging. In contrast, meaningful activity was associated with higher negative affect when activities were regarded as more challenging and lower negative affect when activities were regarded as less challenging. Conscientiousness did not moderate associations of activity meaning with affect. Discussion Our findings shed light on the intricate interplay between maintaining meaningful engagement and daily emotional experiences in very old age. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and consider the role of late-life conscientiousness for self- and emotion regulation.

Objectives We aimed at examining between-person and within-person associations across age trajectories of perceptual speed and loneliness in old age. Method We applied multilevel models to 4 waves of data collected over 6 years from 1,491 participants of the Berlin Aging Study II (60–88 years at baseline, 50% women) to disentangle between-person and within-person associations across age trajectories of perceptual speed and both emotional and social loneliness. Sex and education were considered as relevant individual characteristics and included as covariates in the model. Results Analyses revealed that on average perceptual speed exhibited moderate within-person age-related declines, whereas facets of loneliness were rather stable. Perceptual speed did not predict age trajectories of emotional or social loneliness, at either the between- or within-person level. In contrast, loneliness discriminated individuals at the between-person level, such that those feeling emotionally or socially more lonely showed lower cognitive performance than those feeling emotionally or socially less lonely. Predictive effects of social loneliness were stronger for relatively young people (i.e., in their mid to late 60s) than for relatively older participants (i.e., in their 80s). In addition, predictive effects of social loneliness for perceptual speed at the within-person level were modest and deviated in direction and size from between-person social loneliness effects among those in their mid- to late 60s, whereas they did not among those in their 80s. Discussion We conclude that loneliness may serve as a precursor for basic cognitive functioning in old age and suggest routes for further inquiry.

Background: Long-term protective associations proposed between previous complex occupational tasks and cognitive functioning in later life point to work roles contributing to cognitive reserve. Objective: To examine occupational complexity involving data, people, and things in relation to the level of, and rate of change in, cognitive functioning. Methods: Participants were 1,290 members of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing and initially aged 65-102 years (mean = 79). Information about main lifetime occupation was collected retrospectively. Cognition was assessed 4 times over a 13-year interval. Results: In multilevel models adjusted for demographics, medical conditions, and depressive symptoms, higher complexity involving data was associated with faster speed (β = 0.73, p < 0.001), better memory (β = 0.32, p < 0.05), and mental status (β = 0.40, p < 0.001) at baseline. These associations remained statistically reliable after adjusting for complexity with people and things, sedentary and heavy physical work, retirement age, and leisure activity. Complexity with things was associated with slower speed (β = -0.50, p < 0.001) and poorer mental status (β = -0.26, p < 0.01) and was not explained by other variables. There were no associations of occupational complexity with rates of cognitive decline over time. Conclusion: Older individuals retired from occupations characterized by higher complexity with data maintain their cognitive advantage over those with lower complexity into older adulthood, although without additional moderation of this advantage in terms of less postretirement cognitive decline. Complexity of work with things confers a negative relation to cognition whilst also not affecting postretirement cognitive change. Although the relative contributions of occupation or other early life influences for cognition remain to be established, it nevertheless may be beneficial to promote workplace design strategies and interventions that incorporate complex activities, particularly tasks involving data.

Objectives: Activity participation is associated with a range of positive outcomes in older adults but tends to decline with age. Understanding protective factors is important to facilitate activity in later life. Social cognitive theory suggests that having high self-efficacy may promote activity because individuals with higher self-efficacy perceived their activities to be easier and use adaptive strategies to overcome barriers to activity. Despite considerable research linking self-efficacy and activity, limited research has examined the proposed mechanisms behind this association. This study therefore examined whether perceived ease of activity and use of adaptive strategies account for the association between self-efficacy and activity. Method: Participants were 412 adults aged 50–93 years who completed a cross-sectional survey.Structural equation modelling was used to examine whether the effects of self-efficacy on activity were mediated by perceived ease of activity and use of adaptive strategies Results: Perceived ease of activity mediated the positive associations between self-efficacy and social (0.04 [0.02, 0.07]) and physical activity (0.16 [0.08, 0.25]), but not mental activity (0.01 [0.000,0.03]). For physical activity, this effect was stronger for adults aged 70+ years than those aged 50–69 years (older a₂*b₂ - younger a₂*b₂ 0.13 [0.04, 0.24]). Use of adaptive strategies was not a significant mediator in any model. Conclusion: This study suggests that self-efficacy may influence older adults’ perception of activities and, in turn, the activities they choose to participate in. This has potential implications for the development of interventions aimed at promoting activity engagement in later life. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Having a sense of purpose is recognized as an important resource for maintaining health and well-being over the life span. We examined associations of individual differences in sense of purpose with levels and rates of change in indices of aging well (health, cognition, and depressive symptoms) in a sample of 1,475 older adults (M-age = 77.06 years, SD = 6.27; 50% female) assessed on up to 6 occasions over 18 years. We also conducted survival analysis to examine associations of purpose with longevity. We hypothesized that a higher sense of purpose would be associated with better performance on the aging well measures, and that those with a higher sense of purpose would show shallower declines in aging well over time. Results indicated that participants who scored higher on sense of purpose reported lower levels of functional disability, performed better on cognitive tests (episodic memory and speed of processing), and reported better self-rated health and fewer depressive symptoms. Sense of purpose was not associated with individual differences in rates of change in the aging well indices with the exception of speed of processing, for which a higher sense of purpose was associated with marginally shallower rates of decline. Higher sense of purpose was also associated with increased probability of survival, although this association became weaker over time. The findings support the notion that purposeful living contributes to health and well-being. At the same time, higher sense of purpose may not buffer against more pervasive losses in health that become more common in oldest-old adulthood. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This review examines differences in the use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies among younger and older adults.A systematic review using search terms related to ageing and ER identified 23 relevant studies. Narrative synthesis was adopted to analyse the findings.Generally, greater use of situation selection and attentional deployment was identified among older adults, although these relationships were dependent on contextual/moderator variables. While older adults employed greater levels of situation modification in response to negative stimuli, there was considerable variation in age differences across specific situation modification subtypes. Available evidence pointed to an absence of age differences in the cognitive change strategy of cognitive reappraisal. The use of relatively less-cognitively demanding cognitive change subtypes (e.g. acceptance) was, under particular circumstances, greater among older adults. Findings regarding the response modulation strategy of expressive suppression were equivocal.Adult development is not characterised by straightforward shifts in preferences for use of different ER strategies. Moderator variables appear to be of central importance in shaping the emergence of age differences in ER. Systematically examining interactions of age with individual difference variables and situational factors in samples including oldest-old adults will be important for advancing knowledge regarding developmental differences in ER.

