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Patterns of change in self-regulation from the ages of 2.5 to 12 years were modeled using repeated measures of self-regulation for a sample of 399 African American (n = 180, 45%) and Latinx (n = 219, 55%) children from families experiencing low income. Measures included both direct assessment and parent report. Results confirmed four components of self-regulation: working memory, inhibitory control, complex response inhibition, and set shifting. Furthermore, these components of self-regulation were more differentiated at younger ages but grew increasingly integrated as children developed. During early childhood, Latinx children displayed greater levels of working memory and higher levels of inhibitory control, and African American children displayed greater complex response inhibition and set shifting, but these ethnic differences reversed by early elementary school. By late middle childhood, ethnic differences in self-regulation had virtually disappeared altogether. Few differences by child gender or family poverty status were identified. Recommendations are provided to facilitate the modeling of self-regulation over extended periods of development including (a) utilizing measures that overlap time points, (b) standardizing the measurement scales, and (c) utilizing a flexible latent variable model. Public Significance Statement: Self-regulation skills are important for children's success academically and socially from early childhood through adolescence. By demonstrating methods for longitudinal studies, this article will assist researchers to address questions regarding how early development influences later development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This paper describes the changes made to the collection of cognitive measures when the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) introduced remote modes of data collection. Methods In Round 4 (2021–2023), the longitudinal study transitioned from being conducted in-person to collecting data via multiple modes including in-person and remote modes: web, phone, and paper-and-pencil. The team began with the measures used in Rounds 2 and 3 of NSHAP—the survey-adapted Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-SA)—and evaluated which measures could be administered remotely, introducing new measures for each cognitive subdomain, as needed, to compensate for items that could not be administered remotely. Results Cognitive items used in Rounds 2 and 3 that could not be administered remotely were dropped from the respective modes, and items selected from the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center's (RADC) global cognition battery were added as substitutes. For comparison, the RADC substitute items were added to the in-person mode making it longer in Round 4. Discussion The changes in cognitive measures resulted in different numbers of cognitive items across the 4 modes of survey administration in Round 4. Analysts should be aware of these changes when creating a single global cognition score for the entire NSHAP sample in Round 4, and aware that there may be mode effects that could affect cognition scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longstanding research has shown that childhood poverty and deprivation have negative consequences for children, from birth. Much of this literature, especially in the early childhood period, uses one-dimensional, static concepts that relate to households rather than children per se, missing a nuanced and dynamic description of children's lived experience of poverty and deprivation during their first years of life. We propose an early childhood deprivation framework that is multidimensional, dynamic and child-centred, and describe its methodological application to a micro-level panel survey of early childhood. We use a nationally-representative birth cohort of 18,000 children born in France in 2011, observed from birth to age 5, to produce a longitudinal multidimensional deprivation index composed of five distinct dimensions of deprivation (material, housing, extreme living conditions, parenting, and health behaviours). During the early years, income poverty does not always overlap with deprivation: in France, only 40% of deprived children are also income poor. We show that different populations are deprived in different dimensions: for example, young children from a migrant background are twice more likely to be deprived in housing and material dimensions, while not at higher risk of health behaviours deprivation, compared to their non-migrant peers. This paper therefore highlights that early childhood deprivation has a dynamic and complex structure that must be considered when studying the early years period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given inevitable age-related decreases in physical or mental capacity, studies on health-related behaviour (HRB) clustering in older people provide an opportunity to reduce health-care costs and promote healthy ageing. This study explores the clustering of HRBs and transition probabilities of cluster memberships over time, and compares sociodemographic characteristics of these clusters among Chinese and Japanese middle-aged and older adults. Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2015 (N = 19614) and the Japanese Study of Ageing and Retirement (JSTAR) from 2007 to 2011 (N = 7,080), Latent Transition Analysis was applied to investigate the clustering and change in clustering memberships of smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and body mass index. Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore the sociodemographic characteristics of these longitudinal HRB cluster members. We identified four common clusters in CHARLS and JSTAR: 'smoking', 'overweight or obese', 'healthy lifestyle' and 'current smoking with drinking', and an additional cluster named 'ex-smoking with drinking' in JSTAR. Although HRB cluster members were largely stable in both cohorts, participants in China tended to move towards an unhealthy lifestyle, while participants in Japan did the opposite. We also found that participants who smoked and drank were more likely to be male, younger, less educated and unmarried in both cohorts, but the overweight or obese participants were female, urban and higher income in CHARLS but not JSTAR. Our study not only contributes to the knowledge of longitudinal changes in health-related behavioural clustering patterns in an Asian elderly population, but may also facilitate the design of targeted multi-behavioural interventions to promote healthy lifestyles among older people in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Widowhood has been shown to decrease surviving spouses' economic well-being. However, previous research has focused mostly on income-related outcomes, and has been less attentive to the importance of wealth, the processual nature of spousal death, and cross-national variation. In this study, we assessed how total, housing, and nonhousing wealth changes over the process of widowhood across 11 European countries. Methods