Journal of Adult Development最新文献

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to negative health outcomes across the lifespan but less is known about psychological resources that might mitigate these effects. Meaning in life, conceptualized as presence (i.e., a sense of purpose and coherence) and search (i.e., striving for meaning), and self-compassion may serve as resilience factors that buffer the long-term impact of early adversity. The present study examined associations among ACEs, self-compassion, age, and meaning in life, testing whether self-compassion and age moderated the effects of ACEs. Participants were 875 community-dwelling adults (M = 66.1, SD = 20.8). Multiple linear regression models tested main and interaction effects of age and self-compassion on outcomes of presence of and search for meaning in life. Results indicated that self-compassion was a robust positive predictor of presence of meaning and a negative predictor in search for meaning. ACEs predicted lower presence of meaning, and both self-compassion and age moderated this relationship, such that adverse effects of ACEs were attenuated among individuals higher in self-compassion and among older adults. For search, self-compassion predicted lower search for meaning, while ACEs and the moderation effect was not statistically significant. These findings underscore the importance of distinguishing presence and search as distinct constructs and highlights the protective role of psychological and developmental resources in meaning-making following adversity. Self-compassion may represent a promising target for interventions aimed at fostering resilience in individuals with ACEs.

Intergenerational relationships are vital for individuals of all ages, with positive outcomes associated with intergenerational contact in both familial and non-familial contexts. To explore the role of intergenerational contact in adult development and evaluate the impact of intergenerational programs, a reliable measure of intergenerational contact (IGC) is essential. This study details a three-phase project aimed at creating and validating a measure of familial and non-familial IGC contact. We first conducted a Delphi review with intergenerational researchers (n = 8) and practitioners (n = 8), followed by three focus groups to gather insights on the measure's content, clarity, and feasibility. We then utilized data from 364 younger adults, 250 middle-aged adults, and 331 older adults to run a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) testing configural, metric, and scalar invariance for both the familial and non-familial scales across the three age groups. The Delphi review achieved moderate to high consensus on the initial survey draft, with qualitative feedback guiding revisions. Subsequent focus-group insights enhanced the measure's clarity and coverage. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed an eight-item, two-factor structure reflecting positive and negative intergenerational contact, demonstrating configural and metric invariance for both familial and non-familial subscales. Notably, only the non-familial subscale achieved scalar invariance, providing evidence for the IGC Measure as a valuable tool for assessing intergenerational contact across the adult lifespan, aiding researchers in understanding its significance, and enabling practitioners to evaluate intergenerational programs.

Prior research posits that for African Americans, engaging in poor health behaviors (PHBs), such as smoking or drinking, buffers the negative effects of stressful life events. This study explored how PHBs exacerbate (double jeopardy) or buffer reactivity to daily family stressors among African Americans and European Americans (N = 1,931) ages 34-84 from the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE II). During 8 days of telephone interviews, respondents reported on family stressors, health behaviors (number of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages), affect, and physical symptoms. For African Americans affective reactivity to family arguments was exacerbated on days they smoked more than usual and on days they drank more than usual. In contrast, drinking buffered African Americans' reactivity to network events (i.e., events that happen to a family member). For African Americans, drinking mitigated the negative effects of network stressors while exacerbating reactivity for family arguments, underscoring the significance of stressor context.

The beneficial impacts of civic participation on health are reported for adolescents and older adults. Still, civic participation is underrecognized in its potential to promote a wide range of well-being. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between civic participation in early adulthood and midlife well-being for a 1980 birth sample of minority youth who were economically disadvantaged and explore education as a mediator of such associations. The study sample included 1,101 participants from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a quasi-experimental design of a cohort of low-income minority children followed since 1985. Midlife well-being was measured by life satisfaction, psychological well-being, civic engagement, educational attainment, conviction, and incarceration experiences. The results showed that civic participation in early adulthood was positively associated with life satisfaction (B = 0.08, 95% CI [0.02, 0.15]), psychological well-being (B = 0.75, 95% CI [0.09, 1.41]), civic engagement (B = 0.48, 95% CI [0.34, 0.62]), and years of education (B = 0.23, 95% CI [0.12, 0.34]). Civic participation in early adulthood was negatively associated with conviction (B = -0.08, 95% CI [-0.15, -0.00]) and incarceration (B = -0.10, 95% CI [-0.19, -0.00]). The significant associations between civic participation in early adulthood and psychological well-being and criminal involvement were fully accounted for by educational attainment at age 29. The findings suggest encouraging civic participation in early adulthood might promote well-being in midlife. Moreover, civic participation in early adulthood is connected with better psychological well-being and less criminal involvement in midlife via educational attainment.

Previous research suggests helicopter parenting may be disproportionately associated with lower levels of adjustment during emerging adulthood. However, the size, direction, and significance of the effects of helicopter parenting across different indicators of emerging adult functioning has not been empirically established. Therefore, the purpose of this meta-analytic investigation was to clarify the magnitude of the effect of helicopter parenting across multiple indices of well-being, including: internalizing behaviors (anxiety and depressive symptoms), academic adjustment, self-efficacy and regulatory skills. We also explored whether parent gender moderates these associations. An analysis of 53 studies and 111 effect sizes revealed that helicopter parenting was associated with increased internalizing behaviors and reduced academic adjustment, self-efficacy and regulatory skills. Parent gender did not moderate these associations. The findings are discussed in terms of future directions, particularly the need to identify potential moderators. In conclusion, these findings support recommendations for autonomy-supportive parenting practices during emerging adulthood.