We examined how positive and negative social exchanges with friends, family, and spouses were related to cognitive aging in episodic and working memory, and perceptual speed. To do so, we used a large sample of cognitively intact young-old participants from the PATH Through Life Study (PATH; aged 60 to 64 years at baseline, n = 1,618) who were assessed on 3 occasions over 8 years. Additional replication analyses were conducted using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which provided data on episodic memory. The main analysis of PATH Through Life showed that positive exchanges with friends and family were associated with less decline in perceptual speed, with these associations attenuated by adjustment for physical functioning and depressive symptoms. Negative exchanges with spouses were associated with poorer working memory performance. Positive exchanges with friends were associated with better initial episodic memory in both PATH and HRS. More frequent negative exchanges with friends and family were associated with better episodic memory in the PATH sample. However, these findings were not replicated in HRS. Our findings provide indirect support for the role of social exchange quality in contributing to cognitive enrichment. However, the inconsistent pattern of results across cognitive and social exchange domains points to possibilities of reverse causality, and may also indicate that social exchange quality plays a less important role for cognitive enrichment than other psychosocial characteristics. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Objectives: Research has shown that functional limitation is related to reduced social activity in older adults; however, individuals with high perceived control have greater confidence in their ability to achieve outcomes and are more likely to show persistence and employ strategies to overcome challenges. The aim of this study was to examine whether perceived control protects against the negative effects of functional limitation on older adults’ social activity. Method: Participants were 835 older adults aged 69 to 103 years at baseline from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Multilevel modeling was used to examine baseline and within-person change in functional limitation and perceived control as predictors of 18-year trajectories of social activity. Results: An interaction between baseline functional limitation and perceived control indicated that having greater functional limitation was associated with less social activity and greater decline over time for those with lower perceived control, but not for those with higher control. Within-person change in functional limitation was not reliably associated with social activity. Discussion: This study highlights the importance of perceived control as a protective psychological resource and may have implications for developing interventions aimed at enabling older adults to maintain their social activity as they experience functional decline. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Background: Participation in activities is associated with a range of positive outcomes in adulthood. Research has shown that pain and physical symptoms are associated with less activity in older adults, whereas higher self-efficacy is associated with more activity. Such research tends to examine cross-sectional or long-term between-person change, limiting the opportunity to explore dynamic within-person processes that unfold over shorter time periods. Objectives: This study aimed to (1) replicate previous between-person associations of self-efficacy with engagement in activity and (2) examine whether daily variation in pain, physical symptoms, and self-efficacy corresponded with daily within-person variation in different types of activity. We predicted that participants would engage in less activity on days when they experienced more pain or physical symptoms than their average (a negative within-person association) and that participants would engage in more activity on days when self-efficacy was higher than average (a positive within-person association). Methods: This study used an online diary study to assess self- reported daily pain, physical symptoms, self-efficacy, and engagement in activity among 185 adults aged 51-84 years for up to 7 days. Multilevel modelling was used to examine whether between-person (average) and daily within-person variability in pain, physical symptoms, and self-efficacy were associated with social, physical, and mental activity. Results: In line with previous research, between-person self-efficacy was positively associated with social and physical activity. Supporting the hypotheses, within-person self-efficacy was also positively associated with social and physical activity. The results for pain and physical symptoms were less consistent. Between-person pain was positively associated with social activity. Age interactions indicated that within-person pain was negatively associated with social activity and positively associated with physical activity among older adults. Within-person physical symptoms were positively related to social and mental activity. Conclusion: Stable individual differences as well as short-term within-person variation in physical and psychological functioning are associated with day-to-day variation in activity. Between-person associations did not always reflect within-person associations (e.g., for pain). These complex associations may be influenced by a range of factors including the type of activity and how it is defined (e.g., specific activities and their difficulty), the type of physical symptoms experienced, and age.

Background: Findings from existing research exploring whether positive social exchanges can help to offset (or ‘buffer’ against) the harmful effects of negative social exchanges on mental health have been inconsistent. This could be because the existing research is characterized by different approaches to studying various contexts of ‘cross-domain’ and ‘within-domain’ buffering, and/or because the nature of buffering effects varies according to sociodemographic characteristics that underlie different aspects of social network structure and function. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the buffering effects of global perceptions of positive exchanges on the link between global negative exchanges and mental health varied as a function of age and gender. Method: We used a series of regressions in a sample of 556 Australian older adults (ages 55–94) to test for three-way interactions among gender, positive social exchanges, and negative social exchanges, as well as age and positive and negative social exchanges, in predicting mental health, controlling for years of education, partner status, and physical functioning. Results: We found that positive exchanges buffered against negative exchanges for younger old adults, but not for older old adults, and for women, but not for men. Conclusions: Our findings are interpreted in light of research on individual differences in coping responses and interpersonal goals among late middle-aged and older adults. Our findings are in line with gerontological theories (e.g. socioemotional selectivity theory), and imply that an intervention aimed at using positive social exchanges as a means of coping with negative social exchanges might be more successful among particular populations (i.e. women, ‘younger’ old adults).

