Search

A large body of empirical evidence has accumulated showing that the experience of old age is "younger," more "agentic," and "happier" than ever before. However, it is not yet known whether historical improvements in well-being, control beliefs, cognitive functioning, and other outcomes generalize to individuals' views on their own aging process. To examine historical changes in such views on aging, we compared matched cohorts of older adults within two independent studies that assessed differences across a two-decade interval, the Berlin Aging Studies (BASE; 1990/1993 vs. 2017/2018, each n = 256, Mage = 77) and the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS; 1995/1996 vs. 2013/14, each n = 848, Mage = 67). Consistent across four different dimensions of individuals' subjective views on aging (age felt, age appeared, desired age, and attitudes toward own aging) in the BASE and corroborated with subjective age felt and subjective age desired in the MIDUS, there was no evidence whatsoever that older adults of today have more favorable views on how they age than older adults did two decades ago. Further, heterogeneity in views on aging increased across two decades in the MIDUS but decreased in BASE. Also consistent across studies, associations of views on aging with sociodemographic, health, cognitive, and psychosocial correlates did not change across historical times. We discuss possible reasons for our findings, including the possibility that individual age views may have become increasingly decoupled from societal age views. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Purpose Little is known about effects of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and resistance training on daily variations in memory and affect. This study examined the relationship of MVPA and resistance training to memory and affect in daily life. Design Short-term longitudinal 7-day diary. Setting Northeast; primarily Boston-area communities. Sample Adults aged 25 to 94. Measures For seven days, MVPA was assessed with an Actigraph. and resistance training was self-reported. Each evening, memory failures, positive and negative affect were recorded in a written diary and objective memory performance was assessed by telephone. Analysis Multilevel linear regression analyses examined the between and within person associations of MVPA and resistance training with memory performance, memory failures, and affect. Results Those who engaged in more MVPA had better memory performance across the week (b = 0.0163, SE = 0.0076, f2 = 0.004, p = 0.033). Participants reported higher levels of positive affect on days in which they spent more time in MVPA than usual (b = 0.003, SE = 0.001, f2 = 0.144, p < .001) and on days they engaged in resistance training (b = 0.1547, SE = 0.079, f2 = 0.007; p = 0.049). Conclusions Those who spent more time in MVPA had better memory performance, and on days with greater than usual MVPA time and resistance training, affect was more positive than on days with less activity. Implications for motivating physical exercise are considered.

This article discusses ways in which aging individuals respond to physical, social, and environmental changes and constraints by modifying their goals. We review aging-related trends, which we derive from several theoretical approaches, including goal systems theory, the motivational theory of life-span development and its action-phase model, and the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation model. These theories explain how biological and social role changes in later adulthood prompt individuals to make changes to the content, orientation, and composition of their goals, including disengaging from and adjusting previously central goals. They also help identify individual differences in the capacity to do so effectively. We review several motivation-related interventions that address the challenges in goal adjustment and call for more research on identifying processes of goal changes conducive to healthy aging, more interventions, and modifications of societal and institutional (e.g., workplace, nursing home) operations that support adaptive goal change in older adults.

Objectives: This study describes a major effort to reinstate dropouts from the MIDUS longitudinal study and compare baseline characteristics among subgroups of participants to better understand predictors of retention, attrition, and reinstatement. Methods: All living dropouts were contacted, and 651 reinstated participants were interviewed in person (31.4% response rate). Age, gender, education, marital status, parental status, and physical and mental health were compared among the following groups: longitudinal sample, reinstated sample, those fielded for reinstatement who did not return, and those who dropped out at the 2nd or 3rd wave. Results: Multivariate analyses revealed that reinstated participants were younger, male, unmarried, and less educated and had children at baseline compared to longitudinal participants. Reinstatement was unsuccessful among those with poorer mental health at baseline compared to longitudinal participants. Discussion: This study informs reinstatement efforts, adjustment for attrition bias, and use of post-baseline data to examine aging consequents of early life vulnerability.

Social interactions today expand beyond in-person interactions. Therefore, it is important to recognize that social interactions can occur with social network members across multiple communication modes (in-person, phone, and online). The current study explored the role that social support plays in the relationship between mode frequency (in-person, phone, and online), network communication mode diversity (breadth and evenness of communicating with network members via different communication modes), and well-being (positive affect, stress, and loneliness) from the 3-year UCNET (UC Berkley Social Networks Study, N = 1159) dataset. The study contained samples for two age groups (cohorts) – 21–31 year-olds and 50–70 year-olds, which also allowed for an exploration of age differences in these relationships. Longitudinal random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) showed a high degree of stability over the 3 years for all variables. Cross-sectional structural equation mediation models showed that social support mediated the relationships of mode frequency (in-person, phone, and online) and network communication mode diversity with well-being (more positive affect and less loneliness and stress). Age differences were found in the relationship between frequency of communication modes and social support, in that the frequency of communication mode was positively related to social support for younger adults, but not for middle-aged/older adults. Current findings provided future research directions geared toward further understanding of the mode frequency and network communication mode diversity constructs and how they relate to various psychosocial outcomes.

