Research on Aging最新文献

This study examines how family trajectories lead to kin absence and shape loneliness in later life among Chinese middle-aged and older adults. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we applied multichannel sequence analysis to assess joint patterns of partnership and fertility. Men were more likely to become kinless through lifelong singlehood and childlessness, while women often experienced kin absence through widowhood or non-normative paths such as non-marital fertility. Higher loneliness was found among men in the Single/Late-Partnered Childless group (β = 0.45, p < 0.001) and women in the Prematurely Widowed Parented group (β = 0.29, p < 0.05). Theoretically, this study extends the life course principle of linked lives by revealing how interconnected family transitions shape later-life wellbeing. Findings underscore the need for tailored long-term care policies in light of growing kin absence.

This study examines the longitudinal relationship between work status and subjective well-being (SWB) among older adults in South Korea, with a focus on the roles of gender and education. Using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006-2020), this study employs fixed-effects regression models to examine within-person longitudinal associations between work and SWB, stratified by gender and educational level. Findings reveal a positive association between working status and SWB for men, but not for women. Both lower- and higher-educated individuals experience a positive SWB when they are working. While women in South Korea are more likely to have lower educational attainment, this does not fully explain the gender gap in the relationship between work status and SWB. Policies should address barriers preventing women from experiencing similar SWB benefits as men, ensuring work supports, rather than strains, their well-being.

Objective: Family caregiving is a prevalent, diverse, and often challenging experience. We develop caregiving activity profiles to better understand how sets of care-tasks contribute to various aspects of strain.Methods: Using diary data from a survey of 213 family caregivers in the U.S., we perform latent class analysis to group commonly occurring care-related tasks into activity profiles. We then use these classifications to predict physical, financial, and emotional strain.Main Findings: We identified 4 unique activity profiles based on a set of 36 daily caregiving activities performed. Activity profiles varied significantly across the three analyzed strain dimensions.Conclusion: Activity profiles present opportunities to better understand how caregiving tasks are related to specific types kinds of caregiving strain.

Caregivers of older adults with dementia generally report poorer mental health than those caring for other chronic conditions. Research indicates that coping resources such as resilience and perceived gains can improve mental health. This study examined the indirect effects of dementia caregiving status on mental health through coping resources. Participants were 2242 caregivers of Medicare enrollees aged 65 and older from the 2017 National Study of Caregiving. Path analysis was conducted to examine the study aim. Dementia caregiving was associated with higher levels of resilience, which in turn, was associated with reduced psychological distress and increased psychological well-being. Perceived gains were negatively associated with psychological distress and positively associated with psychological well-being. The study highlighted resilience as a mechanism underlying differential mental health outcomes between dementia and non-dementia caregivers, as well as the role of perceived gains in enhancing well-being. Interventions should promote resilience and help caregivers recognize caregiving gains.

This study investigated job search patterns among American older workers. Data from the 2016-2018 Health and Retirement Study included 1501 individuals aged 50+ who were looking for jobs in 2016. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify job search patterns based on nine types of job search activities. Multinomial logistic regression was then used to examine membership in each class. Five job search patterns emerged from the LCA analysis, including No Ads, Ads only, Friends & Ads, Phone & Ads, and Agencies & Ads. Employment transitions were related to job search patterns. Unemployed older workers, despite utilizing more diverse job search methods, were less likely to secure new jobs compared to their employed peers. These findings highlight the need for workforce development programs to focus on workplace skill-building training and educational opportunities before becoming unemployed and age-friendly workforce development tailored to older workers with low-skilled and low income.

Using cross-sectional and longitudinal data, we examined the immediate and long-term buffering effects of religious involvement on late-life spousal loss. Using seven waves of data (2006-2018) from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 4714; Obs. = 18,212), we conducted ordinary least squares regression and growth curve analyses. Recent spousal loss was strongly associated with increased depressive symptoms, which gradually decreased over time. Religious involvement buffered the association between a recent loss and depressive symptoms. However, no buffering effect was observed for the changes in depressive symptoms over time. Religious involvement significantly mitigated the immediate effects of spousal loss on depressive symptoms. However, its long-term buffering effects on changes in depressive symptoms are limited. Future studies should consider alternative coping resources that may protect individuals against the negative effects of the loss of a spouse and facilitate the maintenance of mental health over time.

In this scoping review, our aim was to compile empirical studies, outside of an institutionalized care context, that discuss future care planning (FCP) at old age for and by older adults living in the community. We define FCP as planning behaviours and decisions made in anticipation of a forthcoming period of life in which comprehensive care and support (i.e., financial, emotional, instrumental, and personal) become necessary due to aging and declining health. The search was conducted in eight databases and was limited to empirical papers published in English between 2000 and 2023. Only 12 articles fulfilled our inclusion criteria. The included studies were analysed narratively. The results were structured around six themes: (i) plans about who will provide care in the future when one no longer has the ability to do so themselves; (ii) plans about future housing and living arrangements; (iii) future financial planning; (iv) plans related to future health issues; (v) values communication as a means for planning; and (vi) the impact of formal care systems on FCP. Results highlight significant variability in how FCP is approached and call for further studies on this topic in light of not only demographic changes but also due to contextual differences in care provision and care expectations.

This study explored the relationships among emotion regulation (ER) strategies, received emotional social support, and relationship quality (RQ) in U.S. older adults (65+). A cross-sectional survey of 323 respondents recruited through ResearchMatch, an online participant registry, measured intrinsically- and extrinsically-directed ER strategy use, received emotional social support, and RQ across six social network members. Results indicated that suppression, a response-focused ER strategy, was negatively associated with RQ, with emotional social support partially mediating this relationship. Suppression reduced emotional social support, which in turn decreased RQ, particularly in close relationships. Analysis of specific antecedent-focused ER strategies revealed that emotional social support mediated the relationship between situation modification and situation selection and RQ. These findings highlight the importance of context-specific ER, the adverse effects of suppression, and the role of received emotional social support as a mediator between ER strategies and RQ, particularly in older adults' close relationships.

Friendships are cited as important contributors to physical, mental, and cognitive health, but many studies rely on single-time-point measures and models that conflate within- and between-person variation. Using data from 23,248 middle-aged and older adults in the Health and Retirement Study, we applied advanced longitudinal models-specifically STARTS variants of ARTS and RI-CLPM-to examine reciprocal associations between friendship characteristics (number, contact frequency, quality) and health indicators (self-rated health, depression, cognition) over a 16-year period. Cross-lagged effects were consistently small, and more robust evidence emerged for health predicting friendship outcomes than the reverse. The best-fitting models accounted for occasion-specific variance, suggesting traditional lagged models may overestimate these effects. Our results raise doubts about strong causal claims linking friendships to health and underscore the need for more careful modeling of temporal dynamics. Findings highlight the importance of decomposing trait-like and state-like variation to clarify the role of friendships in healthy aging.

Older adults with Activities of Daily Living (ADL) limitation typically report worse mental health. Friendships may prevent major mental health declines among older adults, and this association may vary by ADL limitation status. Using data from Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (Waves 2006-2020), this research examined whether friendship characteristics, including few close friends, positive and negative support, frequency of contact, and providing help, were associated with mental health declines. Results from discrete-time event history analysis with multiple competing events revealed that the frequency of contact was associated with reduced risk of developing high depressive symptomology or being diagnosed with psychological conditions, whereas negative perceptions were associated with increased risk. Having few close friends increased the risk of high depressive symptomology. Acquiring ADL limitation was associated with increased risk of both outcomes. We did not find compelling evidence of friendship characteristics buffering or amplifying mental health declines following ADL limitation.