Purpose: Interest in evaluating purpose in life as an important component of ageing well is growing; however, investigation into the appropriate measurement of this construct is required. The purpose of this paper was to examine the measurement properties of the Life Engagement Test (LET) and to provide normative data for a nonclinical sample of community-dwelling older adults. Methods A random sample of 545 adults, aged 55- Methods: A random sample of 545 adults, aged 55-94 years, completed the LET twice over a 12-month period as part of a larger survey on relocation in later life. Results: Consistent with previous research, participants typically reported high levels of purpose in life. Scores were also observed to vary over the 12-month duration, with, on average, an increase in purpose in life at Time 2. However, tests of longitudinal invariance were inconclusive. Conclusions: Future research is needed to further examine the content validity of the LET, and its factorial invariance over longer measurement intervals, and across different populations including non-residential/aged care settings. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Objectives Aging-related changes in motivation and the availability of resources have been hypothesized to result in social network changes in later life. However, few studies have examined associations of both motivation and resources with different aspects of social network composition in the same analytical context. The present study examined associations of key motivational (future time perspective [FTP]) and resource variables (partner status, physical health, and perceived neighborhood cohesion) with social network size and positive and negative social exchanges. Method A population-based sample of midlife (aged 55-59 years, n = 169) young-old (aged 60-74 years, n = 306) and old-old (aged 75+ years, n = 77) adults completed a questionnaire. Results Those who were partnered reported larger networks with family, whereas never-married individuals reported larger networks with neighbors. Perceived neighborhood cohesion was related to larger networks with family, neighbors, and friends. Open-ended FTP was associated with larger networks of friends and more frequent positive social exchanges. Discussion Our results point to FTP and resources having different implications for social engagement across network domains.

Objectives. The aim of this study w as to examine age differences in high- and low-arousal positive and negative affect, and associations of physical functioning with affect over the latter half of the life course. Method. P articipants consisted of 39,958 midlife and older adults contributing to DYNOPTA; a large-scale collaborative project concerned with pooling data from Australian studies of aging. Items assessing the experience of discrete emotions were selected to represent different combinations of high- and low-arousal affect, and positive and negative valence affect. Results. Older adults were more likely to endorse low-arousal positive affect, and less likely to endorse negative affect (both high and low arousal) relative to those in midlife. Better self-reported physical functioning was associated with younger age, higher positive, and lower negative affect, with physical functioning emerging as a suppressor of associations of age with affect in regression analyses. Conclusions. The results, based on a v ery large sample of older adults, are consistent with those of other studies demonstrating lower levels of negative emotion among older, relative to midlife adults. The findings also highlight the relevance of physical functioning to emotional well-being over the latter part of the life course.

Objective. This study examined the extent to which associations between volunteering and subjective well-being (SWB) could be related to volunteers having more supportive social networks relative to nonvolunteers. Method. The sample consisted of 561 midlife and older adults (aged 55–94 years) from the TRAnsitions In Later Life study. Multiple mediation analyses examined associations between hours spent volunteering per week; availability of social support from friends, relatives, and neighbors; positive and negative social exchanges; and SWB. Results. The results indicated that the higher life satisfaction and positive affect reported by those who volunteer at moderate levels (up to 7 hr per week) are related to their higher levels of positive social exchanges and greater availability of social support from friends and family, relative to nonvolunteers. Those who volunteer at higher levels (7 hr or more per week) also reported greater levels of positive affect in comparison to nonvolunteers, and this was related to their greater availability of social support from friends. Availability of support from friends accounted for the greatest proportion of the volunteering–SWB associations. Discussion. The findings suggest that the positive SWB associated with volunteering is related to volunteers’ more

It is unclear whether the longitudinal relation between activity participation and cognitive ability is due to preserved differentiation (active individuals have higher initial levels of cognitive ability), or differential preservation (active individuals show less negative change across time). This distinction has never been evaluated after dividing time-varying activity into its two sources of variation: between-person and within-person variability. Further, few studies have investigated how the association between activity participation and cognitive ability may differ from early to older adulthood. Using the PATH Through Life Project, we evaluated whether between- and within-person variation in activity participation was associated with cognitive ability and change within cohorts aged 20-24 years, 40-44 years, and 60-64 years at baseline (n = 7,152) assessed on three occasions over an 8-year interval. Multilevel models indicated that between-person differences in activity significantly predicted baseline cognitive ability for all age cohorts and for each assessed cognitive domain (perceptual speed, short-term memory, working memory, episodic memory, and vocabulary), even after accounting for sex, education, occupational status, and physical and mental health. In each case, greater average participation was associated with higher baseline cognitive ability. However, the size of the relationship involving average activity participation and baseline cognitive ability did not differ across adulthood. Between-person activity and within-person variation in activity level were both not significantly associated with change in cognitive test performance. Results suggest that activity participation is indeed related to cognitive ability across adulthood, but only in relation to the starting value of cognitive ability, and not change over time.

This study provides much needed information on the education level of older drivers regarding the impact of health conditions and medications on personal driving safety, where they source this information, and how this knowledge influences self-regulation of driving. Random and convenience sampling secured 322 Australian drivers (63.9% males) aged 65 years and over (M = 77.35 years, SD = 7.35) who completed a telephone interview. The majority of respondents (86%) had good knowledge about health conditions (health knowledge) and driving safety, however more than 50% was classified as having poor knowledge on the effects of certain medications (medication knowledge) and driving safety. Poorer health knowledge was associated with a reduced likelihood of driving over 100 km in adjusted models. Being older and having more than one medical condition was found to increase the likelihood of self-regulation of driving. Results indicate that health knowledge was less important for predicting driving behaviour than health experience. Of great interest was that up to 85.7% of respondents reported not receiving advice about the potential impact of their medical condition and driving from their doctor. The findings indicate a need for improved dissemination of evidence-based health information and education for older drivers and their doctors.