The goal of this study was to test the effects of a 7-week digital self-control intervention to increase physical activity using a two-arm randomized controlled trial. The self-control treatment group showed greater increases in self-reported physical activity (MET’s) than the comparison group. Both groups significantly increased their daily steps and self-control. Participants with higher initial levels of conscientiousness were better able to increase their daily steps during the intervention and participants who increased more in self-control showed greater increases in MET’s. These moderation effects were more pronounced in the self-control treatment group as compared to the comparison group. This study shows that the effects of physical activity interventions may depend on personality characteristics and outcomes may be improved when individual differences are considered and targeted.

Data from the national, longitudinal Mid-Life in the US (MIDUS) study were used to examine work alienation and its relationship to biological health as well as psychological and social functioning. The alienation measure focuses on the autonomy and creativity the work provides. We hypothesized that alienated work would have negative associations with each of the three domains: in biology, higher ‘allostatic load’ (biological dysregulation); in psychology, poorer cognitive performance; and socially, negative impacts on family life. The outcomes are generally as predicted, though there are notable differences for men and women.

Objectives. The aim of this study was to explore social engagement and social comparisons as mechanisms to increase physical activity among older adults. Methods. Participants (N = 60, mean age = 65.7) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Participants in the treatment condition used the application to track their daily walking steps and interact via text messages with their group members for 4 weeks. Participants in the control group used the application only to track their own walking steps. Outcome variables included mean weekly steps, exercise self-efficacy, and social engagement. Results. The results revealed that participants in the experimental condition significantly increased their mean weekly steps and social engagement from the pretest to the posttest whereas the control group did not. These effects were maintained at the 1-month follow up. Discussion. The study expands our understanding of the motivational role of social engagement and social comparison in increasing PA among older adults.

Accumulating evidence suggests that lifetime trauma exposure is associated with adulthood cognitive functioning. However, the nature and extent of this relation have yet to be fully explored. We used multilevel modeling to examine trauma exposure and age at first trauma exposure as predictors of the level of and change in cognitive functioning over a 9-year period. Data were from the Midlife in the United States study, a national survey that began in 1995. Data regarding trauma exposure and age at first exposure were obtained from the 2004 wave, whereas cognitive data were obtained from the 2004 and 2013 waves. The analyses were conducted using data from the 2,471 participants (age range: 28-84 years) who had complete data on all variables from the 2004 wave. Lifetime trauma exposure predicted change in executive functioning (EF), B = -0.03, SE = 0.01, p = .015, 95% CI [-0.05, -0.01]; and episodic memory, B = -0.05, SE = 0.02, p = .023, 95% CI [-0.10, -0.01], such that individuals with more trauma exposure had more decline over 9 years. Age at first exposure also predicted change in EF, B = -0.002, SE = 0.00, p = .009, 95% CI [-0.004, -0.001], such that individuals who were first exposed to trauma later in life had greater EF decline than individuals whose first traumatic event occurred earlier in life. Delta pseudo- R 2 values were moderate, ΔpseudoR2 = .17-.39. These findings identify trauma exposure as a risk factor for cognitive decline in adulthood and highlight the elevated risk associated with adulthood trauma exposure.

The notion of a U shape in happiness—that well-being is highest for people in their 20s, decreases to its nadir in midlife, and then rises into old age—has captured the attention of the media, which often cite it as evidence for a midlife crisis. We argue that support for the purported U shape is not as robust and generalizable as is often assumed and present our case with the following arguments: (a) Cross-sectional studies are inadequate for drawing conclusions about within-person change in happiness across the life span; (b) cross-sectional evidence with respect to the ubiquity and robustness of the U shape in general levels of happiness and life satisfaction is mixed; (c) longitudinal support for the U shape in happiness and life satisfaction is also mixed; (d) longitudinal research on subjective indicators of well-being other than general levels of happiness and life satisfaction challenges the U shape; (e) when asked to reflect on their lives, older adults tend to recall midlife as one of the more positive periods; and (f) a focus on a single trajectory of well-being is of limited scientific and applied value because it obscures the diversity in pathways throughout life as well as its sources. Understanding happiness across the life course and moving the research field forward require a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach.

