Research on Aging最新文献

This study explores the relationships between ICT uses for various purposes and mental health and the moderating effect of technology learning among Chinese and Korean older Americans. The survey data were collected from 513 Chinese and Korean older Americans in New York City. Negative binomial regression was used to examine the relationships between ICT uses for social, instrumental, and health purposes, and depressive symptoms. Interaction terms between ICT use variables and technology learning styles were created for the moderation test. We found that ICT uses for social contact and health purposes were significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms among the Chinese and Korean older Americans, and the benefits were more pronounced for those who learned ICT independently. This study highlighted the importance of supporting ICT uses for social contact and health purposes and technology learning process to improve mental health of older Asian Americans.

Empirical discourses surrounding bisexuality often focus on challenges and disparities. This analysis identifies counternarratives of coping and survival among 21 midlife and older bisexual individuals. Findings are presented in three found poems followed by interpretations within participants' life experiences. Each poem depicts an "act" of life, separating narratives into three stages of meaning-making. Act I: The Struggle captures early-to midlife experiences fraught with confusion, isolation, mental health challenges, and interpersonal conflict. In Act II: Coping and Survival Looks Like…participants reflect on strengths, skills, and relationships they used to confront significant challenges. Act III: Healing Bisexual Futures presents reflections on what bisexuality means to participants in later life and how they envision their futures. This streamlined version of complex and messy life histories represents an agentive story-telling process in which participants seek meaning and cohesion in narrating their lives. Creative methodologies are well-suited to capturing this narrative nuance and poignance.

This study examines individual socio-structural resources and country-level welfare state commitment in relation to four different aspects of civic engagement in later life. Multilevel logistic regression was used to analyze data from the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) collected from people aged 65 and over in 32 European countries during 2016-2017 (n = 9265). On the individual level, socio-structural resources in terms of educational level, income, and self-rated health were positively related to formal volunteering, political participation, and associational participation. However, socio-structural resources seemed to be less important to informal caregiving. On the country-level, strong welfare state commitment, as measured by social expenditure, was positively associated with all four aspects of civic engagement. Cross-level interactions between socio-structural resources and welfare state commitment were statistically significant in part. The present study strengthens the view of civic engagement in later life as a multidimensional concept that is shaped by individual and contextual factors.

Older adults prioritize emotion regulation over other cognitively demanding tasks. Thus, emotions requiring regulation may increase reliance on advice when making judgements. An online sample of 42 young, 48 middle-aged, and 42 older adults were randomly allocated to either an anger, gratitude, or neutral emotion induction, using autobiographical recall. A judge-advisor task measured advice-taking, and participants rated their confidence, perceived advice accuracy, and emotions, followed by the general decision-making styles questionnaire. Due to emotion induction failure, a global positive mood score was explored. Although positive mood did not correlate with advice-taking, greater age was associated with lesser avoidant decision-making style, lower pre- and post-advice confidence, and greater positive mood. Perceived advice accuracy was positively correlated with both pre- and post-advice confidence ratings, positive mood, and advice-taking. The present study provides no evidence for age-related differences in the degree of advice-taking, but suggests that different mechanisms likely underpin advice-taking at different ages.

Age-related differences in facial identity recognition and emotion categorization are well established, but whether these differences extend to dynamic stimuli remains underexplored. We compared younger and older adults' performances in dynamic emotion categorization (phase 1) and identity recognition (phase 2) tasks, incorporating different types of facial occlusion to test their influence on both tasks. Stimuli included whole faces and two types of occlusion (surgical masks, white rectangles). In phase 1, participants observed videos of neutral expressions transitioning to emotional ones and categorized the emerging emotion. In phase 2, static neutral faces were judged as either previously seen or new. Occlusion impaired performances in both groups, with older adults struggling more in emotion categorization. Age had no effect on identity recognition, and occluded faces were better remembered than whole faces. The findings highlight the interplay between emotion processing and identity recognition, stressing the importance of using dynamic stimuli in aging research.