Individual fixed-effects regressions and longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe were used to estimate how household net total wealth, housing wealth, and nonhousing wealth changed 3 years prior and 6 or more years after spousal death relative to 4 or more years prior to widowhood in 11 European countries. Results In all countries, household net wealth stayed relatively constant across the widowhood process, except for Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland, where wealth declines were observed especially in the years following death. However, we found declines in housing wealth over the widowhood process, including prior to spousal death, across most countries in our sample, particularly in Austria, France, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Declines in housing wealth were generally not reflected by changes in nonhousing wealth but coincided with leaving homeownership and downsizing. Discussion Widowhood is associated with lower wealth, especially housing wealth, even in the years before spousal loss. Future research should focus on adjudicating the mechanisms behind country differences and exploring the implications of lost wealth following widowhood for surviving spouses' well-being and intergenerational transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Love Together, Parent Together (L2P2) program is a brief, online couple's intervention designed to prevent relationship deterioration by targeting maladaptive psychological processes. Methods: The current study used a parallel-group randomized controlled trial of L2P2 to examine its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness. One-hundred forty couples with young children (< 6 years old) were randomly assigned to L2P2 or a control group. In three writing sessions over nine weeks, all couples completed fact-based summaries about recent conflicts; the L2P2 group also responded to three writing prompts eliciting conflict reappraisal. Participants completed baseline, post-intervention, and 1- and 3-month follow-up assessments. Results: Goals related to feasibility and acceptability were met. In addition, the control group, but not the L2P2 group, showed deteriorating relationship quality from baseline to post-intervention. Conclusions: L2P2 shows promise as a brief intervention to attenuate declines in relationship quality in couples. Clinicaltrials.gov Registration: NCT05261022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Theory and anecdotal evidence suggest that people undergo psychological changes before and after religious conversion and deconversion. Yet, existing research provided inconclusive evidence. Here, we examined psychological change before, during, and after institutional conversion and deconversion in a large‐scale longitudinal study. Method: We used 11‐wave longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of Dutch adults (N ~ 20,000) to assess changes in religious beliefs and practices, personality traits, and well‐being before, during, and after conversion to and deconversion from Christianity. Results: Converts (N = 181) increased in service attendance and prayer, but not in their belief in God, as they approached conversion. Deconverts (N = 450) declined in religious beliefs and practices before, during, and after deconversion. In terms of personality, converts displayed small, unexpected declines in emotional stability, extraversion, and agreeableness at time of conversion. Deconverts declined in agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness at time of deconversion. Neither group showed changes in their well‐being. Conclusion: The present findings suggest that psychological changes during religious conversion and deconversion are generally small and mostly manifest as changes in people's religious beliefs and practices. Findings are discussed in the context of person‐religion fit, meaning‐making, and sociocultural motive perspectives on religious change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how loneliness develops over the marital dissolution process in older age (i.e., transition at or after age 50) while paying close attention to heterogeneities by the dissolution pathway—widowhood and separation—and gender. Using data from over 8,000 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey respondents, we assess the association of interest using fixed effects regressions. Findings indicate that loneliness increased in the year before widowhood or separation among both women and men. Levels spiked in the year of dissolution, particularly for widowhood but less for separation. Widowed men were substantially more affected than widowed women, and gender differences were negligible for separation. Although loneliness levels gradually declined, widowed men remained vulnerable for remarkably long periods. Such chronic loneliness might be linked to other health disadvantages. These findings highlight the importance of long-term and gender-specific approaches to social support and integration after marital dissolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the relationship between vision impairment (VI) and new-onset frailty among non-frail Mexican American older adults (≥70 years) at baseline and determined the differential impact of VI on each frailty criteria. Data were from an 18-year prospective cohort from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (1998/1999, N = 1072 to 2016, N = 175). Frailty was defined as ≥3 criteria: unintentional weight loss of >10 pounds, weakness, exhaustion, low physical activity, and slowness. VI was defined as difficulty in recognizing a friend at arm's length's away, across the room, or across the street. We found that participants with VI (near or distant) and distant VI had greater odds of frailty (near or distant VI, OR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.30–2.73 and distant VI, OR = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.34–2.86, respectively) after controlling for covariates over time. Early screening (optimal management) of VI may prevent or delay onset of frailty among older Mexican Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives In a longitudinal design, this study investigates the role of the quality of relationships in the well-being of caregivers for a family member with advanced cancer, specifically, the quality of relations among family members and the caregiver's commitment to caregiving. Following the stress process model, good quality of relations and caregiver's high commitment should be resources mitigating caregiver burden, even though overinvestment in the caregiver role may lead to the opposite outcome. Methods Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of 336 caregivers of advanced cancer patients in an urban community, who were interviewed shortly after patient diagnosis and again 3 months later. Caregiver burden is measured by 4 subscales (17 items) of the Caregiver Reaction Assessment. We used a random-effect model to investigate the association between caregiver burden and the 2 focused contributing factors—caregiver commitment and