Development is a cumulative, lifelong process, but strikingly little is known about development in midlife. As a consequence, many misconceptions exist about the nature of midlife and the developmental milestones and challenges faced by middle-aged adults. We first review dominant views and empirical research that has debunked false narratives. Next, we discuss major opportunities and challenges of midlife. This includes the unique constellation of roles and life transitions that are distinct from earlier and later life phases as well as shifting trends in mental and physical health and in family composition. We additionally highlight the importance of (historical shifts in) intergenerational dynamics of middle-aged adults with their aging parents, adult children, and grandchildren; financial vulnerabilities that emerge and often accrue from economic failures and labor market volatility; the shrinking social and health care safety net; and the rising costs of raising children. In doing so, we discuss issues of diversity and note similarities and differences in midlife experiences across race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. We consider midlife as a pivotal period that includes a focus on balancing gains and losses, linking earlier and later life periods, and bridging generations. Finally, we propose possibilities for promoting reversibility and resilience with interventions and policy changes. The suggested agenda for future research promises to reconceptualize midlife as a key period of life, with a concerted effort to focus on the diversity of midlife experiences in order to meet the unprecedented challenges and opportunities in the 2020s and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This is the introduction for the special issue of American Psychologist titled "Rethinking Adult Development: New Ideas for New Times." It highlights the main themes of the special issue and discusses the implications of current trends for future directions. Entry to adult family and work roles now comes later than ever before. More adults than in the past remain single, or coupled but "child-free," and fertility rates have declined, so that caring for children no longer dominates the entirety of adult life. The "knowledge economy" of today takes greater educational preparation and skill development but makes work more cognitively challenging and potentially rewarding than in the past. Adults not only live longer than ever before but are healthier for longer. Likely future trends include greater presence and involvement of grandparents and great-grandparents in children's lives and greater involvement in paid and unpaid work past age 60. Questions and challenges include continuing changes in the nature of family and work arrangements, as well as time devoted to electronic media use. Altogether, the study of adult development presents a great array of fascinating and important questions for psychological research with implications for interventions and policy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Recent empirical evidence has documented that U.S. middle-aged adults today are reporting lower mental and physical health than same-aged peers several decades ago. Individuals who attained fewer years of education have been most vulnerable to these historical changes. One overarching question is whether this phenomenon is confined to the U.S. or whether it is transpiring across other high-income and upper-middle-income nations. To examine this question, we use nationally representative longitudinal panel data from 5 nations across different continents and cultural backgrounds (U.S., Australia, Germany, South Korea, and Mexico). Results revealed historical improvements in physical health for people in their 40s and early 50s across all five nations. Conversely, the direction of historical change in mental health vastly differed across nations. Later-born cohorts of U.S. middle-aged adults exhibit worsening mental health and cognition. Australian middle-aged adults also experienced worsening mental health with historical time. In contrast, historical improvements for mental health were observed in Germany, South Korea, and Mexico. For U.S. middle-aged adults, the protective effect of education diminished in later-born cohorts. Consistent across the other nations, individuals with fewer years of education were most vulnerable to historical declines or benefited the least from historical improvements. We discuss potential reasons underlying similarities and differences between the U.S. and other nations in these historical trends and consider the role of education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

We discuss the importance of including measures of dysregulated system dynamics in the operationalization of allostatic load. The concept of allostatic load, as originally proposed by McEwen and Stellar, included dysregulation not only in the resting state of physiological systems, but also in system dynamics. We describe previous work on cortisol diurnal dynamic range (peak to nadir spread) as an index of the health of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, with compression of dynamic range being a marker of dysregulation. In particular, we review the evidence for a) diurnal dynamic range compression in people from disadvantaged backgrounds, b) cross-sectional association of cortisol diurnal dynamic range compression with dysregulation in other systems' resting states, and c) cross-sectional association of cortisol diurnal dynamic range compression with lower scores on cognitive testing. Then, we present new data from the Study of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) on longitudinal associations of cortisol dynamic range compression with subsequent cognitive decline and all-cause mortality. Briefly, each standard deviation decrement in cortisol diurnal dynamic range is associated with adjusted mortality hazard ratio of 1.35 (95% confidence interval: 1.19, 1.54). Among those who scored at median or lower in executive functioning at baseline and survive, each standard deviation decrement in cortisol dynamic range is associated with 1% greater decline in executive functioning over a decade (95% confidence interval: 0.4%, 2.0%). We conclude that including measures of system dynamics like diurnal dynamic range in the next generation of allostatic load measurement will likely advance understanding of the cumulative physiological burden of chronic stress and life experiences, and improve the prediction of future health consequences.

Greater engagement in a range of daily activities is associated with better cognitive functioning (Lee, Charles, & Almeida, 2020). The hippocampus, a subcortical brain structure implicated in learning, memory, spatial navigation and other aspects of cognitive functioning, may be structurally sensitive to exposure to and engagement with novel experiences and environments. The present study tested whether greater activity diversity, defined as the range of common daily activities engaged in and the proportion of time spent in each, is associated with larger hippocampal volume. Greater diversity of activities, as measured using daily diaries across an 8-day period, was related to greater hippocampal volume averaged across the left and right hemispheres, even when adjusting for estimated intracranial volume, total activity time, sociodemographic factors, and self-reported physical health. These findings are broadly consistent with non-human animal studies demonstrating a link between enriched environments and structural changes to the hippocampus. Future longitudinal and experimental work can elucidate causal and directional relationships between diversity of daily activities and hippocampal volume.

In this reply to Blanchflower and Graham (2021), we address key points in their response to our article, which challenged the robustness of the U shape in different contexts and aimed to move scholarship on life-course happiness beyond a focus on a single cross-sectional curve. We attend to apparent misconceptions in their portrayal of our arguments, identify points of agreement, and emphasize the value of exploring diversity rather than searching for homogeneity in patterns of change in well-being across life. Future longitudinal research to uncover the complex processes that characterize and underlie human happiness will lead to greater understanding that can benefit individuals and societies.

