Links between Couples' Cynical Hostility and Mental Health: A Dyadic Investigation of Older Couples.

Whereas sharing a life with someone with high cynical hostility can be straining, little is known about how partner's cynical hostility is associated with one's mental health. In this paper, we report the findings from a longitudinal dyadic study using two waves of a large and representative American sample of older adults and their spouses to examine how one's own and their spouse's cynical hostility longitudinally affect anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results from APIM analyses suggest that both husbands' and wives' anxiety and depressive symptoms were negatively associated with their own cynical hostility, both within each time point and longitudinally. Partners' cynical hostility, however, predicted only husbands' mental health cross-sectionally. Furthermore, a moderating effect was identified, although it was not consistently observed across all analyses. Specifically, when a partner's cynical hostility was high, the association between one's own cynical hostility and their mental health was stronger, especially for women. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Older Adults' Perceptions of Campus Accessibility.

Attention should be devoted to the accessibility of campus facilities to older adults and as a means to increase age-diversity. In this paper, we sought to uncover older adults' perceptions of campus accessibility via an online survey. Participants were recruited through local newsletters, and word of mouth, and included 81 community members (M Age = 71.58 years; 79% female; 89% White). Descriptive analyses were conducted for closed-ended responses and a constant comparative method was used to code open-ended responses. Based on the closed-ended responses, participants felt that the campus was somewhat accessible, moderately easy to walk around, and felt somewhat welcome on campus. The following general themes emerged in the open-ended responses: 1) inaccessibility on campus was related to parking and topography constraints (e.g., due to stairs, distance, hills); 2) accessibility on campus was due to sidewalks and access to transportation; 3) feeling welcome on campus was related to people being helpful, and 4) not feeling welcome was related to not 'being in the know' and not feeling like they belonged. These findings have implications for campus initiatives that aim to attract older adults, especially for campuses that have topography constraints.

Attitudes About Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol Consumption.

This mixed methods study analyzed individual attitudes regarding how the gender of an aggressor, levels of aggression (i.e., slapping, punching, or threatening with a weapon), and alcohol consumption (i.e., one beer, three beers, or six beers) are associated with attitudes about (a) the use of violence in intimate partner violence (IPV) in a romantic relationship and (b) the influence of alcohol on the violent act. Individuals (n = 546) participated in an online survey using multiple segment factorial vignettes, which allowed participants to respond to the actions of characters in a hypothetical scenario rather than how they might have reacted in a similar scenario. Regarding the use of IPV, 512 believed the violent act should not have occurred. Logistic regressions revealed participants (a) were significantly less likely to say alcohol influenced a male in comparison to a female, (b) were significantly more likely to respond that the perpetrator's behavior was influenced by having drunk three or six beers compared with just one, and (c) were not significantly more or less likely to say the alcohol influenced the type of violence used. Analyses of qualitative responses (a) reinforced beliefs that violence (generally) and IPV (specifically) were not acceptable and (b) showed that beliefs about the influence of alcohol included attitudes regarding alcohol enhancing emotions and/or clouding judgment, perpetrators being in control regardless of alcohol intake, alcohol not being used as an excuse for violence, alcohol affecting people differently, and alcohol results in people showing their true selves. In addition, participants tended to downplay alcohol-related female-perpetrated aggressions. The results of this study help to better understand attitudes about IPV and the role that alcohol plays in violent relationships. Information derived from this study can be used in informational and intervention workshops which address IPV.

Attitudes About Forgiveness and Leaving a Relationship: The Context of Relationship Aggression.

