A Greater Variety of Social Activities Is Associated With Lower Mortality Risk.

OBJECTIVES: More frequent engagement in social activity is often associated with better physical health outcomes. Yet, less is known about whether engagement in a greater variety of social activities such as a mix of volunteering and attending club meetings (social activity variety) is important for health. The current study assessed whether social activity variety relates to mortality risk after adjusting for social activity frequency, nonsocial activity frequency and variety, and sociodemographic covariates, and how this relationship varies depending on age. METHODS: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we included 5,017 adults aged 51 and older who completed questions about social activity participation in 2008 and whose mortality status was recorded up to 2019. We also examined whether age moderated the relationship between social activity variety and mortality risk. RESULTS: Cox proportional hazard model analyses revealed that those with higher activity variety in social activities were more likely to survive over the following 11 years than those with low social activity variety. Moreover, age moderation indicated that the association between social activity variety with mortality risk was stronger among the oldest adults. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that a greater variety of social activities is linked to mortality risk even after adjusting for social activity frequency, nonsocial activities, and health status across adulthood.

Too little, too much, and "just right": Exploring the "goldilocks zone" of daily stress reactivity.

Hormetic models of stress resilience describe nonlinear relations for exposure to adversity and health outcomes, where exposure induces salutary changes up to a threshold, with changes becoming deleterious afterward. Here we apply a hormetic model of stress to reactivity to daily stressors, examining whether mental and physical health benefits arise from low-to-moderate reactivity but then decrease at higher levels. Data are from the second wave of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE). Adults (N = 2,022; Mage = 58.61, SD = 12.12, age range: 35-86; 57% female) completed telephone interviews detailing their stressors and affect on eight consecutive evenings. A series of multilevel structural equation models estimated within-person associations between daily stressors and negative affect (i.e., stress reactivity), and between-person linear and quadratic effects of stress reactivity on mental and physical health outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction, psychological distress, and number of chronic conditions). Findings reveal a significant quadratic effect for each outcome, indicating a U-shaped pattern (inverse U for positively valenced life satisfaction), such that low and high levels of stress reactivity were associated with poorer health and well-being, whereas moderate levels of daily stress reactivity predicted better health outcomes. These findings suggest that individuals who display either very low- or very high-stress reactivity may benefit from interventions that target their emotion regulation skills and coping resources. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Preserving What Matters: Longitudinal Changes in Control Over Interpersonal Stress and Noninterpersonal Stress in Daily Life.

OBJECTIVES: Theoretical perspectives on aging suggest that when people experience declines in later life, they often selectively focus on maintaining aspects of their lives that are most meaningful and important to them. The social domain is one of these selected areas. The current study examines people's reports of control over their daily stressors over 10 years, predicting that the declines in control that are often observed in later life will not be observed for stressors involving interpersonal conflict and tensions with social partners. METHODS: Adults ranging from 35 to 86 years old at baseline (N = 1,940), from the National Study of Daily Experiences, reported control over interpersonal and noninterpersonal daily stressors across 8 consecutive days at 2 time points, about 10 years apart. RESULTS: Findings from multilevel models indicate that for noninterpersonal stressors, perceived control decreased over time. In contrast, perceived control over interpersonal conflicts and tensions remained robust over time. No cross-sectional baseline age differences were found for levels of interpersonal and noninterpersonal stressor control. DISCUSSION: Results are consistent with socioemotional selectivity and underscore the importance of interpersonal relationships in later adulthood. Understanding how people select and preserve certain aspects of control in their daily life can help guide efforts toward maximizing gains and minimizing losses in domains that matter most to people as they grow older.

Looking back, forging ahead: Fifteen years of Strength and Vulnerability Integration (SAVI).

Strength and Vulnerability Integration (SAVI) describes age-related patterns of emotional well-being. Since its initial publication, studies have tested the model, supporting its original tenets and also identifying areas needing refinement. The current review provides an updated description of SAVI, describing how age differences in well-being vary based on the proximity to acute stressors and the proposed underlying mechanisms. SAVI also addresses questions regarding why we sometimes observe increases in distress among older adults over time. In this description, we clarify predictions of SAVI, as well as suggest places where more research is needed.

Perceived control across the adult lifespan: Longitudinal changes in global control and daily stressor control.