ObjectivesTo examine whether racial disparities are narrowing or widening with historical time among U.S. middle-aged and older adults, and test the extent to which educational attainment moderates racial disparities over historical time.MethodsMultilevel models were applied to longitudinal data on middle-aged (ages 40–65) and older adults (ages 66 and older) from the Health and Retirement Study. Historical change was indexed as cohort or birth year. The outcomes of focus were depressive symptoms, episodic memory, health conditions, functional limitations, and self-rated health.ResultsResults revealed a differential pattern of racial disparities in historical change between midlife and old age. Across midlife and old age, on average, Blacks and Hispanics reported poorer levels of mental and physical health, compared with Whites. In midlife, racial disparities narrowed with historical time; later-born cohorts of Hispanics but not Whites reported fewer depressive symptoms than their earlier-born peers. Likewise, historical improvements in health were stronger among Hispanics and Blacks than Whites. Conversely, in old age, later-born cohorts across race consistently showed historical improvements in each of the outcomes examined. Regarding educational attainment, we observed little consistent evidence that health-promoting effects of educational attainment differ across race and cohort. Examining questions about heterogeneity, results revealed that in midlife and old age there was greater heterogeneity between race across each of the outcomes.DiscussionOur discussion elaborates on reasons behind the documented racial differences in historical changes among U.S. middle-aged and older adults, and how the protective role of education is changing over time.

Objectives Many do not sleep well, particularly middle-aged and older adults. Physical activity (PA) shows promise for improving sleep; however, populations with clinical sleep disturbances have been a research focus. It remains unclear whether low-impact daily PA, like walking, can affect sleep in healthy adults. Design The current study was embedded within a 4-week randomized controlled trial to increase PA. Setting Participants from the greater Boston area were recruited to participate in a 4-week walking intervention on a rolling basis between October 2015 and August 2016. Participants Fifty-nine participants (72% female) were enrolled in the study, with an average age of 49.43 (±8.40) years. Intervention The 4-week intervention was aimed at increasing participants’ daily steps as the primary outcome. The current, supplementary study examined relationships between monthly and daily PA and sleep. Measurements Steps and active minutes were measured daily using a Fitbit Zip. Self-reports of sleep quality and duration were assessed daily, along with before and after the intervention. Results and conclusions Averaged across the month, daily active minutes were positively related to sleep quality but not duration. Sex moderated this relationship; women who took more steps and were more active reported sleeping better than those less active. Within persons, on days that participants were more active than average, they reported better sleep quality and duration in both sexes. Results suggest that low-impact PA is positively related to sleep, more so in women than men. Findings also showed that PA plays a greater role in predicting sleep quality than duration.

Objectives Although educational attainment is related to cognitive function in later life, little is known about the mechanisms involved. This study assessed the independent mediating effects of two behavioral variables, physical and cognitive activity, on the association between educational attainment and cognitive function and change. Methods Data were derived from the three waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Predictors (educational attainment) were from the 1995 baseline, mediators (physical and cognitive activities) were from the 2004 wave, and outcomes (cognitive function) were from the 2004 and 2013 waves. Conditional process modeling was applied using PROCESS in SPSS. Results There were both direct and indirect effects of educational attainment on level and change of executive function (EF) and episodic memory (EM). Physical activity and cognitive activity were both significant mediators for cognitive level. For mediators of change, however, cognitive activity was significant for EF and physical activity was significant for EM. Discussion Physical and cognitive activity are discussed as possible factors for protecting against cognitive decline in later life. The findings have implications for advancing supportive policies and practices related to maximizing the benefits of education and physical and cognitive activities for cognition in middle age and later life.

Previous research suggests creative ability peaks in the age decades of the 30s and early 40s, and declines thereafter, with some variation across fields. Building from the cognitive aging literature, we expect differences in the rate of creation and qualitative nature of creative works by age. Cognitive processes show aging-related changes with increases in experience-based knowledge (pragmatics or crystallized abilities) and decreases in the ability to process novel information quickly and efficiently (mechanics or fluid abilities). We describe a new database created by combining the publicly available patent data with information on inventor ages scraped from directory websites on the web for approximately 1.2 million U.S.-resident inventors patenting between 1976 and 2017. Our results suggest that cross-sectional and within-inventor patenting rates are similar, peaking at around the early 40s for both women and men. We find varying results for attributes of patents in relation to age, some of which are consistent with cognitive aging theory. For solo inventors, backward citations and originality, which are connected to experience, were found to increase with age. Forward citations, number of claims, and generality measures, as well as a citation-based measure of disruptiveness decline on average with inventor age. A similar pattern was found for performance in teams based on the average age of inventors in the team. Exploration of age diversity showed that teams with a wider age range had patents that are slightly more important (i.e., with more forward citations). The findings have the potential to advance scholarship on the life course of innovation with implications for workplace policies.

This paper overviews the data collection procedures and resulting data for inventor ages and associated death dates. We use information about inventors from patents (name and location) and search for age and date of death information from publicly available online web directories and build a scoring system to indicate the quality of information that we collect. After applying a variety of heuristics and robustness checks, we are confident of 1,508,676 inventor ages associated with patents granted between 1976 and 2018. We also find the death dates of 206,589 inventors, though we are not as confident of the accuracy of the death information. The datasets and associated replication files are freely available at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YRLSKU Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

OBJECTIVE. To create a larger, more representative community comparison sample of the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT) data to facilitate assessment of cognitive function in research studies. SETTING. National U.S. community-based survey. PARTICIPANTS. 6,747 healthy adults aged 23 to 84 years (53% female; mean age = 55 years [SD = 13]). DESIGN. Secondary data analysis of BTACT data collected from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) II and MIDUS Refresher cohorts. MAIN MEASURES. The Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone, a brief (15–20 minute) measure of global cognitive function validated for telephone administration. RESULTS. This paper provides BTACT community comparison sample data based on age, sex, and education from a national sample. Similar to other cognitive measures, BTACT scores decreased with age and increased with education. CONCLUSIONS. The BTACT community comparison sample will facilitate investigation of cognitive functioning in large scale traumatic brain injury research studies, and will support secondary analysis of existing BTACT data gathered through the MIDUS study.