Objective: The tripartite model of depression and anxiety hypothesizes that positive and negative affect is related to depression and anxiety. However, the specific role of cognitive or psychological well-being constructs like resilience and mastery within a tripartite context and throughout adulthood is unclear. Method: Data was drawn from two longitudinal population-based cohorts, aged 20–24 and 40–44 based in Canberra, Australia (N = 3989). We sought to determine the interrelatedness of two affective measures of subjective well-being, positive and negative affect, with two cognitive measures of psychological well-being, resilience and mastery. We then tested their independent effects on depression and anxiety, and hypothesized, following the tripartite model, that subjective well-being would mediate the effects of the psychological well-being variables on mental health and that the psychological well-being variables would be more strongly related to positive subjective well-being. Results: Principal axis factoring delineated four affective and cognitive dimensions of well-being comprising positive and negative affect, resilience and mastery. Structural equation models identified the psychological well-being variables as significantly related to subjective well-being, which fully mediated the effects of resilience and partially mediated the effect of mastery on depression and anxiety. These findings were consistent throughout both young and middle adulthood. Conclusions: Psychological well-being components are significant predictors of subjective well-being affect states that increase vulnerability to depression and anxiety.

Background: Despite the increasing utilization of formal services by older adults in many nations, there is a paucity of research that has examined the relationships between disability, formal support and depressive symptoms in later life. Objective: We investigated whether support received for daily activities, either from formal and/or informal sources, weakened the deleterious relationship between disability and depression symptoms in later life and whether these stress-buffering effects were stronger in later years of older adulthood. Methods: Participants were 1,359 community-dwelling older adults drawn from Wave 1 of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Hierarchical multiple regression was used. Results: Individuals receiving support from (1) informal sources only and (2) both informal and formal sources had weaker relationships between disability and depressive symptoms, relative to those receiving no support. The interaction between informal and formal support and disability also revealed that for individuals with above average functional limitations, receipt of this support type was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. However, for individuals with no functional limitations, receipt of both informal and formal support was not associated with depressive symptoms. The stress-buffer age variation hypothesis received no support. Conclusions: Findings suggest that receiving a combination of informal and formal support may be sufficient to offset the harmful association between disability and depressive symptoms in later life. In addition, findings further emphasized the importance of informal support in later life. In contrast, formal support in isolation may not be sufficient to confer a protective effect. Given the expected increase in utilization of formal services among older adults in the coming decades, it is essential that future research investigates the possible factors that underlie this null result.

Aims: The aim of this paper is to investigate two possible explanations for the higher levels of psychological distress observed among alcohol abstainers relative to light and moderate drinkers, and to investigate possible moderating effects of age on this association. The possible explanations were that: (i) the higher level of psychological distress among abstainers is due to the presence of a subset of former heavy drinkers in this group; and (ii) abstainers have poorer social relationships than light/moderate drinkers. Methods: A national cross-sectional survey yielded data from 2856 Australians aged 20-22, 30-32 and 40-42 years (response rate 15.9%). Results: The sample was representative for many socio-demographic factors but under-represented people not in the labour force and over-represented those with university qualifications. In the oldest but not the younger age groups, abstainers reported sig- nificantly higher psychological distress relative to light/moderate drinkers. While abstainers in the oldest age group who were former heavy drinkers showed the highest levels of distress, excluding them from the analysis did not account for differences in distress between current abstainers and light/moderate drinkers. Abstainers aged 40-42 years were less socially integrated, less extraverted and had lower social support than light/moderate drinkers, and controlling for these factors partially explained their increased distress. Conclusions: Significantly increased psychological distress of abstainers compared to light/moderate drinkers was demonstrated only in the oldest age group (40-42 years). The higher distress reported by abstainers in this age group was partially explained by abstainers having poorer social relationships than light/moderate drinkers.

There is a strong association between financial hardship and the experience of depression. Previous longitudinal research differs in whether this association is viewed as a contemporaneous relationship between depression and hardship or whether hardship has a role in the maintenance of existing depression. In this study we investigate the association between depression and hardship over time and seek to resolve these contradictory perspectives. We also investigate the consistency of the association across the lifecourse. This study reports analysis of two waves of data from a large community survey conducted in the city of Canberra and the surrounding region in south-east Australia. The PATH Through Life Study used a narrow-cohort design, with 6715 respondents representing three birth cohorts (1975-1979; 1956-1960; and 1937-1941) assessed on the two measurement occasions (4 years apart). Depression was measured using the Goldberg Depression Scale and hardship assessed by items measuring aspects of deprivation due to lack of resources. A range of measures of socio-economic circumstance and demographic characteristics were included in logistic regression models to predict wave 2 depression. The results showed that current financial hardship was strongly and independently associated with depression, above the effects of other measures of socio-economic position and demographic characteristics. In contrast, the effect of prior financial difficulty was explained by baseline depression symptoms. There were no reliable cohort differences in the association between hardship and depression having controlled for socio-demographic characteristics. There was some evidence that current hardship was more strongly associated with depression for those who were not classified as depressed at baseline than for those identified with depression at baseline. The evidence of the contemporaneous association between hardship and depression suggests that addressing deprivation may be an effective strategy to moderate socio-economic inequalities in mental health.

We used responses from telephone interviews conducted with a community sample of 304 older drivers to investigate associations between perceived control over driving, driving ability perception (an index of unrealistic optimism), and self-reported avoidance of high-risk driving situations. We also investigated associations between perceived control over driving, ability perception, and indices of well-being (life satisfaction and depressive symptoms). Our results indicated that perceived control and perceived ability were each associated with reduced risk avoidance and well-being, with these associations moderated by gender. We discuss the results in terms of potentially adaptive and maladaptive consequences of pervasive perceptual biases, gender differences in primary and secondary control strategies, and the importance of effective self-regulation for aging well.

