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Objectives: Depression is a prevalent mental health condition that also often affects older adults. The PROACTIVE psychosocial intervention was developed to reduce depressive symptomatology among older adults within primary care settings in Brazil. An important psychological marker that affects individuals' aging experience relates to how old people feel. Known as subjective age, this marker has been shown to be a risk factor for experiencing greater depressive symptoms if individuals report feeling older than their (chronological) age. In this study, we perform secondary analyses of the PROACTIVE cluster-randomized controlled trial to examine the role of subjective age. Method: The sample included 715 Brazilian older adults (74% female, Mage 68.6, SD = 6.9, age range: 60–94 years) randomized to intervention (n = 360, 74% female, Mage 68.4, SD = 6.6, age range: 60–89 years) or control (n = 355, 74% female, Mage 68.9, SD = 7.2, age range: 60–94 years) arms. Here our primary outcome was depressive symptoms at the 8-month follow-up assessed with the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) as a continuous variable. Our previous analyses demonstrated improved recovery from depression at follow-up in the intervention compared with the control arm. Results: Relevant main effects and interactions in regression models for PHQ-9 presented here found that those reporting older subjective age had worse depressive symptoms at follow-up but that they benefitted more from the intervention when initial levels of depression were high. For participants who reported younger subjective ages the intervention showed positive effects that were independent of initial levels of depression. Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the importance of investigating possible underlying mechanisms that can help clarify the impact of mental health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One characteristic of multilingual speakers is that in everyday life, they may integrate elements from their languages in the same sentence or discourse, a practice known as code-switching. This paper examines code-switching at the interfaces, in particular as related to information structure. Despite the fact that a core question of modern linguistic theory is how syntactic and information-structural theories interact in accounting for licensing of different grammatical phenomena, there has been relatively little literature on code-switching and information structure. In this paper, we provide an overview of the available literature on code-switching across different language combinations, focusing in particular on subject pronoun–verb switches, ellipsis, light verbs, topic/focus particles, and code-switching between sign languages. We argue that the study of the interplay between information structure and code-switching sheds light on our understanding of multilingual grammars and language competence more generally. In this regard, we discuss theoretical and methodological considerations to guide future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an initial study of the acceptability of differential object marking (DOM) by Galician–Spanish bilinguals in Galicia. The research explores judgments provided by these bilinguals (n = 69) on DOM in both Galician and Spanish and it also explores data from a monolingual Spanish control group (n = 12). The surveys target contexts covering key syntactic and semantic–pragmatic contexts for DOM in Galician and Spanish, based on the existing literature. The Galician data reveal a tendency towards reduced acceptability of DOM compared to Spanish, but without a generalized rejection of DOM in any of the contexts. The Spanish data show variability in both groups. The study contributes insights from an under-studied language pair and aims to open avenues for further work. More generally, it enhances our understanding of DOM in bilingual grammars, particularly in microcontact situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Preparing for old age is an adaptive behavior with positive consequences on well-being. This study examined; (a) the degree to which the importance associated with positive outcomes within specific domains of everyday functioning (e.g. social relationships, health) varies across ages and cultures; (b) the impact of importance on preparing for old age; and (c) whether the effects of importance were greater in later life. Methods Using data from adults aged 30–85 years in Germany (n = 623), Hong Kong (n = 317), and the United States (n = 313) collected over 5 years, we examined variations in importance ratings across age, cultures, and behavioral domains, and the extent to which age and importance predicted preparations. Results Importance ratings were found to vary with age, time of test, domains, and culture, reflecting the expected contextual effects. Importance also was a positive predictor of preparations, with the strength of prediction being somewhat greater in old age. Discussion The results provide evidence that the perceived importance of functioning within domains is affected by a number of contextual factors, including the domain of everyday function and culture. Given that importance also predicts preparations, such variation may help explain differences in preparations across contexts. In line with selective engagement theory, some support was also obtained for the prediction that older adults are more selective in engaging resources in support of preparations. Such selectivity can be viewed as an adaptive response to diminishing personal resources in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]