Background Although fitness technology can track and encourage increases in physical activity, few smartphone apps are based on behavior change theories. Apps that do include behavioral components tend to be costly and often do not include strategies to help those who are unsure of how to increase their physical activity. Objective The aim of this pilot study is to test the efficacy of a new app, StepMATE, for increasing daily walking in a sample of inactive adults and to examine daily relationships between walking and self-reported mood and energy. Methods The participants were middle-aged and older adults aged ≥50 years (mean 61.64, SD 7.67 years). They were randomly assigned to receive either a basic, pedometer-like version of the app or a version with supports to help them determine where, when, and with whom to walk. Of the 96 participants randomized to 1 of 2 conditions, 87 (91%) completed pretest assessments and 81 (84%) successfully downloaded the app. Upon downloading the app, step data from the week prior were automatically recorded. The participants in both groups were asked to set a daily walking goal, which they could change at any point during the intervention. They were asked to use the app as much as possible over the next 4 weeks. Twice per day, pop-up notifications assessed mood and energy levels. Results Although one group had access to additional app features, both groups used the app in a similar way, mainly using just the walk-tracking feature. Multilevel models revealed that both groups took significantly more steps during the 4-week study than during the week before downloading the app (γ=0.24; P Conclusions Both groups increased their steps to a similar extent, suggesting that setting and monitoring daily walking goals was sufficient for an initial increase and maintenance of steps. Across conditions, walking had benefits for positive mood and energy levels, particularly for women and older participants. Further investigations should identify other motivating factors that could lead to greater and more sustained increases in physical activity. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03124537; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03124537

BACKGROUND Although fitness technology can track and encourage increases in physical activity, few smartphone apps are based on behavior change theories. Apps that do include behavioral components tend to be costly and often do not include strategies to help those who are unsure of how to increase their physical activity. OBJECTIVE The aim of this pilot study is to test the efficacy of a new app, StepMATE, for increasing daily walking in a sample of inactive adults and to examine daily relationships between walking and self-reported mood and energy. METHODS The participants were middle-aged and older adults aged ≥50 years (mean 61.64, SD 7.67 years). They were randomly assigned to receive either a basic, pedometer-like version of the app or a version with supports to help them determine where, when, and with whom to walk. Of the 96 participants randomized to 1 of 2 conditions, 87 (91%) completed pretest assessments and 81 (84%) successfully downloaded the app. Upon downloading the app, step data from the week prior were automatically recorded. The participants in both groups were asked to set a daily walking goal, which they could change at any point during the intervention. They were asked to use the app as much as possible over the next 4 weeks. Twice per day, pop-up notifications assessed mood and energy levels. RESULTS Although one group had access to additional app features, both groups used the app in a similar way, mainly using just the walk-tracking feature. Multilevel models revealed that both groups took significantly more steps during the 4-week study than during the week before downloading the app (γ=0.24; PP=.02). Across conditions, on days in which the participants took more steps than average, they reported better mood and higher energy levels on the same day and better mood on the subsequent day. Daily associations among walking, mood, and energy were significant for women but not for men and were stronger for older participants (those aged ≥62 years) than for the younger participants. CONCLUSIONS Both groups increased their steps to a similar extent, suggesting that setting and monitoring daily walking goals was sufficient for an initial increase and maintenance of steps. Across conditions, walking had benefits for positive mood and energy levels, particularly for women and older participants. Further investigations should identify other motivating factors that could lead to greater and more sustained increases in physical activity. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03124537; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03124537

Caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD) experience higher rates of stress, social isolation, and poor mental and physical health compared to non-caregiving populations. There is a vital need for engaging, sustainable, and scalable resources to support social, physical, and emotional wellbeing amongst caregivers of PWD. To explore this open design space, we designed and conducted a 6-week mixed-method evaluation of Go&Grow, a pervasive social exergame in which flowers grow as users increase physical activity and interact with other caregivers of PWD. Our findings showed that using Go&Grow helped participants relieve stress, increase physical activity, and develop empathy for and patience towards the loved one with dementia that they cared for. At the same time, tension arose as some caregivers desired to learn about the life challenges that Go&Grow users faced, while others hesitated to share such content. We discuss our findings and recommendations for future technology that promotes caregivers? time for themselves, understanding of PWD, and connections with other caregivers.

Memory decline is a concern for aging populations across the globe. Positive affect plays an important role in healthy aging, but its link with memory decline has remained unclear. In the present study, we examined associations between positive affect (i.e., feeling enthusiastic, attentive, proud, active) and memory (i.e., immediate and delayed recall), drawing from a 9-year longitudinal study of a national sample of 991 middle-age and older U.S. adults. Results revealed that positive affect was associated with less memory decline across 9 years when analyses controlled for age, gender, education, depression, negative affect, and extraversion. Findings generalized across another measure that assessed additional facets of positive affect, across different (but not all) facets of positive affect and memory, and across age, gender, and education; findings did not emerge for negative affect. Reverse longitudinal associations between memory and positive affect were not significant. Possible pathways linking positive affect and memory functioning are discussed.