Objective The objective of this study was to determine the association between weekly alcohol consumption and brain atrophy in adults aged 60 to 64 years. Methods Brain magnetic resonance imaging scans from 385 adults recruited through a community survey were analyzed. Automated segmentation and manual tracing methods were used to obtain brain subvolumes and automated methods were used to obtain quantification and localization of white matter hyperintensities. Visual measures of cortical atrophy were obtained as were data on health and lifestyle factors. Alcohol consumption was assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Results In men, weekly alcohol consumption had a positive linear association with ventricular volume and gray matter and a negative linear association with white matter. In women, weekly alcohol consumption had a nonlinear relationship with cerebrospinal fluid and white matter. Alcohol consumption was not associated with white matter hyperintensities, corpus callosum size, hippocampal or amygdala volumes in analyses adjusting for confounding variables. Conclusion An association between alcohol consumption and brain atrophy is evident at the population level. In women, detrimental effects of alcohol on the brain appear to occur at lower levels of consumption. It remains possible that low levels of alcohol consumption have neuroprotective benefits but is clear that high levels of consumption are detrimental.

Aims To investigate associations, including non-linear relationships, between cognitive function and alcohol consumption, testing for moderating effects of age and gender and for differences across outcome measures. Design Cross-sectional general population samples of three age cohorts. Setting Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia. Participants The total sample of 7485 consisted of 2404 men and women aged 20–24 years, 2530 aged 40–44 years, and 2551 aged 60–64 years, selected from the electoral rolls. Measurements Self-report data using hand-held computers provided weekly alcohol consumption from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) frequency, quantity and binge-drinking items, and socio-demographic factors. Spot-the-Word, digits backwards, the Symbol-Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), immediate recall and reaction-time tests were conducted by trained interviewers. Findings Findings varied across dependent variables, but there was a general tendency for light drinkers (up to 20/10 g alcohol per day in men/women, respectively) to perform better than abstainers, occasional drinkers or those drinking at hazardous/harmful levels (>40/20 g per day in men/women). Poorer performance of hazardous/harmful drinkers was seen only in men, whereas that of abstainers was evident in both sexes but was stronger in women. After adjustment for education and race, male hazardous/harmful drinkers no longer performed significantly less well than light drinkers, whereas male and female abstainers and occasional drinkers still did so. Conclusions Abstainers have poorer cognitive function than light drinkers and further investigation is needed to determine what factors contribute to this.

Background: Pulmonary function has been associated with some measures of cognitive performance, mostly in late adulthood. This study investigated whether this association is present for a range of cognitive measures, at three stages of adulthood, and whether it remains after controlling for demographic, health and lifestyle factors. Method: The relationship between forced expiratory volume at 1 s (FEV1), a measure of pulmonary function, and cognitive test performance was examined in three cohorts aged 20–24, 40–44 and 60–64. Results: After controlling for demographic variables, smoking, physical activity, and respiratory disease, significant associations between FEV1 and cognitive test performance were evident in each age group for most cognitive measures. The association between FEV1 and measures of speed increased with age. Conclusion: FEV1 has a small but reliable positive association with cognitive test performance throughout adulthood, possibly reflecting a common physiological factor.

Little is known regarding how well psychosocial resources that promote well-being continue to correlate with affect into very late life. We examined social resource correlates of levels and time-to-death related changes in affect balance (an index of affective positivity) over 19 years among 1,297 by now deceased participants (aged 69 to 103 at first assessment, M = 80 years; 36% women) from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging. A steeper decline in affect balance was evident over a time-to-death metric compared with chronological age. Separating time-varying social resource predictors into between- and within-person components revealed several associations with level of affect balance, controlling for age at death, gender, functional disability, and global cognition. Between-person associations revealed that individuals who were more satisfied with family, and more socially active, expressed greater positivity compared with those who were less satisfied, and less socially active. Within-person associations indicated that participants reported higher positivity on occasions when they were more socially active. In addition, lower affect balance was associated with more frequent contact with children. Our results suggest that social engagement and satisfying relationships confer benefits for affective well-being that are retained into late life. However, our findings do not provide evidence to indicate that social resources protect against terminal decline in well-being.

(1) To identify factors that older adults find encouraging or discouraging about the prospect of relocation to a retirement village; and (2) to identify features or facilities often associated with retirement communities that are most appealing to prospective residents.Randomly selected community residents (n = 517), aged 55-94 years, from the Australian Capital Territory completed postal surveys to identify the characteristics associated with retirement villages that influence relocation decisions.The provision of outdoor living areas, support in maintaining independence, assisted living facilities and accessibility to medical facilities were identified as factors that would encourage relocation. Luxury services (e.g. heated swimming pools) were indicated as least likely to encourage relocation. Negative perceptions most influential in discouraging relocation reflected a fear of losing independence and privacy.Through identifying the expectations of prospective residents, retirement village providers may better tailor facilities to the needs of their target demographic.

Research based on between-couple perspectives indicate that spouses share similarities in a range of psychosocial characteristics. In this study, the authors add to existing research by examining spousal similarities in mental health and its time-related change from both between-couple and within-couple perspectives. The authors apply latent growth models to 9-wave annual longitudinal data obtained from 3,410 adult couples in the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA; Mage wives = 48 years, Mage husbands = 50 years). In a first step, the authors corroborate extant findings from a between-couple perspective that spouses show considerable similarities in levels of and changes in mental health. In a second step, they calculate a within-couple similarity index (i.e., using absolute difference scores calculated based on the 2 partners' mental health). The authors show that mental health ratings between partners within a given spousal unit differed considerably (0.88 SD) and that these differences remained relatively stable over time. Examining between-couple differences in within-couple similarity revealed that larger discrepancies were associated with lower mental health (of individual partners), chronic health conditions, less marital satisfaction, and elevated risks for dissolution of the partnership. The authors discuss ways to integrate this counterintuitive set of findings with research originating from between-couple and within-couple perspectives, argue that a certain degree of spousal differences-if kept within certain bounds-can be adaptive serving developmental and relationship functions, and suggest routes for future inquiry on spousal similarities.