family relationship quality—when other covariates were controlled. A fixed-effect model then examines the association between the changes in caregiver burden and related time-varying factors, including caregiver commitment, when family relationship quality was used as a moderator. Results Both the random and fixed-effect models consistently show that a cancer caregiver's positive commitment to the patient reduces caregiver burden, and family relationship quality provides an overall moderating influence that reduces the felt burden. Discussion The quality of relations between the caregiver and patient and with others in the family network is critical in understanding caregiver burden in advanced cancer and should be viewed as part of long-term family dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intensive longitudinal methods offer a powerful tool for capturing daily experiences of individuals. However, its feasibility, effectiveness, and optimal methodological approaches for studying or monitoring experiences of oncology patients remain uncertain. Objective: This scoping review aims to describe to what extent intensive longitudinal methods with daily electronic assessments have been used among patients with breast or lung cancer and with which methodologies, associated outcomes, and influencing factors. Methods: We searched the electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO) up to January 2024 and included studies reporting on the use of these methods among adults with breast or lung cancer. Data were extracted on population characteristics, intensive monitoring methodologies used, study findings, and factors influencing the implementation of these methods in research and clinical practice. Results: We identified 1311 articles and included 52 articles reporting on 41 studies. Study aims and intensive monitoring methodologies varied widely, but most studies focused on measuring physical and psychological symptom constructs, such as pain, anxiety, or depression. Compliance and attrition rates seemed acceptable for most studies, although complete methodological reporting was often lacking. Few studies specifically examined these methods among patients with advanced cancer. Factors influencing implementation were linked to both patient (eg, confidence with intensive monitoring system) and methodology (eg, option to use personal devices). Conclusions: Intensive longitudinal methods with daily electronic assessments hold promise to provide unique insights into the daily lives of patients with cancer. Intensive longitudinal methods may be feasible among people with breast or lung cancer. Our findings encourage further research to determine optimal conditions for intensive monitoring, specifically in more advanced disease stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gun violence imparts a tremendous human and financial toll on local communities. Researchers have documented extensive mental and physical health consequences of generalized violence exposure but few studies have analyzed the particular impacts of gun violence on community well-being using nationally comprehensive data. We leverage a unique database of almost 16,000 neighborhoods in 100 US cities (2014–2019) to examine how year-over-year rates of gun violence correspond to overall neighborhood well-being and three aspects of community health: (1) health behaviors, (2) physical and mental health status, and (3) health prevention efforts. We simultaneously consider the reciprocal influence of neighborhood well-being on subsequent gun violence while accounting for concentrated disadvantage in communities. The results demonstrate that gun violence is associated with poorer community health in subsequent years, particularly health behaviors and mental/physical health status. Furthermore, we find substantial reciprocal effects for both gun violence and community health in their relationship to neighborhood concentrated disadvantage. These findings highlight the consequential role of gun violence in perpetuating cycles of harm in local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good social work benefits the recipients of the social worker role, social workers themselves, their employing organisations and society more broadly. However, it is difficult to conduct consistently good social work when social workers have been shown to have chronically poor working conditions. This article, therefore, outlines UK social worker working conditions and well-being from 2022, as well as comparing these results to surveys conducted in 2017 and 2018. We, therefore, report a series of cross-sectional surveys, in addition to open-ended questions, to collect data from 533 respondents in 2022, and compare these to findings from similar surveys in previous years. Results demonstrate that working conditions improved slightly between 2018 and 2022, although these conditions are still very poor compared with other occupations. Qualitative analyses suggest that work-load, resources, lack of respect and lack of consistent and good quality reflective supervision are significant issues for respondents. As such, we argue that policy makers and employers need to provide greater support for social worker working conditions and well-being, and that this support would likely negate current high levels of turnover and sickness absence. Additionally, however, for the first time in these surveys, poor pay also emerged as an issue needing attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor financial and health literacy and poor psychological well-being are significant correlates of scam susceptibility in older adults; yet, no research has examined whether interventions that target these factors may effectively reduce susceptibility. Using longitudinal data from older adults in the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP) (N = 1,231), we used microsimulations to estimate the causal effect of hypothetical well-being and literacy interventions on scam susceptibility over six years. Microsimulations can simulate a randomized trial to estimate intervention effects using observational data. We simulated hypothetical interventions that improved well-being or literacy scores by either 10% or 30% from baseline, or to the maximum scores, for an older adult population and for income and education subgroups. Simulations suggest that hypothetical interventions that increase well-being or literacy cause statistically significant reductions in scam susceptibility of older adults over time, but improving well-being caused a greater—albeit not significantly different—reduction compared to improving literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this longitudinal actor-based network study is to examine the evolution of sport fan ties and friendship ties on Division III campuses. Using two years of network data from a cohort of new students at a Division III institution, a Simulation Investigation for Empirical Networks Analysis (SIENA) model is developed to empirically test the co-evolution of fan ties and friendship ties. Grounded in student development, sport consumer