Despite the highly publicized beneficial effects of physical activity, 51.1% of middle-aged US adults do not achieve the recommended minimum of aerobic physical activity needed to maintain health. A sedentary lifestyle can be attributed in part to a lack of self-control and there is some evidence that self-control strategies can be improved with targeted interventions. The overall aim of this study is to test self-control as a behavior change mechanism for physical activity and to investigate whether a smartphone-based self-control intervention can increase physical activity among sedentary middle-aged adults. This protocol describes the design of a randomized controlled trial with two experimental conditions: The self-control treatment group and the control group. Both groups track their daily physical activity using a Fitbit step counter for eight weeks. Additionally, the self-control intervention group receives a 7-week smartphone-based self-control intervention to learn strategies how to potentiate desirable impulses or weaken undesirable ones. It is expected that the self-control treatment group will show greater increases in physical activity and that changes last longer compared to the control group. All participants will be assessed at pretest (baseline), at the end of each week (weeks 1-7), at posttest (week 8), and at follow-up (week 12). If this self-control intervention proves effective, this digital approach would represent a low-threshold and cost-effective approach to increasing physical activity. Such an intervention could be delivered to a large number of people to improve their health outcomes in the long run. Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04522141.

Background Social stress and strain, especially discrimination and inequality might have an impact on memory and cognitive function. This is a major concern for older individuals, their families, communities and societies. We sought to assess changes in episodic memory (EM) and executive functioning (EF) among men and women in the 'Midlife in the United States' (MIDUS) cohort study, to delineate variations in EM and EF by gender, and to determine the impact of social stress/strain at three levels (family, work, society) on longitudinal changes in EM and EF in men and women. Methods We used data from the MIDUS study - a national probability sample of non-institutionalized, English speaking respondents aged 25-74 living in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. The initial wave in our study (1995) included 4963 non-institutionalized adults aged 32 to 84 (M = 55, SD = 12.4). The dependent variables are EM and EF, which were assessed with the Brief Test for Cognition. The independent variables were social stress and discrimination variables at the family/partner level, the work level and the society level, assessed with validated discrimination measures. To assess cognition changes we estimated adjusted linear regression models. Results Women report more perceived inequality for their family and more family strain than men across all age groups. After controlling for other explanatory variables, the main effect on cognition for all age groups was found for perceived inequality of one's family opportunities. Conclusions Reducing social stress and providing opportunities might be an important measure to support episodic memory and executive functioning in aging populations.

This study examined the role of personality traits in a 5-week physical activity intervention study for working adults. We tested whether personality traits predicted individual differences in change in daily steps over time. Fifty-two participants ages 35 to 69 (Mage = 49.71, SD = 8.64) wore a Fitbit Zip step counter for 35 days and completed a personality questionnaire. Participants were randomly assigned to either an implementation intention group or a control group. Both groups wore a Fitbit and had the goal to increase their daily steps. For the present study, the sample was collapsed across groups. Higher conscientiousness was associated with greater increases in daily steps. Also, individuals with healthy neuroticism, the combination of higher neuroticism and higher conscientiousness, showed greater increases in daily steps. The findings highlight that the efficacy of physical activity interventions may depend on personality traits. Intervention outcomes may be improved if personality is taken into account when designing the programs.

Retiring is associated with increased risk of cognitive decline (e.g., Bonsang, Adam, & Perelman, 2012; Wickrama, O'Neal, Kwag, & Lee, 2013). However, little is known about the moderating role of motivational and demographic factors that are implicated in adaptive development and the retirement transition process. We used data from the Midlife in the United States Study (n = 732, Mage = 57, SD = 5.76, 50% female) to examine whether the association between retirement and cognitive decline depended on a key motivation factor (goal disengagement) in propensity score matched samples of older retirees and employees. We explored whether these effects were further moderated by gender. Results showed that those who retired (vs. remained employed) experienced steeper 9-year declines in episodic memory (b = -.41, p = .001) only if they were high in goal disengagement and female. Findings are consistent with theories of lifespan development and cognitive aging and provide initial evidence that retirement may be associated with increased cognitive declines for only certain individuals prone to disengage from highly challenging activities and goal pursuits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Emodiversity, or the variety and relative abundance of emotions experienced, provides a metric that can be used to understand emotional experience and its relation to well-being above and beyond average levels of positive and negative affect. Past research has found that more diverse emotional experiences, both positive and negative, are related to better mental and physical health outcomes. The present research aimed to test the relationship between positive and negative emodiversity across the span of 8 days with measures of health and well-being using 2 samples of the Midlife in the United States study (http://midus.wisc.edu/). Participants (N = 2,788) reported emotional states (14 negative, 13 positive) once each day for 8 days. Emodiversity scores were computed for each day using an adaptation of Shannon's biodiversity index and averaged across the days. All models included average affect and demographic covariates. Greater positive emodiversity was associated with fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety and fewer physical health symptoms but was not related to eudaimonic well-being nor cognitive functioning. In contrast to previous research, greater negative emodiversity was related to more symptoms of depression and anxiety and more physical health symptoms. Greater negative emodiversity was only associated with one positive outcome: better executive functioning. These findings illustrate inconsistencies across studies in whether negative emodiversity is associated with better or worse outcomes and raise further questions about how the construct of emodiversity can be better refined. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective There is increasing interest in the role of contextual factors in promoting well-being among parents of children with developmental disabilities. This study aimed to examine whether social network types moderate the impacts of having a child with a developmental disability on parents' health. Methods Using cross-sectional data from the Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS 2 and Refresher cohorts), we analyzed a sample of 363 parents of children with developmental disabilities and 4919 parents of children without developmental disabilities. K-means cluster analysis was implemented to identify a social network typology. Modified Poisson and negative binomial regression models estimated the effect of having a child with a developmental disability and the typology on parents' physical health (self-rated health, number of chronic conditions) and mental health (self-rated mental health, major depression). Results The cluster analysis revealed two social network types. Parents of children with developmental disabilities were more likely to have “restricted/unsupported” networks, whereas parents in the comparison group were more likely to have “diverse/supported” networks. Social support was more important for differentiating the network types of parents of children with developmental disabilities, while social integration was more salient for the comparison group. Parents of children with developmental disabilities fared worse on all outcomes relative to parents of children without disabilities. However, the typology had a compensatory psychological effect; the diverse/supported network type conferred greater mental health benefits to parents of children with developmental disabilities than to those in the comparison group. The diverse/supported network type was also associated with better physical health, but the associations did not differ between the two parent groups. Conclusions The results of this study emphasize the importance of social determinants of well-being for those with exceptional parenting responsibilities. Strengthening social networks may have a particularly positive impact on such parents' mental health.

