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The current study sought to advance our understanding of the connections between stress, perceived control, affect, and physiology in daily life. To achieve this goal, we integrated hourly ambulatory physiological and experiential data from young adult participants who experienced work or academic stressors over the course of a day. Participants wore a cardiovascular monitor that recorded heart rate data continuously for 8 h while hourly random Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data were collected in personally relevant settings via mobile phones to learn about stress, perceived control, and affect. The current findings provide a critical advance by demonstrating clear evidence for moderation by perceived control, wherein affective wellbeing was strongly associated with heart rate when one experienced a stressor outside their control. The innovative approach utilized in the current study in real-world settings provides further support for the value of integrating individuals' self-report and physiological experiences (e.g., the role of perceived control), as the information gained can provide critical insights into stress physiology (e.g., heart rate) and wellbeing (e.g., negative affect) connections. The present study thus provides a critical advance to the literature by connecting the literature on daily affect, perceived control, and physiological data streams. This innovation is particularly noteworthy given the general paucity of work that employs ambulatory assessments of physiological responses to daily life., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2025 Lohani, Dutton, Imel and Hill.)

Objective : Purpose in life tends to decline in older adulthood and it is thought that intact cognitive functioning is required for purposeful living. Thus, it is likely that individuals may perceive older adults who are experiencing cognitive declines associated with dementia as having a reduced sense of purpose. Biases such as these may influence how individuals, especially care partners, interact with those with dementia. Method : This study examined how sense of purpose changed following a dementia diagnostic appointment for both the person receiving a diagnosis and their care partner. This study also explored how each individual perceived the other member of the dyad's sense of purpose. Older adults (47 care recipients and 75 care partners, 57% female; M age = 68.5 years, SD age = 12.0 years) provided self- and other-report ratings of sense of purpose before and after their appointment at a specialized memory clinic. Results : Overall, both care recipients and care partners' sense of purpose declined following a dementia diagnostic appointment [ t (85) = 7.01, p < 0.001]. However, when comparing self-reports and other-reports of purpose, care partners reported that care recipients experienced a lower sense of purpose in life than the care recipients reported about themselves. Conclusions : Care recipients and partners reported less purpose in life following their dementia diagnostic appointment. Care partners may hold certain biases regarding sense of purpose toward care recipients. These findings can inform future work regarding how care recipients and care partners can plan purposeful lives following a dementia diagnosis., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wynn, Ju and Hill.)

Objective: Individuals higher in depressive symptoms commonly present with neuropsychological deficits including poorer memory performance. Sense of purpose in life has been shown to promote resilience to cognitive impairment in older adulthood, but it is unclear whether it may also protect against cognitive deficits associated with higher depressive symptoms., Method: Cognitive functioning among 4599 older American adults ( M age = 74.33 years, range = 65-104 years, 56.84% female) was examined across a 12-year follow-up period. Depressive symptomatology was assessed at each wave using the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Multilevel models assessed the influence of depressive symptoms and the interaction with sense of purpose in life on changes in memory performance and mental status., Results: Higher depressive symptoms were associated with poorer memory performance at baseline, but did not predict rate of change over time. A negative interaction was observed between sense of purpose in life and depressive symptoms such that individuals higher in purpose experienced a less negative association between depressive symptoms and baseline memory performance. No significant interaction of sense of purpose and depressive symptoms was observed on mental status., Conclusion: Having a sense of purpose in life may help protect older adults from memory deficits associated with higher depressive symptoms. The present findings underscore the potential for sense of purpose to promote cognitive reserve in older adulthood, allowing individuals to maintain cognitive performance in the face of accruing neurological insults., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Lewis and Hill.)

Project Talent is a national longitudinal study that started in 1960. The original sample included over 440,000 students, which amounted to a 5% representative sample of high school students across the United States. Previous research has not yet established the validity and reliability of the personality measure used in this study, that is, the Project Talent Personality Inventory (PTPI). Given the potential interest and use of the PTPI in forthcoming research, the goals of the present paper were to establish (a) the construct and predictive validity and (b) the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the PTPI. This information will be valuable to researchers who might be interested in using the PTPI to predict life course outcomes, such as mortality, occupational success, relationship success, and health. Study 1 found that the 10 sub-scales of the PTPI showed good internal consistency reliability, as well as good construct and predictive validity. With the use of several modern personality measures, we showed how the 10 PTPI scales can be mapped onto the Big Five personality traits, and we examined their relations with health, well-being, and life satisfaction outcomes. Study 2 found that the 10 PTPI scales showed good test-retest reliability. Together, these findings allow researchers to better understand and use the PTPI scales, as they are available in Project Talent.