behavior, and network theories, the overarching goal of this study is to explore the causal effect of fan ties on friendship ties among new students. To ascertain the value of Division III sports on campus, the authors explore the role of sports on campus in promoting friendships for new students based on the strong theoretical tradition from student development highlighting the salience of peer relationships in student success and retention. Accordingly, theoretical implications related to sport fan networks are considered within practical discussion of Division III sports and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of bad data and the potential misinterpretation of that data is becoming part of a growing debate within the wildlife conservation field. However, research on this topic has been limited compared to other fields. Therefore, to overcome these issues, this study followed an inductive data-driven approach using mixed-effects longitudinal methods for count-based data. This study adds to this growing debate by attempting to discern the potential causes of elephant poaching in African countries utilizing potentially unreliable data. Because wildlife crime is a societal problem, this study measured the probability of a wildlife reserve reporting illegally killed elephants found on MIKE (monitoring of illegally killed elephants) sites, given country-level factors—such as the amount of gross domestic product (GDP), the rate of urbanization, the total percentage of forest area in a country, and the perception of corruption in the country—and wildlife reserve-level factors, such as the size of the MIKE sites and the population estimates for the number of elephants within these MIKE sites. This study also looked at other controlling factors, such as misreporting information, the reliability of reporting information, and the international effect on elephant poaching. As a result, this study found that several factors attributing to economic demand, urbanization, corruption in the country, and the elephant population size on a designated MIKE site contributed to the odds of elephants being reported as having been illegally killed despite issues with reporting, international pressure, and efforts to crack down on corruption in end-market countries like China.

Objectives The objective of this study was to examine associations between music engagement and episodic memory for more than 12 years in a nationally representative sample of middle- and older-aged adults in the United States. Methods This study is based on a secondary analysis of data from a sample (N = 5,021) of cognitively normal adults from the Health and Retirement Study (2006–2018). Episodic memory was measured by immediate and delayed recall tasks. Music engagement was classified as none, passive (i.e. listening to music), active (i.e. singing and/or playing an instrument), or both (i.e. listening to music and singing or playing an instrument). Results Compared with those with no music engagement, respondents who reported both passive and active engagement performed 0.258 points better at baseline on episodic memory tasks. This group also performed better across time with scores that declined by 0.043 points fewer per study visit. Additionally, compared to those with no music engagement, participants with passive music engagement had scores that declined by 0.023 points fewer per visit. There were no significant differences in performance at baseline for those with passive or active music engagement, or across time for those with active engagement. Discussion The results of this study suggest that engaging in both passive and active music engagement may be superior to engaging with music only passively or actively and that engaging in music both ways may be able to protect against age-related declines in episodic memory. Future research should examine whether community-based music engagement interventions can affect this trajectory of decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify distinct trajectories of activities of daily living (ADL) disability in older adults aged ≥75 years over 6 years. A growth mixture model and the multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to identify different disability trajectories and to investigate each trajectory. Four distinct disability trajectories were identified: low, moderate, high, and progressive. Activity restriction due to fear of falling, being underweight, impaired vision, and impaired cognition were highly associated with the progressive groups, compared with the low disability group. Activity restriction due to fear of falling, depression, impaired cognition, and poor subjective health status were associated with moderate and high disability. These findings contribute to increasing the understanding of ADL disability among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Despite a growing body of research on associations between adolescent digital use and well‐being, few studies have investigated these associations a) longitudinally and b) across socioeconomic status. The present study uses high‐quality longitudinal data to examine how digital engagement shapes socioemotional and educational outcomes from early to late adolescence across socioeconomic status (SES). Methods: Participants are 7685 individuals (49.0% female) from the 1998 birth cohort of the longitudinal Growing Up In Ireland (GUI) survey. The survey was administered to Irish parents and children between 2007 and 2016 (at ages 9, 13, and 17/18). Fixed‐effects regression modeling was used to establish associations between digital engagement and socioemotional and educational outcomes. Further Fixed‐Effects models were analyzed separately by SES, to assess how associations between digital use and adolescent outcomes differ by socioeconomic groups. Results: Results show that digital screen time increases markedly from early to late adolescence, but to a higher extent among low‐SES versus high‐SES groups. Heavy levels of digital screen time (i.e., 3+ hours daily) are associated with declines in well‐being, particularly for external and prosocial functioning, while engagement in learning‐oriented digital activities and gaming is associated with better adolescent outcomes. Yet, low‐SES adolescents are globally more harmed than high‐SES adolescents by their digital engagement, and high‐SES adolescents benefit more from moderate levels of digital use and from engaging in learning‐oriented digital activities. Conclusions: This study suggests that digital engagement is associated with socioeconomic inequalities in adolescents' socioemotional well‐being and, to a lesser extent, educational outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful aging was defined as having no multimorbidity, high functional capacity, active life engagement, and good health-related quality of life. This study analyzed data from 1433 older adults who were followed up for 12 years across seven waves from the New Zealand Health, Work and Retirement study by examining the trajectories of successful aging. Latent growth curve modeling was used to assess