The present study examines participant attitudes regarding whether a victim of IPV should forgive an offending partner and whether they should stay or leave a violent relationship. A total of 562 participants completed the study, which entailed responding to factorial vignettes online. Participants were primarily heterosexual, female, non-Latino, and White, with an average age of 21.75. Using logistic regressions, participants were significantly more likely to think the victim should forgive the perpetrator if the perpetrator was female and for less severe acts of aggression. Multinomial logistic regressions found that respondents were significantly less likely to state "yes" or "it depends," compared to "no," as to whether the victim should leave the relationship when the aggression was more severe and were more likely to say a male victim should stay in a violent relationship than a female victim. Qualitative analyses found three main themes regarding whether a victim should forgive: (1) context matters; (2) forgiveness is best … with caveats; and (3) questioning how often violence had occurred. With regard to whether a victim should leave an aggressive relationship, two main themes emerged: (1) situation matters … especially the relationship context and (2) questioning whether the violence had occurred before. This study provides insight into attitudes, by those external to a couple, regarding forgiveness and leaving a relationship after an instance of relationship aggression and has implications for both practitioners and policymakers. The constructed views about leaving a relationship may spill over into decisions regarding whether to implement policy surrounding IPV. Practitioners should also be cognizant of the varying definitions of forgiveness when working with clients who have experienced IPV as a practitioner's definition of forgiveness may not necessarily align with a client's definition.

The association between relationship strain and emotional well-being among older adult couples: the moderating role of social connectedness.

OBJECTIVES: The present study examines the moderating role of social connectedness (i.e. closeness, talk frequency, social network size, and neighborhood social ties) in the association between one's own and spouse's relationship strain and emotional well-being (i.e. depressive symptoms, happiness, and loneliness). METHOD: Married couples (N = 865) were drawn from the second wave of the National Social, Health, and Aging Project. One Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) and one Actor Partner Interdependence Model with Moderation (APIMoM) were conducted. RESULTS: In terms of actor effects, relationship strain was associated with all emotional well-being outcomes. Wives' and husbands' greater relationship strain was associated with spouses' loneliness. Only wives' greater relationship strain was associated with her husbands' higher level of depressive symptoms and no partner effects were found for happiness. In six instances, social connectedness factors helped to ameliorate the association between self/spouse relationship strain, depressive symptoms, and happiness. However, wives' greater neighborhood social ties amplified the association between wives greater relationship strain and husbands' greater depressive symptoms. We did not find that social connectedness factors moderated the associations between self/spouse relationship strain and loneliness. CONCLUSION: Even in late life marriages, marital strain is associated with less happiness and greater depressive symptoms and loneliness. Practitioners addressing emotional well-being may need to pay attention to spousal perceptions of relationship strain and social relationships external to the marital relationship when working with heterosexual couples. Efforts throughout the life course should be made to ensure connections with diverse types of social networks.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2021.1910786.

Parents' Anticipated Discussions About Death With Young Children.

Guided by family communication patterns theory and terror management theory this mixed-methods investigation explored how parents (N = 112) of young children (ages 3-6) described the way they would discuss death when it comes up in conversations. Responses were coded inductively, resulting in four themes: explanations that death is inevitable, explanations that death is in the distance, the use of religion to frame discussions of death, and finally, discussing afterlife connections to deceased family members. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate whether parents' conformity or conversation orientations were associated with the frequency with which parents discussed death with their child and the content of parent vignette responses. Quantitative analysis revealed parents' conversation orientations were associated with the frequency with which they discussed death with their child and conformity orientations were associated with parents' use of religion and discussing afterlife connections to deceased family members in their responses.

Deconstructing Attitudes About Intimate Partner Violence and Bystander Intervention: The Roles of Perpetrator Gender and Severity of Aggression.