To identify characteristics distinguishing older adults who have considered relocation to a retirement village in the future from those who have not.Community-living residents (n = 517), aged 55 to 94, randomly selected from the Australian Capital Territory completed a postal survey.Consistent with prior research, the majority of respondents had not considered relocation to a retirement village. Retired persons, those aged 55-64 years, and persons reporting sufficient financial resources, poorer physical health and poorer current neighbourhood cohesion were most likely to have considered future relocation.The identification of factors characterising older adults seeking retirement village housing in the future is important in developing an understanding of the needs and expectations of the older population, and may allow aged care providers to better target the development of services to population needs (e.g. health-care supports). Further investigation into the specific expectations of the 55-64 year cohort is required.

Objectives: Perceived control may promote social activity in older adults because individuals with greater perceived control have greater confidence in their ability to achieve outcomes and are more likely to choose difficult activities, show persistence, and employ strategies to overcome challenges. Cross-sectional research has linked perceived control with social activity in life span and older adult samples but provides little insight into the direction of influence. We examined reciprocal associations between perceived control and social activity in order to establish temporal sequencing, which is one prerequisite for determining potential causation. Method: Participants were 14,126 midlife and older adults from the German Ageing Survey. Using cross-lagged autoregressive modeling with age as the time metric (40–87 years), we examined reciprocal 3-year lagged associations between perceived control and social activity, while controlling for concurrent associations. Results: Perceived control significantly predicted social activity 3 years later. Reciprocally, social activity significantly predicted perceived control 3 years later. The influence of perceived control on social activity was greater than the influence of social activity on perceived control. Discussion: The finding that perceived control significantly predicts future social activity has potential implications for developing interventions aimed at promoting social activity in midlife and older adults. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This study investigated the interacting dynamics of different aspects of the social network, specifically network structure (size and frequency of contact), social activity engagement, and emotional support, and different aspects of health and subjective well-being in a representative sample of 2034 older adults across 6 years of development. The analysis, using latent change score models, revealed that older age at Time 1 was related to steeper declines in network structure and social engagement, but was unrelated to changes in emotional support. Furthermore, levels of social engagement and levels of emotional support predicted changes in functional health and life satisfaction with equal strength. Changes in social engagement were associated with changes in life satisfaction, positive affect, functional health, and subjective health. Changes in emotional support were only associated with changes in negative affect. Mediation analyses suggested that network structure may stimulate social engagement and emotional support, thereby exerting indirect influences on key aspects of successful aging. The results underscore the importance of considering the multifaceted nature of social relations in understanding their impact on distinct developmental goals, and across different domains of successful aging.

Research has consistently shown that despite aging-related losses, older adults have high levels of emotional well-being relative to those in young and midlife adults. We aimed to contribute to knowledge around the factors that predict emotional well-being over the life course by examining age group differences in associations of positive and negative social exchanges and mastery beliefs with positive and negative affect in a sample of 7,472 young, midlife, and older adults assessed on 2 measurement occasions, 4 years apart. Results from structural equation models indicated lower levels of negative affect with advancing age. Mastery was consistently related to higher well-being, with the strongest associations evident for young adults. Older adults reported the most frequent positive and least frequent negative social exchanges; however, associations of social relations with affect tended to be stronger among young and midlife adults relative to older adults. Results are discussed in the context of life course perspectives on goal orientations and self-regulatory processes.

Objectives: To contrast the level of anxiety and depression reported by older Australians providing assistance to someone who is ill, disabled or elderly with that of non-caregivers; and to identify secondary stressors and mediating factors which explain caregivers’ poorer mental health. Method: Analysis of data from wave 2 of the PATH Through Life Study, a community survey of 2,222 adults aged 64–69 years conducted in Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia. Mental health was assessed using the Goldberg depression and anxiety scales. Analyses focused on those who identified themselves as a primary carer and/or reported providing care for more than 5 hours per week. Analyses evaluated whether the association between caregiver status and mental health was mediated by financial factors, role strain, physical health, and social support and conflict with family and friends after adjusting for demographics. Results: Caregivers reported significantly poorer mental health than non-caregivers, and also reported poorer physical health, greater financial stress, greater responsibility for household tasks, and more conflict and less social support from their family and spouse. Mediation analysis showed that the poorer mental health of caregivers reflected elevated rates of their own physical impairment, a lack of social support and greater conflict. Conclusions: The relationship between caregiving and mental health was largely explained by social support and levels of conflict within the family, which are modifiable and potentially amenable to change through policy and intervention. Research such as this can assist the development of appropriate interventions to improve the circumstances of informal caregivers in Australia.

Age group differences in self-reported supportive, aversive, ambivalent, and indifferent partner relations were examined in a large sample of midlife (aged 40--44 at baseline, n = 1,719) and older (aged 60--64 at baseline, n = 1,675) married and partnered adults assessed on two occasions 4 years apart. Older adults, particularly older men, were more likely to rate their relationship as supportive and less likely to rate their relationship as aversive relative to midlife adults. Midlife adults were more likely to provide ambivalent or indifferent assessments (as opposed to supportive assessments) of their relationship relative to older adults. Results are discussed in the context of possible developmental changes in interpersonal and intimate relations occurring in middle and older adulthood. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.

Whether the reported poorer mental health of ecstasy users is due to a bias in endorsement of somatic symptoms has been postulated, but rarely examined. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether levels of ecstasy use were associated with differential probabilities of endorsing somatic mental health symptoms. Current ecstasy users aged 24–30 years (n = 316) were identified from a population-based Australian study. Measures included frequency of ecstasy, meth/amphetamine, and cannabis use and the Goldberg anxiety/depression symptom scales. Multiple indicator, multiple cause models demonstrated no bias towards endorsing somatic symptoms with higher ecstasy use, both with and without adjustment for gender, cannabis, and meth/amphetamine use. Other studies using alternate measures of mental health should adopt this approach to determine if there is a bias in the endorsement of somatic symptoms among ecstasy users.