the growth factors of successful aging trajectories of older adults. The mean successful aging score was 3.53 (range: 0–6) in 2006 and linearly declined by 0.064 units every year. Those with higher successful aging scores at baseline had a slower decline. Successful aging scores were lower among females, Māori, and those aged 65 years and above at baseline. The findings from this study suggest that gender and ethnic inequalities play significant roles in successful aging among older adults in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Loneliness is associated with diminished health and cognition for older individuals. However, little research has examined dyadic loneliness—that is, loneliness of both partners in a relationship—and its potential consequences for cognitive functioning among both spouses, nor whether one partner's cognition may affect both partners' loneliness over time. Methods We analyze 3-wave dyadic Health and Retirement Study data (2010–2020; N  = 1,061 dyads) to determine (a) whether loneliness predicts participants' own and/or their partners' episodic memory and verbal fluency over 8 years, and (b) whether cognitive functioning predicts older spouses' own or their partners' loneliness over the same period. Results Loneliness predicted participants' own and their partners' loneliness at follow-up, at both time points. Loneliness was also associated with own episodic memory at follow-up, but not with verbal fluency. Episodic memory and verbal fluency predicted one another over time. Neither episodic memory nor verbal fluency predicted loneliness at follow-up. Significant dyadic mediation was established such that Time 1 loneliness was linked with partner's Time 3 episodic memory via that partner's Time 2 loneliness. Discussion Lonelier older adults displayed worse trajectories of episodic memory over time, yet poor memory did not precede changes to loneliness. Further, having a lonely partner was linked with poorer episodic memory 8 years later, indicating that both one's own and—to a lesser extent—a partner's emotional well-being may be consequential for maintaining cognitive functioning with age. Associations were more clearly established with episodic memory than with verbal fluency, suggesting potential domain-specific effects of loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile communication differs from other forms of mediated communication in terms of connectedness, dynamics, omnipresence, and interactivity. Consequently, it can be difficult for scholars to investigate mobile communication using traditional research methods. The main goal of this article is to show how the mobile experience sampling method (MESM), in combination with data donations, can be useful for addressing the challenges of mobile communication research. We explicate the design using an experience-sampling study that was conducted on mobile campaigning during the Dutch 2021 national election. Using this case, we discuss how MESM can be extended and combined with other data sources, such as tracking data, GPS, and sensory data, to address the challenges of mobile communication effects research and facilitate future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Although cognitive functioning is strongly associated with biological changes in the brain during the aging process, very little is known about the role of sociocultural differentials between the western and eastern parts of the world. We examined the associations between individual socioeconomic markers (e.g. education, household wealth) and contextual levels characteristics (e.g. urbanicity) with memory performance and memory decline over up to 8 years of follow-up in England and China. Methods The analytical samples included participants aged 50+ from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (n = 6,687) and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (n = 10,252). Mixed linear models were employed to examine the association between baseline individual socioeconomic markers (education, wealth) and contextual-level characteristics (urbanicity) on the change in memory over time. Results Our analyses showed that higher education and wealth were associated with better baseline memory in both England and China. Still, the impact of contextual-level characteristics such as urbanicity differed between the 2 countries. For English individuals, living in a rural area showed an advantage in memory, while the opposite pattern was observed in China. Memory decline appeared to be socioeconomically patterned by higher education, wealth, and urbanicity in China but not in England. Discussion Our findings highlight substantial socioeconomic and contextual inequity in memory performance in both England and China, as well as in the rate of memory decline primarily in China. Public health strategies for preventing memory decline should target the socioeconomic gaps at the individual and contextual levels to protect those particularly disadvantaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retirement years are ideally spent in good health. We aimed to produce new information using person-oriented methods by identifying groups of statutory retirees who did or did not achieve this objective and the factors that distinguish these groups from each other. Our particular focus was on the years directly after the transition into retirement, and the pre-retirement factors that explained the development of health, using a more severe health-related outcome—hospitalization. We studied the retirement, hospitalizations, education, and work characteristics of former employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland (N = 6569), from complete registers. We used group-based trajectory models and identified groups of constant low, constant high, decreasing, and temporarily occurring hospitalizations, and one group of increasing hospitalizations among women and two groups of earlier and later increasing hospitalizations among men. Multinomial regression models showed that among women, belonging to groups with less favourable health was associated with secondary education, older age at retirement, and reduced working hours. Education and work characteristics before retirement both contribute to the development of health, as indicated by hospitalizations directly after retirement. Our findings show that socioeconomic inequalities in health are persistent and should also be addressed after transition into retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim is to explore the trajectory of caregiver burden and how this relates to caregiver and contextual factors in community-dwelling dyads. Methods: At baseline, 201 family caregivers were included. The multidimensional construct of family caregiver burden and the effects of sense of competence, empathy, and quality of the relationship on this burden were assessed over 15 months using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Results: We found an increase of burden linked to disruptions in the caregiver's own usual activities (p = 0.002) and physical health complaints (p = 0.001). Caregivers