In this mixed methods study, we explored how gender of an aggressor and the levels of aggression (i.e., yelling, throwing a drink, slapping, and punching) influenced attitudes about (a) public displays of intimate partner violence (IPV) and (b) bystander intervention. A feminist-informed, social constructionist perspective guided the study. Participants (N = 562) responded online to randomly assigned factorial vignettes. Participants ranged in age between 18 and 70 years. The majority were female, self-identified as heterosexual, and identified as White. Logistic regressions revealed that participants significantly viewed aggression as unacceptable, especially in cases of more severe and male-perpetrated aggressions. Multinomial logistic regressions revealed that participants significantly thought bystanders or friends of the couple should intervene, especially in cases of male-perpetrated and/or more severe aggression. Analyses of qualitative responses indicated that participants viewed aggression as never okay, as poor communication, as justified if provoked, and discussed the gendered double standard of aggression (i.e., men should not be aggressive because they could cause more harm than females and female-perpetrated aggression is minor, in comparison). Regarding attitudes about bystander intervention, analyses of qualitative responses indicated that aggression severity, issues surrounding relationship privacy, factors relevant to the situation (e.g., if the event occurred once or repeatedly), perceptions that help was needed (e.g., if the victim was hurt), and the bystander's relationship with the victim (i.e., friend or not) were important to consider when thinking about the decision to intervene in public acts of violence. These findings have implications for bystander intervention programs and for how individuals view public acts of IPV.

Addressing ageism using intergenerational performing arts interventions.

Performing arts interventions may be one method to lessen age stereotypes among both the young and old. The present study examines how, and if, intergenerational performing arts interventions addressing age increases knowledge on ageism and counters ageist stereotypes. Two programs were assessed, one with a discussion component and the other without. Participants included 72 individuals aged 20-89. T-tests and repeated measures ANOVAs were used. Those under 50 experienced a significant increase in viewing ageism as a problem and those under 50 who participated in the discussion program experienced an increase in the belief that they could change perceptions about ageism between the pre- and posttests. Positive age stereotypes increased and negative age stereotypes decreased, regardless of program type and age. The present study has implications for how intergenerational performing arts interventions addressing age, created in conjunction with community organizations and via performing arts, may empower individuals to increase knowledge, and change their own perceptions about aging.

Older women's friendships: illuminating the role of marital histories in how older women navigate friendships and caregiving for friends.

The present study explores the role of marital histories in how older women navigate their friendships and how they provide care for, receive care from, and help friends. Nineteen semi-structured interviews with older women (mean age = 75.89) were conducted. All participants had at least a high-school education and identified as non-Hispanic White (N = 19). Three major themes emerged: 1) similarities and differences in friendship among marrieds and unmarrieds, 2) shifts in friendships after marital loss, and 3) caregiving and helping friends. These findings have implications for how older women view friendship and for policies concerning caregiving and friendship.

Loneliness trajectories and correlates of social connections among older adult married couples.

How loneliness manifests in older adult married couples is necessary to consider. Marriage partners may become more or less lonely based on shared circumstances with one another (i.e., the shared environment hypothesis). Moreover, individuals may pair off with a marriage partner who shares similar levels of loneliness (i.e., the homophily hypothesis; Cacioppo, Fowler, & Christakis, 2009), which can potentially lead to higher or lower levels of loneliness. Therefore, examining couples dyadically is beneficial in order to understand how loneliness operates over time. Three waves of the Health and Retirement Study were used and participants included 1,389 older adult couples. The current study uses growth-mixture modeling to examine older adult couples' joint loneliness trajectories. Multinomial logistic regressions were also used to examine social and demographic correlates of these trajectories. Three classes emerged, including classes characterized by high loneliness (N = 69), low loneliness (N = 998), and moderate loneliness (N = 322). Classes were distinguished at the first wave by husbands' and wives' marital support, husbands' marital strain, husbands' age, husbands' friendship strain, and wives' frequency of seeing friends. Overall, husbands' and wives' had relatively similar levels of loneliness over time and those who were in the low loneliness class tended to have more positive factors related to social connections. The present study provides insight into how loneliness functions over time among older adult couples, and has implications for practitioners who work with older adult couples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Marital Quality, Loneliness, and Depressive Symptoms Later in Life: The Moderating Role of Own and Spousal Functional Limitations.