Associations of both individuals' and their spouses' tendencies toward persistence in goal striving (an index of primary control) and positive reappraisal (an index of accommodation) with individuals' characteristics of successful aging (physical and mental health, life satisfaction and social networks/engagement) were examined in midlife and older spousal dyads.One-hundred and twenty spousal dyads (240 individuals) completed a mail-out questionnaire concerned with psychosocial correlates of mental health and well-being in older adulthood.Results indicated that 40-60% of the variance in successful aging outcomes occurred between dyads. Individuals' tendencies toward positive reappraisal were positively related to physical and mental health and life satisfaction. Positive reappraisal was also related to more extensive social networks with friends and greater social engagement, but only among younger participants. Individuals' persistence in goal striving was associated with better mental health but was not related to the other indices of aging well, while spouses' goal persistence and reappraisal tendencies were not related to individuals' aging well outcomes.The findings indicate a substantial degree of interdependence among spouses in the extent to which they are ageing well, and highlight the adaptive value of positive reappraisal as a coping strategy used in response to loss of primary control in later life.

To investigate self-reported driving status within three Australian states; associations between demographic, health, and functional factors and driving status; and the extent to which remaining a driver in spite of cognitive and visual impairments varies as a function of sex.Secondary data analysis of a pooled data set.Australian communities.Adults aged 65 to 103 (N=5,206) from the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project. DYNOPTA is a unique data set created through the harmonization and pooling of data across nine separate Australian longitudinal studies of aging conducted between 1990 and 2007 (N=50,652).Driving status, demographic characteristics, Mini-Mental State Examination score, visual acuity, physical activity, and occupation.Men and participants with higher-level occupations had greater odds of driving. Older age, more medical conditions, and poorer vision increased the odds of not driving. Persons who were divorced, widowed, or never married were at a greater risk than married adults of not driving. Descriptive analyses revealed a large proportion of men with probable visual or cognitive impairments who reported driving. Subsequent comparative analyses between the DYNOPTA sample and other published U.S. and Canadian data revealed lower proportions of current drivers among Australian women and those at older ages, although there were consistently lower proportions of drivers within Australia and Canada than in the United States.The rate of men with probable dementia or visual impairments who reported driving is of particular concern. Research and policy need to focus on evidence-based assessment of older drivers and development of appropriate interventions and programs to maintain the mobility and independence of older adults.

Associations between health, control beliefs, and well-being in later life are frequently conceptualized in terms of the characteristics of individuals. However, spousal interdependencies in psychosocial characteristics are also likely to be relevant for well-being. The present study investigated associations of self-rated health, control, and relationship closeness with life satisfaction and positive and negative affect in a sample of 2,235 spousal dyads. A significant proportion of variance in health, control, closeness, and well-being occurred between dyads. Individuals' self-rated health, control, and relationship closeness were associated with higher well-being. Spouses' self-rated health and control beliefs were consistently and positively associated with individuals' well-being; however, effect sizes were small. Some evidence for individual's control beliefs buffering the association between health and well-being emerged, whereas spouses' perceived control was not a significant moderator of the health--well-being association. Results highlight the importance of couple interdependencies for contextualizing health and well-being in older adulthood. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Self-medication among the study respondents ranged from 18% to 36% between 1992 and 2004. The most frequent classes of complementary and alternative medicines were vitamins and minerals, herbal medicines and nutritional supplements, with younger individuals and women more likely to use them. For over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, the most commonly used were analgesics, laxatives and low-dose aspirin. Use of OTC medicines seemed to be done in accord with indications officially approved by the Australian medicine agency. Future work should examine risks associated with the concomitant use of complementary and alternative medicines, prescription and OTC medicines., National Health and Medical Research Council (410215); NHMRC Fellowships (#366756 to K.J.A. and #316970 to P.B.)

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article was to investigate the role of control beliefs in mediating the relationship between driving cessation and change in depressive symptoms in a population-based sample of older adults. DESIGN AND METHODS: We report results from a prospective, community-based cohort study that included two waves of data collected in 1992 and 1994. Participants consisted of 700 men and women aged 70 and older, including 647 drivers and 53 participants who ceased driving between baseline (1992) and follow-up (1994). Participants took part in interviews that included assessments of driving status, sociodemographic characteristics, self-rated health, sensory function, depressive symptoms (through the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale), and expectancy of control. Using multilevel general linear models, we examined the extent to which driving status, expectancy of control, and relevant covariates explained change in depressive-symptom scores between baseline and follow-up. RESULTS: Driving cessation was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms from baseline to follow-up. The higher depressive-symptom scores of ceased drivers relative to those of individuals who remained drivers at both waves was partly explained by a corresponding decrease in the sense of control among ceased drivers, and increased control beliefs among drivers. IMPLICATIONS: Interventions aimed at promoting the maintenance of personal agency and associated control beliefs could be protective against the negative psychological concomitants of driving cessation. Language: en

Objective: The effects of using different approaches to scoring the SF-12 summary scales of physical and mental health were examined with a view to informing the design and interpretation of community-based survey research. Method: Data from a population-based study of 7485 participants in three cohorts aged 20-24, 40-44 and 60-64 years were used to examine relationships among measures of physical and mental health calculated from the same items using the SF-12 and RAND12 approaches to scoring, and other measures of chronic physical conditions and psychological distress. Results: A measure of physical health constructed using the RAND-12 scoring showed a monotonic negative association with psychological distress as measured by the Goldberg depression and anxiety scales. However, a non-monotonic association was evident in the relationship between SF-12 physical health scores and distress, with very high SF-12 physical health scores corresponding with high levels of distress. These relationships highlight difficulties in interpretation that can arise when using the SF-12 summary scales in some analytical contexts. Conclusions: It is recommended that community surveys that measure physical and mental functioning using the SF-12 items generate summary scores using the RAND-12 protocol in addition to the SF-12 approach. In general, researchers should be wary of using factor scores based on orthogonal rotation, which assumes that measures are uncorrelated, to represent constructs that have an actual association.