with a high sense of competence experienced lower caregiver burden during the entire caregiving process (p < 0.001). Discussion: Healthcare professionals should alert family caregivers to the importance of taking care of themselves as early as possible in their new caregiver role. Caregiving is demanding and could negatively influence their own activities and physical health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable research demonstrates a positive association between sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, but longitudinal evidence on the direction of this link remains inconclusive. To address this research gap, the present research provided a stringent test of the within-person associations between sexual and relationship satisfaction over time by analyzing 4-year longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of newlywed couples in the United States (N = 2,104). The results indicated that within-person changes in sexual satisfaction predicted future changes in relationship satisfaction, whereas changes in relationship satisfaction did not predict future changes in sexual satisfaction. These results remained consistent when accounting for changes in couples' sexual frequency, which showed significant associations with sexual satisfaction but non-significant associations with relationship satisfaction over time. All associations were consistent across gender. Overall, the current findings inform theory and practice on the roles of sexual dynamics in shaping overall perceptions of intimate relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Social engagement is positively associated with cognitive health, yet the role of these activities across the life span and in different contexts remains under-explored. This study investigates the association between social activities and two domains of cognitive functioning among middle-aged and older Chinese individuals, a population with the highest number of dementia cases in the world. We pay particular attention to the unique role of activities in midlife on cognitive decline in the later years., Research Design and Methods: Using longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2018), we conducted mixed-effects linear models to determine the intra- and inter- individual variation on the relationship between social activity and cognitive functioning (N = 26,622 observations nested within 8,089 individuals)., Results: Across domains (episodic memory, mental intactness, and total cognition), more social activities in a given year are associated with increased cognitive functioning, independent of age. Independent of these within-individual changes, participation in social activities in midlife predicts better cognitive function across mid and later life across all domains, controlling for childhood adversities, friendship, self-rated health. However, midlife social activities do not significantly predict a slower rate of cognitive decline., Discussion and Implications: Midlife social engagement has a lasting association with cognitive health in later life, yet it is important to recognize that changes occurring throughout both midlife and later life are associated with changes in cognition. This highlights the potential for modification and improvement during this period in the lifespan for aging Chinese., (© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Although previous work has consistently identified positive associations between co-rumination and rumination during adolescence, little to no research has examined how this relationship operates on the person-specific level. The current study aimed to extend current developmental theories of co-rumination and rumination by examining within-person associations between these constructs. Survey data was collected from 1502 adolescents (Mage = 13.20; 52% girls; 52% non-Hispanic White) every six-months across the span of 3.5 years. The results showed that at time-points when adolescents reported co-ruminating more than their usual level, they reported concurrent increases in rumination. This association was stronger for boys and strengthened over time. Despite substantial between-person heterogeneity, 97% of adolescents showed positive associations between co-rumination and rumination. This research has important implications for mental health professionals, school systems, and parents who may look to teach adolescents about effective emotion-regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elder Orphans, socially/physically isolated older adults without caregiving support, are of interest in an aging population. Lack of caregivers for Elder Orphans may influence relocation to residential care facilities, including skilled nursing or assisted living facilities, compared to aging in place. Using the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), Competing Risk Survival Analyses were performed to determine if Elder Orphans or those At Risk for becoming elder orphans had increased risk for residential care relocation over nine NHATS waves (2011–2019). Elder Orphans had significantly higher risk for moving to residential care facilities in unadjusted (SHR = 1.780; p = 0.001) and adjusted (SHR = 1.571; p = 0.043) models. Those At Risk for becoming an elder orphan had significantly decreased risk for residential care residence in unadjusted (SHR = 0.517; p < 0.001) and adjusted (SHR = 0.726; p = 0.037) models. As aging in place becomes prioritized in the US healthcare system, understanding caregiving needs of older adults is vital to their health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the differential impacts of two forms of social isolation on depressive symptoms and investigate the mediating role of activity engagement among older Chinese immigrants. Methods: Data were from four waves of the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago Study (PINE) (N = 2,075). Social disconnectedness was measured by social network size and range, living arrangement, and marital status. Perceived isolation was measured by loneliness and lack of social support. Activity engagement was assessed by engagement with various social and cognitive activities. Results: The latent growth curve models indicated that social disconnectedness and perceived isolation were associated with a higher initial level of depressive symptoms. However, perceived isolation predicted a faster decline in depressive symptoms. Activity engagement had significant mediating effects on the relationships. Discussion: Efforts should focus on reducing social isolation and providing opportunities for activity engagement to mitigate depression among older Chinese immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While recent research has detected older adults' resilience during the global pandemic, its unequal distribution is inadequately examined. Using the panel survey data in Japan (N = 3,725), this positive sociological study investigated who were more/less resilient under COVID-19, with attention to the heterogeneity in life satisfaction (LS). It was first confirmed that older adults' LS had substantially