Loneliness is a mechanism through which marital quality relates to older adults' mental health. Links between marital quality, loneliness, and depressive symptoms, however, are often examined independent of older adults' functional health. The current study therefore examines whether associations between marital quality, loneliness, and depressive symptoms are contextually dependent on individuals' own (or their spouse's) functional limitations, as well as on gender. Data came from couples (N = 1084) who participated in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative dataset of older adults (age 50+). We utilized data from the 2014 leave-behind psychosocial questionnaire to measure spousal support/strain and loneliness, and interview data from 2014 to measure baseline depressive symptoms and demographic covariates (e.g., race and education). Depressive symptoms in 2016 served as the focal outcome variable. Findings from a series of path models estimated in MPLUS indicated that loneliness is a mechanism through which spousal support predicts older adults' depressive symptoms. Such linkages, however, were dependent on individuals' own functional limitations and gender. For functionally limited males in particular, spousal support was shown to reduce depressive symptoms insofar as it was associated with lower levels of loneliness; otherwise, it was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Such findings reinforce the importance of taking a contextualized approach when examining associations between support and emotional well-being later in life.

Associations Between Social Connectedness, Emotional Well-Being, and Self-Rated Health Among Older Adults: Difference by Relationship Status.

The present study investigates the association between social connectedness (i.e., social network characteristics, family and friend support, and social ties with neighbors), emotional well-being, and self-rated health and whether these associations differ based on respondents' relationship status among adults aged 62 and older. A series of multigroup generalized structural equation models (GSEMs) were conducted using data from the National Social, Health, and Aging Project. Social connectedness items were mostly positively associated with emotional well-being and self-rated health, and several of these associations are stronger for older adults who are unpartnered versus those who are cohabiting or married. Cohabiting and married individuals do not appear to have the same associations between social network size, friend support, and emotional well-being compared to unpartnered older adults. The present study lends support for how a variety of social supports are vital for older adults and their well-being.

Longitudinal Associations Between Formal Volunteering and Cognitive Functioning.

Objectives: The present study examines the association between formal volunteering and cognitive functioning over time. We also examine the moderating roles of race, sex, education, and time. Method: Using 11,100 participants aged 51 years and older and nine waves of data from the Health and Retirement Survey, we simultaneously modeled the longitudinal associations between engaging in formal volunteering and changes in cognitive functioning using multilevel models. Results: Formal volunteering was associated with higher levels of cognitive functioning over time, especially with aspects of cognitive functioning related to working memory and processing. This association was stronger for women than it was for men, and for those with below average levels of education. The positive association between formal volunteering and cognitive functioning weakened over time when cognitive functioning was conceptualized as memory, but strengthened over time when conceptualized as working memory and processing. Discussion: Volunteering is a productive activity that is beneficial not just to society, but to volunteers' levels of cognitive functioning in older age. For women and those with lower levels of education, formal volunteering appears particularly beneficial to working memory and processing.

Unforgiveness, depression, and health in later life: the protective factor of forgivingness.

OBJECTIVES: Feeling unforgiven by others has been linked to poor health outcomes. The current study examined whether feeling unforgiven by others is associated with depression and self-rated health among older adults in the United States. The potential moderating roles of forgiving others and self-forgiveness in the association between unforgiveness and both depression and self-rated health was also assessed along with gender differences. METHOD: Data were drawn from a sample of 1009 adults in Wave 2 of the Religion, Aging, and Health Survey, a national sample of adults aged over 67. Depression was measured using the eight item short form from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. Self-rated health was assessed with a one-item indicator. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that higher levels of self-forgiveness ameliorated the relationship between unforgiveness by others and depression for men and women and higher levels of forgiving others attenuated the association between unforgiveness by others and depression for women. Self-forgiveness was protective of depression for women who reported unforgiveness by others and low levels of forgiving others. Regardless of levels of self-forgiveness, men who were most likely to forgive others experienced a significant association between unforgiveness by others and depression. Neither forgiving others nor the self were significant moderators in the association between unforgiveness and self-rated health. CONCLUSION: Forgiving others and the self may be protective of well-being when women feel unforgiven by others. These findings have implications for forgiveness intervention programs and contribute to literature pertaining to forgiveness and health in later life.