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Past research has suggested that the path to purpose involves connections with people along the way. In support, sense of purpose appears higher amongst those adults with more positive social relationships and interactions. However, research has yet to consider whether associations between sense of purpose and social relationship variables differ across adulthood. The present study examined this claim using a sample of Swiss adults, who completed measures for sense of purpose, loneliness, received support, and provided support. A large, nationally representative sample of 2,312 Swiss adults (52.34 years old; SD = 17.35) completed these measures, as part of a larger survey. Local structural equation modeling was employed to estimate the means and associations of these constructs across adulthood. Sense of purpose was negatively associated with loneliness, but positively associated overall with both support variables. No evidence was found for age moderation for the association between sense of purpose and loneliness. However, moderation was evidenced insofar that sense of purpose was less associated with both support variables with age. Sense of purpose again appears related to more positive social well-being and relationships, and consistently linked to lower loneliness. The age moderation effects for purpose-support associations are discussed with respect to theories of adult development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study examined associations between two future time perspective (FTP) dimensions (perceived opportunities and perceived time) and the Big Five personality traits during older adulthood, a developmental period that has received limited attention in personality development. Specifically, it tested whether FTP dimensions were cross-sectionally associated with personality traits, as well as if they predicted changes on those traits during a time when participants were transitioning to retirement. Participants from the Health, Ageing and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study (N = 5,913, M age = 63.09 years) reported on their FTP at the initial assessment and on their Big Five personality traits on six assessments 1 year apart. Latent growth curve models were fit to examine FTP as a predictor of level and change in the Big Five traits over time, with perceived time and opportunities included as unique predictors. Results found that broader FTP was associated with higher extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness, but lower neuroticism initially. However, results indicated associations were stronger and sometimes only significant for perceived opportunities not time. Regarding FTP as a predictor of personality trait change, modest evidence was found that perceived opportunities predicted changes in neuroticism and openness over time. The present study extends past work by showing the importance of capturing different components of FTP when examining personality traits during older adulthood. Research needs to further explore the longitudinal predictive effects of FTP, focusing on more proximal assessments and how FTP changes during retirement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

In accordance with recent calls for greater transparency and open science, the current special issue attends to the need for work addressing what this looks like within the field of aging and adult development. The papers in this special issue all provide valuable insights into multiple aspects of producing open and transparent research within the psychology of aging. This introduction provides an overview of the papers, as well as addresses the need for this special issue to specifically address issues within this field. We hope these works provide food for thought, and that they spark further discussion on what researchers can do to provide more transparent and open practices in their work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The degree to which individuals engage in leisure activities has been shown to predict well-being in older adults, but it is not known whether such activities may help older adults maintain purposefulness into retirement. The current study sought to address whether activity engagement is associated with purpose in life and whether this association differs based on retirement status. We used data from three waves of the Health and Retirement Study between 2008 and 2016. Multilevel growth models accounted for both within- and between-person effects of leisure activity participation and retirement status on change in sense of purpose in life. Participants reported higher sense of purpose on occasions when they engaged more in leisure activities, and more active participants exhibited less decline in purpose over time. Retired individuals showed steeper declines in sense of purpose, but this effect was mitigated among participants reporting greater activity engagement. Leisure activity participation may help to support sense of purpose in life, particularly among retired individuals. These findings underscore the potential for leisure activity interventions to help older adults compensate for loss of work-related roles and maintain purposefulness into retirement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive complaints and engagement in cognitive activities are two consistent predictors of cognitive aging outcomes, including risk for nonnormative decline. Though research has considered predictors of complaints and engagement in general, little work has attended to the fact that these fluctuate at the daily level. The current study examined individual difference predictors of means and variability for engagement and complaints across 10 days in a sample of older adults (n = 136; Mage = 70.45 years). When comparing personality traits to indicators of cognitive performance, personality differences appeared better unique predictors for these measures of daily cognitive life. Specifically, even when accounting for demographics, measures of cognitive performance, and the other personality traits investigated, older adults higher on openness to experience reported fewer daily cognitive complaints and more engagement on average, as well as greater daily variability in engagement. In addition, higher neuroticism predicted greater variability in reports of cognitive complaints across days. Implications are discussed with respect to how these findings advance our understanding of cognitive complaints and engagement in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Research has demonstrated the importance of having a purpose in older adulthood; however, little is known about whether and how individuals vary on sense of purpose over time. The current study examined patterns of mean- and individual-level change in purpose among men in the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (n = 587, M(age) = 74 years) across a 3-year span. Findings demonstrate that while little mean-level change was present, there was interindividual variability in change. Further research is needed to understand why these changes occur, as age, health status, and personality failed to predict individual fluctuations in purpose., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

While a training model of cognitive intervention targets the improvement of particular skills through instruction and practice, an engagement model is based on the idea that being embedded in an intellectually and socially complex environment can impact cognition, perhaps even broadly, without explicit instruction. We contrasted these 2 models of cognitive enrichment by randomly assigning healthy older adults to a home-based inductive reasoning training program, a team-based competitive program in creative problem solving, or a wait-list control. As predicted, those in the training condition showed selective improvement in inductive reasoning. Those in the engagement condition, on the other hand, showed selective improvement in divergent thinking, a key ability exercised in creative problem solving. On average, then, both groups appeared to show ability-specific effects. However, moderators of change differed somewhat for those in the engagement and training interventions. Generally, those who started either intervention with a more positive cognitive profile showed more cognitive growth, suggesting that cognitive resources enabled individuals to take advantage of environmental enrichment. Only in the engagement condition did initial levels of openness and social network size moderate intervention effects on cognition, suggesting that comfort with novelty and an ability to manage social resources may be additional factors contributing to the capacity to take advantage of the environmental complexity associated with engagement. Collectively, these findings suggest that training and engagement models may offer alternative routes to cognitive resilience in late life., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).)

The present study investigated whether an intervention aimed to increase cognitive ability in older adults also changes the personality trait of openness to experience. Older adults completed a 16-week program in inductive reasoning training supplemented by weekly crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Changes in openness to experience were modeled across four assessments over 30 weeks using latent growth curve models. Results indicate that participants in the intervention condition increased in the trait of openness compared with a waitlist control group. The study is one of the first to demonstrate that personality traits can change through nonpsychopharmocological interventions., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)