improved during the pandemic, indicating their resilience on average. However, the multinomial logistic regression and the fixed effects model revealed that the shift in LS was associated with age, gender, income, family/social relationships, and heath in a nuanced way. This suggests, while older adults who have access to economic, social, and health-related resources can maintain/enhance their LS under the global crisis, those without such assets face the risk of being penalized. In these uncertain times, it is therefore imperative to shed light on the resilience divide among older adults alongside their average strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, with its accompanying isolation measures, has led to increasing loneliness among older adults. In this study, we examine whether the increased level of loneliness observed in the Netherlands persisted into the fall of 2020, whether there were differences in emotional, social, and existential loneliness, and whether the presence of well-known risk factors for loneliness also led to further increases in loneliness during the pandemic. Methods Data were obtained from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, with observations of 404 community-dwelling older adults aged 74–96 years from 2019 and fall 2020. Results Loneliness increased between 2019 and 2020, and the increase was particularly high for emotional loneliness (partial η 2 = 0.19). Having a partner and a high mastery and good physical functioning before the pandemic provided some protection against an increase in loneliness. Discussion Loneliness increased for almost all older people. Targeted policies can reduce the negative impact of vulnerabilities. Efforts to combat loneliness during the pandemic should focus not only on groups traditionally considered vulnerable, such as socially isolated people, but also on older adults with a partner and who have daily contact with others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers in the field of HRM and Strategic HRM have for several decades engaged in research endeavours to identify the link between HR investments and firm performance. Despite this, the field still has some way to go to definitively demonstrate this causal relationship; partly due to the cross-sectional nature of much of this research. In the current paper, we give a brief overview of the SHRM field and the benefits that the new subfield of People Analytics (PA) might bring to the area. We also conduct a brief survey of research in Insider Econometrics, an approach used in Personnel Economics to produce empirical estimates of the value of HR practices, to highlight longitudinal intra-firm research in economics that could provide insights to research exploring the HR investment-performance link (important in both SHRM and PA fields). We discuss the value of combining the business impact perspective of People Analytics that has a unique 'inside' (intra-firm) position, with the longitudinal intra-firm analysis approaches utilized in Insider Econometrics. We suggest that People Analytics researchers, who are able to draw on the theoretical developments in HRM field, would benefit from exploring existing research insights and methodological techniques used within the field of Insider Econometrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Despite cross-sectional evidence that persons living with dementia receive disproportionate hours of care, studies of how care intensity progresses over time and differs for those living with and without dementia have been lacking. Method We used the 2011–2018 National Health and Aging Trends Study to estimate growth mixture models to identify incident care hour trajectories ("classes") among older adults (N = 1,780). Results We identified 4 incident care hour classes: "Low, stable," "High, increasing," "24/7 then high, stable," and "Low then resolved." The high-intensity classes had the highest proportions of care recipients with dementia and accounted for nearly half of that group. Older adults with dementia were 3–4 times as likely as other older adults to experience one of the 2 high-intensity trajectories. A substantial proportion of the 4 in 10 older adults with dementia who were predicted to be in the "Low, stable" class lived in residential care settings. Discussion Information on how family caregiving is likely to evolve over time in terms of care hours may help older adults with and without dementia, the family members, friends, and paid individuals who care for them, as well as their health care providers assess and plan for future care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant research gap on socioeconomic determinants of oral health among older persons is that socioeconomic indicators, like employment status, have essentially been problematized and measured using a cross-sectional approach. Based on a life course approach, and using data from a population-representative, face-to-face and longitudinal-retrospective survey focused on older people in Chile (N = 802), we reconstructed representative types of individual employment trajectories and measured their association with different oral health indicators in old age. Our results show that employment trajectories characterized by continuous, formal, full-time employment have a protective effect for multiple oral health indicators among older people. Our study demonstrates the need for public policies on oral health in old age to incorporate a life course approach and to consider the negative impact of constantly working in informal employment or being out of the labor market permanently, particularly in countries like Chile where temporary and informal employment has risen steadily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Much of what we know about voting behaviors is based on cross-sectional comparisons of voters at different ages. This study draws on a unique linkage between the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and state voter files to characterize voting trajectories in later life and explore their determinants. Methods Using sequence analysis, we identify 5 voting typologies based on turnout and voting methods over 8 biennial elections. Using multinomial logistic and Poisson regressions, we examine the role of physical, cognitive, and mental health and wealth in shaping enfranchisement and civic participation at older ages. Results Health and wealth are both positively associated with voter turnout, but the negative impact of poor health on voting declines with increasing wealth. Voting at the polls and early voting are more common among healthier older adults, whereas absentee voting is more common among older voters who are more affluent, less healthy, or both. Among those less wealthy, absentee methods mitigate the impact of poor health for previously active voters, but do not compensate for a lower turnout rate. In addition to physical and cognitive limitations, emotional difficulties and depression reduce turnout, particularly among the least wealthy. Discussion In this sample of older, largely White, primarily Midwestern