Using nationally representative data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 and the fixed effects model, we examine the association between grandchild caregiving and rural grandparents' participation in social activities in China. We further explore whether this association varies across non-migrant and migrant rural grandparents, as well as how this migration-related heterogeneity varies by gender. The results reveal that grandchild caregiving was positively associated with participation in at least one social activity among rural grandparents, primary driven by nonintensive caregiving. Migration-based heterogeneity indicates that this positive association was observed only among non-migrant rural grandparents. Meanwhile, among those who had already participated in at least one activity, grandchild caregiving was associated with a greater number of activity types and a higher frequency of participation among migrant rural grandparents. Further analysis by gender indicates that this migration-based heterogeneity pattern was observed only among grandfathers. Our findings offer important policy implications in the context of rapid population aging and urbanization in contemporary China as well as in other developing countries.

Loneliness in later life is a significant global public health issue that negatively impacts well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health. This study investigates how material, health, and social vulnerabilities contribute to loneliness among older adults using a welfare regime framework. It examines the link between vulnerability and loneliness in the United States, Korea, Sweden, Spain, and Germany using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) alongside its international sister studies, encompassing both Western and East Asian welfare states. Findings indicate that older adults in less generous welfare regimes experience higher levels of loneliness and material vulnerability. A multidimensional approach reveals that the most urgently vulnerable population is the multiply vulnerable group. Vulnerable groups are more likely to experience loneliness, with divergent associations emerging across countries. Cross-national variations demonstrate how institutional arrangements can either mitigate or exacerbate the relationship between vulnerability and loneliness.

This study investigates state-specific frailty risks and common predictors among older adults in India, using data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) wave 1, comprising 27,540 individuals aged 60 and above. By integrating ecological systems theory framework with innovative Bayesian spatial modeling, the methodology incorporates a holistic approach. The findings identify Telangana (RR1.382, 95%CI1.246-1.524), West Bengal (RR1.369, 95%CI1.249-1.482), Sikkim (RR1.286, 95%CI1.075-1.516), and Kerala (RR1.236, 95%CI1.109-1.356) as states with significantly higher frailty risks. Key predictors include living alone (RR5.76, 95%CI5.472-5.969), a history of falls (RR2.55, 95%CI2.501-2.592), and experiences of everyday discrimination (RR2.12, 95%CI 2.048-2.141). These results emphasize the critical need for state-specific interventions that account for the complex interactions of micro, meso, and macro-level determinants. The study advocates for the development of tailored strategies, highlighting the limitations of a one-size-fits-all approach in addressing frailty within India's heterogeneous aging population.

This study investigated differences in cognitive risk and objective cognitive performance between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB; n = 309) and heterosexual (n = 16,207) older adults using baseline data (2011-2015) from the Comprehensive cohort of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Cognitive risk was assessed using the Australian National University - Alzheimer's Disease Risk Index (ANU-ADRI). Cognitive performance was measured using a composite score based on performance on six cognitive tests. The analytic strategy included a combination of t-tests, chi-square tests, and linear regression models. Contrary to expectations, LGB participants exhibited lower cognitive risk scores (M = -1.08, SD = 8.85) in comparison to heterosexual participants (M = 0.61, SD = 10.62). On subcomponents of the ANU-ADRI score, LGB participants reported higher rates of depression and smoking, and lower social engagement. In terms of cognitive performance, LGB participants scored significantly higher (M = 104.58, SD = 14.72) in comparison to heterosexual participants (M = 100.12, SD = 15.05). This difference remained even after controlling for ANU-ADRI score, race, and income. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating sociodemographic characteristics into cognitive risk assessments.

Rising life expectancy, declining fertility, and changing partnership patterns are disrupting traditional families and may increase the importance of friendship in later life. Older adults without partners or children (e.g., unpartnered, childless, and "kinless") might rely more on friendships for support. Yet, friendship remains understudied in aging research, especially across diverse global contexts. This study uses data from the World Values Survey and United Nations (64,277 adults aged 45+ across 87 countries) to examine how family structure, region, and development level influence the value placed on friendship. The results reveal regional variation in friendship emphasis, high value placed on friendship among those who have never had a partner or child regardless of global context, and high emphasis on friendship among those with disrupted partnerships specifically in highly developed countries. Findings highlight the need to prioritize friendship in research and policy, especially with accelerating demographic shifts occurring globally.