Background. There is continuing controversy about how age affects depression and anxiety, with a lack of consistent results across studies. Two reasons for this inconsistency are age bias in measures and different patterns of exposure to risk factors across age groups in various studies.Method. Data on anxiety and depression symptoms were collected in a community survey of 7485 persons aged 20–24, 40–44 or 60–64 years. These measures were investigated for factorial invariance across age groups. Data were also collected on a wide range of potential risk factors, including social, physical health and personal factors, with the aim of determining whether these factors might partly or wholly account for age group differences.Results. The invariance of correlated latent factors representing anxiety and depression was examined across age groups, and a generalized measure of psychological distress was computed. Depression, anxiety and psychological distress showed a decline across age groups for females and a decline from 40–44 to 60–64 years for males. Some of these age differences were accounted for by other risk factors, with the most important being recent crises at work and negative social relationships with family and friends.Conclusion. Psychological distress generally declined across the age range 20–64 years and this was not attributable to measurement bias. Differential exposure to risk factors explained some, but not all, of the age group difference. Therefore other mechanisms that explain the lower level of distress in older age groups remain to be identified.

Aims To identify variables that explain the association between alcohol abstention and cognitive performance. We hypothesized that demographic and personality variables would be important for explaining the association in all age cohorts, but that health variables would be more important in the older age-cohorts. Design Three age cohorts (20–24, 40–44, 60–64 years) were sampled randomly, yielding a total of 7485 participants, with data from 602 alcohol abstainers and 4158 light or moderate drinkers used in this study. Setting The sample was drawn from the cities of Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia. Measurements Scales measuring demographic, health and personality variables and cognitive and physical tests were administered. Participants drinking at hazardous or harmful levels were excluded from the analysis. Findings A range of demographic and physical function measures were found to explain partially the finding of abstainers having lower cognitive test scores. The effects of independent variables were largest in the 60–64-year-old age group with a trend for physical variables such as lung function and grip strength to become more important in the older age groups. In the 20–24-year-olds, the majority of the effect remained unexplained. Conclusion There is evidence that poorer cognitive test performance by abstainers reflects in part selection effects and poorer physical functioning, but does not appear to be due to mental or physical health conditions or personality.

Objective This study determined whether self-reported Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), identified in a community sample and occurring up to 60 years previously, is associated with current psychiatric symptoms, suicidality, and psychologic well-being. Study design and setting Three age cohorts (20–24, 40–44, 60–64) were randomly sampled from the cities of Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia, yielding a total of 7,485 participants. The samples were administered scales measuring anxiety, depression, suicidality, positive and negative affect, personality traits, and physical health status. Results Of the total sample, 5.7% reported history of TBI involving loss of consciousness for at least 15 min, occurring an average of 22 years previously. History of TBI was associated with increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, negative affect, and suicidal ideation. Conclusion History of TBI is a risk factor for psychiatric morbidity. The effect is greatest in young adults, and occurs up to several decades subsequent to the occurrence of TBI.

Objective: To evaluate cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and life events (LE) as predictors of depressive symptoms in a mid-life and an early late-life cohort to determine whether they had independent or interacting effects, and whether there were age differences in the effects. Methods: Cohorts aged 40 to 44 years (n = 2530) and 60 to 64 years (n = 2551) at baseline (Wave 1) were followed up after 4 years (Wave 2) as part of the PATH Through Life Study based in Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia. Cross-sectional analyses evaluated rates of CVRF and LE in depressed compared with nondepressed participants. Hierarchical generalized linear models were used to evaluate demographic variables, CVRF (diabetes, smoking, alcohol, body mass index, cholesterol medication, hypertension), LE, and Wave 1 depressive symptoms as predictors of depressive symptoms at Wave 2. Results: At baseline, those with high levels of depressive symptoms were more likely to report smoking, using cholesterol-lowering medications, hypertension, diabetes, past stroke, and higher body mass index. Predictors of depressive symptoms at Wave 2 in the cohort of 40- to 44-year-old persons included Wave 1 depressive symptoms, diabetes, and LE at Wave 2. In the cohort of 60- to 64-year-old individuals, Wave 1 depression, stroke, smoking, low education, and Wave 2 LE predicted depressive symptoms. There was no evidence of interactions between CVRF and LE. Conclusions: LE and CVRF are independent sets of risk factors for depressive symptoms with different effects in the 40- to 44-year-old and 60- to 64-year-old cohorts. These findings have implications for preventative strategies for depression.

Research concerned with the relationship between volunteer activity and psychological well-being has typically reported higher levels of well-being among older adult volunteers relative to nonvolunteers. However, few studies have examined nonlinear associations between frequency of volunteer activity and well-being. We examined nonlinear associations between hours spent volunteering and psychological well-being, controlling for employment status, partner status, physical health, and education. We also investigated associations between different domains of volunteer activity and well-being, along with the possible moderating effects of gender on these relationships.We used data from the PATH Through Life Project, a population-based study of Australian adults. Participants consisted of 2,136 older adults aged 64 to 68.Nonlinear associations between hours spent volunteering and psychological well-being were evident, with these associations characterized by inverted U shapes, with nonvolunteers and those volunteering at high levels producing lower well-being scores relative to those volunteering at moderate levels. Few associations between specific domains of volunteer activity and well-being were evident, and no notable gender interactions emerged.The results point toward optimal frequency of engagement in volunteer activity for psychological well-being as being bounded by upper and lower levels, outside of which benefits to well-being diminish.