Despite the documented and well-publicized health and well-being benefits of regular physical activity (PA), low rates of participation have persisted among American older adults. Peer-based intervention strategies may be an important component of PA interventions, yet there is inconsistent and overlapping terminology and a lack of clear frameworks to provide a general understanding of what peer-based programs are exactly and what they aim to accomplish in the current gerontological, health promotion literature. Therefore, a group of researchers from the Boston Roybal Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions (RALI) collaborated on this paper with the goals to: (a) propose a typology of peer-based intervention strategies for use in the PA promotion literature and a variety of modifiable design characteristics, (b) situate peer-based strategies within a broader conceptual framework, and (c) provide practice guidelines for designing, implementing, and reporting peer-based PA programs with older adults. We advance clarity and a common terminology and highlight key decision points that offer guidance for researchers and practitioners in using peers in their health promotions efforts, and anticipate that it will facilitate appropriate selection, application, and reporting of relevant approaches in future research and implementation work.

The cognitive benefits of a greater sense of control are well-established; however, only recently have the mechanisms involved in this relationship been explored. Because of its well-established cognitive benefits and positive relationship to perceived control, physical activity has been suggested as a potential mediator. However, with age, not only does cognition tend to decline, but so does one's perception of control and their level of physical activity. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between these variables from a life span perspective. The goal of the current study was to expand on past work that investigated physical activity as a mediator between perceived control and change in cognition across 4 years to a multi-decade perspective that examines these variables as they change from midlife to older adulthood. To do so, we used longitudinal data across 20 years from the Midlife in the United States Study. Our results show that perceiving more control over one's life predicted less decline in cognition 20 years later, and this relationship was mediated by an increase in physical activity. We consider limitations and future directions to further our understanding of the role of physical activity in the relationship between perceived control and cognitive aging. (PsycINFO Database Record

Lifespan psychological and life course sociological perspectives have long acknowledged that individual functioning is shaped by historical and socio-cultural contexts. Secular increases favoring later-born cohorts are widely documented for fluid cognitive performance and well-being (among older adults). However, little is known about secular trends in other key resources of psychosocial function such as perceptions of control and whether historical changes have occurred in young, middle-aged, and older adults alike. To examine these questions, we compared data from two independent national samples of the Midlife in the United States survey obtained 18 years apart (1995/96 vs. 2013/14) and identified case-matched cohorts (per cohort, n = 2,141, aged = 23–75 years) based on age, gender, cohort-normed education, marital status, religiosity, and two central markers of physical health, multimorbidity and functional limitations. We additionally examine the role of economic resources for cohort differences in perceived mastery and constraints. Results revealed that older adults nowadays report perceiving fewer constraints than did matched controls 18 years ago, with such positive secular trends being particularly pronounced among women and people suffering from multiple diseases (in high income population strata). In contrast, younger adults reported perceiving more constraints nowadays than those 18 years ago and also reported perceiving lower mastery nowadays, effects that were particularly strong among the less-educated. We conclude from our national US sample that secular trends generalize to central psychosocial resources across adulthood such as perceptions of control, but are not unanimously positive. We discuss possible underlying mechanisms and practical implications.