committed voters, civic participation at older ages is shaped by individual experiences with wealth and health across the life course as well as political structures that facilitate or restrict the ability of individuals to consistently participate in elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Bridge employment has been encouraged by many countries worldwide as societies age rapidly. However, the health impact on bridge employment is not consistent in previous studies. This study aims to explore the association between bridge employment and long-term health outcome among the Chinese population. Methods In this prospective cohort study, we used a subset of the China Kadoorie Biobank study, in which 163,619 participants who reached the statutory age of retirement at baseline (2004–2008) were included in this study. Mortality statistics were obtained from death registries in the Death Surveillance Points system annually. We used a Cox proportional hazard model to analyze the association between bridge employment and all-cause mortality. Results Overall, we found that compared to retired/nonemployed men and women, hazards of all-cause mortality were lower in older people with bridge employment (men: 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.77–0.88; women: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.74–0.94) in healthy populations. The protective effect of bridge employment was stronger among older adults living in rural areas and among those from a relatively low socioeconomic status. Discussion The lower risk of all-cause mortality associated with bridge employment was consistently observed among older men and women. Our findings may provide important insights from the health dimension on the retirement policy-making in China as a hyper-aging society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a dynamic, model-based view of consumers' ageing developments, focused on gender differences, to uncover the pathways and socioeconomic transitions that female and male consumers take through old age. The analysis of longitudinal survey data spanning 15 years uses a latent Markov dynamic cluster model with transitions over time. The resulting life courses allow an exploration of lifestyle-related changes in multiple consumer well-being variables beyond age 50. Substantial well-being differences appear in the ageing paths of men and women. In both cases, a dominant chronological sequence through old age is complemented by less common transitions, rarely associated with advanced age. Although the model does not use chronological age as an independent variable, it outperforms purely agebased, or age- cohort-, and period-based models in predicting old-age consumer wellbeing. These results highlight the importance of considering within-cohort diversity when modelling the accompaniments of old age: while some older consumers enjoy active lifestyles, others of similar age succumb to depression and loneliness, rendering age an insufficient predictor of well-being states. In the future, the presented model could be matched with other, even cross-sectional, consumer survey data to help predict various dynamics in the ageing consumer population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Home care (HC) services are the foundational service in Taiwan, such as personal care, housekeeping, showers, meal preparation, and so on. We used population-representative data to evaluate the effects of HC services use on the long-term functional performance of older adults. Method: This longitudinal study used latent growth curve modeling, measured as trajectories in activities of daily living (ADL) ability. We retrieved data for 1,851 care recipients from the Long-Term Care Service Management System database. Results: Continuous use of HC services had positive effects on functional performance over time of declining functional capacity (β =.075, p <.05). While greater age was associated with slower increases in ADL scores, being female and living alone were associated with faster increases in ADL scores. Discussion: Continuous use of the HC services provided has a significant impact on maintaining or improving functional performance among older adults in the early stage of declined functional capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores whether living situation modifies longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and changes in cognitive status across ten years in generally healthy, community-dwelling older adults. Participants ( N = 687, M age = 73.92 years) from the no-contact control condition of a multisite longitudinal study completed the Mini-Mental State Examination, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, and self-reported living situation. Multilevel models revealed that for older adults living alone, having clinically meaningful depressive symptoms was associated with greater decline in MMSE over ten years. However, reporting clinically meaningful depressive symptoms was not associated with decline in MMSE for adults who were living with others. These results suggest that living situation may be a modifying factor of cognitive change over time for older adults with clinically meaningful depressive symptoms. This highlights the need for targeted interventions for adults who may be at a greater risk of cognitive decline across older adulthood., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objectives Provision of grandchild care has been found to be associated with a youthful subjective age. Yet, previous studies on this topic were cross-sectional and ignored the increasing proportions of older people growing old without the opportunity to become a grandparent. This study investigates the effects of childcare to grandchildren and to other children on subjective age using panel data. Methods We exploit the longitudinal nature of data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) to examine the association between grandparental childcare and care to other children with subjective age, using fixed-effects regression analyses on a sample of 50–85 years old individuals (men: N = 11,151; n = 3,984; women: N = 10,687; n = 3,746, where N is the number of observations and n is the number of individuals). Results The results from cross-sectional analyses show a "rejuvenating effect" of provision of both types of childcare in later life, especially for women. However, longitudinal analyses find very small and statistically insignificant effects. Discussion We show for the first time that both grandchild care and childcare outside the grandparent–grandchild relationship are associated with a youthful subjective age for older people. However, these associations are likely due to selection effects, that is, unobserved characteristics of people that make them more likely to engage in childcare and are also associated with subjective age. Our results warn against causal interpretation of associations found in previous studies, but also open up new research questions on the role played by childcare other than to grandchildren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]