Gerotranscendence is associated with the physical and psychological well-being of older adults. However, findings regarding the changes in gerotranscendence based on age are inconsistent. Therefore older adults in Japan. A total of 3,011 older adults were included in this study. The total Japanese Gerotranscendence Scale Revised scores were measured in one to four surveys every 3–4 years. A linear mixed-effects, this study aimed to examine age-related changes in gerotranscendence at four time points over a 9-year period in community-dwelling model analysis was used to test the following hypotheses: 1. gerotranscendence increases with age; 2. the magnitude of increase in gerotranscendence differs by gender and age group and these effects remain significant even after adjusting for control variables. Results from the mixed-effects model showed that controlling for the number of years of education, absence of cohabitants, self-rated health, instrumental activities of daily living, and psychological well-being, average gerotranscendence increased over time. At baseline, women and older age groups reported significantly higher levels of gerotranscendence. The magnitude of the temporal change in gerotranscendence was shown to be age-related. In other words, the increase in gerotranscendence plateaued at higher old ages. Gerotranscendence is a valuable psychological function that increase during old age—associated with a decline in physical and cognitive functioning.

People who experience adversity early in life are vulnerable to psychological and physical health problems across the lifespan. Although some evidence indicates that coping style mediates this long-term association, it is not known whether these relationships generalize to Black Americans. This study examined whether coping style plays an intermediary role between adverse childhood experiences and adult health, and if there are Black and White differences among these relationships. Data (N = 3680) were drawn from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Refresher and Milwaukee Refresher projects. Using model-based Bayesian imputation, moderated mediation models were estimated. Estimates of the indirect pathways from adversity to six distinct measures of adult health via coping style were obtained separately by race. A key finding was that for Black participants, early adversity was consistently associated with increased emotion-focused coping which in turn was associated with poorer health outcomes. This result was discussed considering the divergent experiences of Black and White individuals in the United States.

The formation of friendships and romantic relationships represents an important developmental task in young adulthood. However, little is known about the potential factors associated with the quality of these interpersonal relationships. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine whether attachment representations to parents and depressive symptoms were independently associated with the quality of friendships and romantic relationships. Using the Prolific platform, 196 young adults (M age = 22.01 years, SD = 1.62) participated in the study. Each participant reported their attachment representations to mother and father and depressive symptoms through the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment and Patient Health Questionnaire 8, respectively. Positive (companionship, intimate disclosure, emotional support, approval, and satisfaction) and negative (conflict, criticism, pressure, exclusion, and dominance) dimensions of relationship quality with a close friend and a romantic partner were assessed with the Network of Relationships Inventory-Relationship Quality Version. Results showed that secure attachment representations to mother (but not father) were significantly associated with increased emotional support, approval, and satisfaction in romantic relationships, even after controlling for gender and depressive symptoms. Increased depressive symptoms were significantly associated with more conflict, criticism, and pressure in friendships, above and beyond gender and attachment representations to parents. There was a significant interaction between gender and depressive symptoms in predicting friendship quality. Men with increased depressive symptoms reported more conflict and dominance. No significant effects were found for women. These findings underscore the importance of secure attachment representations to mother in predicting healthy romantic relationships and depressive symptoms in predicting problematic friendships, especially for men.

Developing and revising one’s identity is a lifelong task, one that influences and is influenced by close relationships in the individual’s social context. For emerging adults, different approaches to identity formation have been associated with different ways of relating to their parents; however, little is known about how identity development and views on one’s parents interact beyond the emerging adult years. In the present study, we addressed this gap by examining changes in how established adults describe and relate to internal representations of their parents as they develop from identity foreclosure to identity achievement, an identity status transition that is considered progressive and has been related to shifts in parental representations in younger samples. From a longitudinal study using the Identity Status Interview (Marcia et al., Ego identity: A handbook for psychosocial research, Springer, 1993), we selected participants coded as foreclosed at age 29 and identity achieved at age 33 (N = 18). A case study approach was used to analyze individual changes in parental representations, and a thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes across cases. The findings show that progressive identity development in established adulthood may involve making more reflective comparisons between oneself and one’s parents, describing one’s parents more as whole persons, and relating to parental influence with greater independence and agency. The results highlight the continued importance of parents for adult identity development, and that progressive identity development in established adulthood may involve increased complexity in representations of both oneself and one’s parents.

We aimed to discover young adults’ perceived intergenerational and digital solidarity patterns with grandparents and their life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. Data collection was conducted from April to June 2022 in the Seoul-Incheon-Gyeonggi metropolitan area. The sample was 261 young adults who reported solidarity with their living grandmothers and 161 young adults who reported solidarity with their living grandfathers. The latent profile analysis indicated three profiles for grandmother–young adult and grandfather–young adult groups: tight-knit and digitally connected, detached, and sociable. Results showed that the sociable profile was predominant, suggesting emotionally connected relationships but lower instrumental support between Korean young adults and their grandparents. In addition, young adults in the tight-knit and digitally connected profile reported higher life satisfaction compared to detached and sociable profiles. The study highlights the significance of strong intergenerational connections in enhancing young adults’ well-being during challenging times such as COVID-19.