Objectives Recent work suggests that physical activity may underlie the positive relationship between control beliefs and cognition. Despite the well-known cognitive benefits, most adults do not engage in enough physical activity, perhaps due to low perceived control. The current study aimed to expand upon past work by investigating these constructs over the short-term by studying the intraindividual variability in daily control beliefs, physical activity, and cognition. We examined whether these constructs were related on a day-to-day basis and if daily physical activity mediated the relationship between control beliefs and cognition. Method Over 7 consecutive days, 145 participants (M = 50.54 years) completed daily diaries to measure domain-specific control beliefs, wore an ActiGraph to capture objective physical activity, and were administered 2 tasks each day via phone to measure cognition. Results Using multilevel structural equation modeling, our results indicated that on days with higher control beliefs cognition was also higher and this relationship was mediated by one’s level of physical activity. Discussion These findings demonstrate the role of physical activity in linking control beliefs and cognition on a daily level using a within-person approach to investigate the dynamic processes in beliefs and cognition.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether lifetime-trauma exposure predicts all-cause mortality and whether this association is mediated or moderated by perceived control. METHOD A sample of middle-aged and older adults (N = 4,961) who participated in the second wave of the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS) provided data. Lifetime trauma was operationalized using the reported number of potentially traumatic experiences spanning childhood through adulthood. Both the perceived constraints and mastery dimensions of perceived control were examined. Cox regression models tested main effects and interactions of lifetime trauma with mastery and constraints predicting 10-year mortality risk. RESULTS There was a significant main effect of lifetime trauma, b = .06, hazard ratio (HR) = 1.07, p = .032, and an interaction of trauma with mastery, b = -.08, p = .004. A greater number of traumatic experiences was associated with increased mortality risk at below-average levels of mastery, -1 SD; HR = 1.14, p < .001, but not at above-average levels, +1 SD; HR = 0.97, p = .48. This interaction persisted after further adjustment for health status, psychological, and behavioral covariates. An association of constraints with elevated mortality risk, HR = 1.33, p = .008, was attenuated in a fully adjusted model, HR = 1.06, p = .26. CONCLUSION A strong sense of mastery may buffer elevated mortality risk associated with exposure to traumatic experiences. Findings extend evidence that mastery may foster resilience to the adverse health effects of traumatic stressors, whereas constraints may show stronger independent associations with health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Previous research on the relationship between personality traits and cognitive abilities has primarily focused on cross-sectional studies or on specific personality traits in relation to selected cognitive dimensions. The present study extends existing research by exploring associations among 20-year personality change profiles and 10-year cognitive change in middle-aged and older adults. The present study included 2,652 participants of the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS) ranging in age between 20 - 74 years (M = 46.61, SD = 11.26) at the first of the three measurement occasions. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to capture profiles of change across the Big Five personality traits of extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, and emotional stability combined. Results of the LPA identified three personality change subgroups: Decreasers, Maintainers, and Increasers. Across the 20 years, the Decreasers showed greater decreases on the Big Five personality traits, the Maintainers remained mostly stable, and the Increasers showed greater personality trait increases. Also, the Maintainers and Decreasers were significantly older than the Increasers. Longitudinal multilevel models were used to examine the relationship between these three personality change profiles and cognitive change. Age, sex, education, physical activity, functional health, and self-rated health were added as covariates. Results show that cognitive decline was greater for the Decreasers and less for the Increasers compared to the other personality change profiles. The results have implications for developing interventions to target personality trait change in middle and later adulthood as a potential means for reducing declines in cognitive functioning.

Supporting the health of growing numbers of frail older adults living in subsidized housing requires interventions that can combat frailty, improve residents’ functional abilities, and reduce their health care costs. Tai Chi is an increasingly popular multimodal mind–body exercise that incorporates physical, cognitive, social, and meditative components in the same activity and offers a promising intervention for ameliorating many of the conditions that lead to poor health and excessive health care utilization. The Mind Body-Wellness in Supportive Housing (Mi-WiSH) study is an ongoing two-arm cluster randomized, attention-controlled trial designed to examine the impact of Tai Chi on functional indicators of health and health care utilization. We are enrolling participants from 16 urban subsidized housing facilities (n=320 participants), conducting the Tai Chi intervention or education classes and social calls (attention control) in consenting subjects within the facilities for one year, and assessing these subjects at baseline, 6 months, and 1 year. Physical function (quantified by the Short Physical Performance Battery), and health care utilization (emergency visits, hospitalizations, skilled nursing and nursing home admissions), assessed at 12 months are co-primary outcomes. Our discussion highlights our strategy to balance pragmatic and explanatory features into the study design, describes efforts to enhance site recruitment and participant adherence, and summarizes our broader goal of post study dissemination if effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are demonstrated, by preparing training and protocol manuals for use in housing facilities across the U.S.

Cross-sectional findings showed that education differences in memory performance were moderated by frequent cognitive activity (Lachman et al., 2010). The present study examined whether frequent cognitive activity could compensate for lower education when focusing on change in cognitive performance across nine years. The study also explored whether cognitive activity can slow down declines in retired adults as previous research suggested that retiring is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline (e.g., Wickrama et al., 2013). Longitudinal data from the MIDUS study included N = 3,325 middle-aged and older adults. Outcome variables were two factors of cognitive performance: Episodic Memory (EM) and Executive Functioning (EF). Independent variables were years of education, work status (working vs. retired), and frequency of cognitive activity. The results suggest that cognitive activity moderated the effect of educational attainment on change in EM. Individuals with both higher education and cognitive activity showed the smallest declines in EM. Individuals with lower educational attainment but high cognitive activity had less decline in EM compared to their low education counterparts. Those who increased their cognitive activity over time showed less decline in EF. In terms of work status, working adults had less decline in EM and EF compared to retired adults and retired adults who did not maintain their cognitive activity declined more in EF. The results emphasize the importance of frequent engagement in cognitive activity across the lifespan, which can attenuate cognitive declines especially among those who have lower education or have retired.