Perceived control is an important psychosocial resource for health and well-being across the lifespan. Global control (i.e., overall perceived control) decreases over time in studies following people every few years to upwards of 10 years. Changes across wider intervals of the lifespan, however, have yet to be examined. Further, how perceived control changes for specific aspects of daily life, such as stressors, remains comparatively less clear. Using data from the Midlife in the United States National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE, N = 1,940, M = 56.25 years, SD = 12.20, 57% female), we examined longitudinal changes in global control across 20 years and daily stressor control across 10 years. Global control was assessed in the first wave of the NSDE (∼1996). In follow-up waves, conducted in ∼2008 and ∼2017, participants again not only reported their global control but also reported their perceived control over stressors they experience across 8 consecutive days. Longitudinal analyses revealed differential change trajectories for global control across 20 years and stressor control across 10 years (ps < .001). Global control declined for younger and older adults but stayed relatively stable for individuals in midlife. The rate of decline in daily stressor control was steeper than the decline in global control and did not vary by age at baseline. In addition, declines were amplified among individuals with higher global control at baseline. Results suggest that daily stressor control is a specific aspect of control beliefs that follows a different rate of change than global control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Switching it up: Activity diversity and cognitive functioning in later life.

Participating in a broad and balanced range of daily activities (i.e., activity diversity) has been associated with better cognitive functioning in later life. One possible explanation for this finding is that high levels of activity diversity are merely a proxy for being more physically active, a factor robustly linked to cognitive health. The present study examined whether activity diversity has a unique association with cognitive functioning beyond physical movement. Community-dwelling older adults (N = 252, Mage = 73.55 years, SD = 6.39) completed a cognitive battery and then responded to ecological momentary assessments of their participation in 10 common activity types (e.g., reading, chores, social visits) every 3 hr for 5-6 days. They also wore accelerometers to track daily physical movement. Multiple regression models revealed that greater diversity in daily activities was related to higher cognitive functioning even after adjusting for physical movement and other covariates such as education level. This study further clarifies the unique relationship of activity diversity, beyond physical movement, with cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Falling hard, but recovering resoundingly: Age differences in stressor reactivity and recovery.

Strength and vulnerability integration (SAVI) theory (Charles, 2010) posits that age differences in emotional experiences vary based on the distance from an emotionally eliciting event. Before and after a stressor, SAVI predicts that older age is related to motivational strivings that often result in higher levels of well-being. However, during stressor exposure, age differences are predicted to be attenuated or disappear completely. The present study examined how younger (n = 85; Mage = 22.56 years) and older (n = 85; Mage = 71.05 years) adults reacted to and recovered from a cognitive stressor using repeated positive and negative emotion probes. Results showed that both age groups were negatively impacted by the stressor, and both reported an initial boost in recovery afterward. However, older adults continued to improve across the recovery period compared with younger adults. This work elucidates that older adults are significantly impacted by stress but exhibit a resounding recovery. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Chronic Pain and Affective Experiences Associated with Daily Stressors and Uplifts.

People with chronic pain often report greater reactivity to stress than those without pain. This finding is consistent with the kindling hypothesis, which states that continued exposure to stressors only heightens negative affect and dampens positive affect. Yet, people with chronic pain may also respond more positively to enjoyable activities, or uplifts, as well. Chronic pain is related to lower levels of well-being, and the fragility of positive affect model explains how individuals with lower levels of well-being often exhibit stronger, more positive responses to daily uplifts than their less distressed peers. Our study used the National Study of Daily Experiences to assess daily stressors, positive uplifts, and positive and negative affect across eight days among those with and without chronic pain. Participants (nChronicPain=658, nNoPain=1,075) were predominately Non-Hispanic White (91%), 56% female, and averaged 56 years old. Results revealed that people with chronic pain had lower levels of daily positive affect and higher levels of negative affect, yet the two groups did not vary in their stressor-related negative and positive affect. In contrast, having chronic pain was related to a greater increase in positive affect and greater decreases in negative affect on days with positive uplifts. Findings suggest that intervention efforts focusing on uplifts may be particularly helpful for people who report chronic pain.

Growing old and being old: Emotional well-being across adulthood.

The present study examines change in reports of daily, weekly, and monthly psychological distress over 20 years, and of negative and positive affect over 10 years, using data from the Midlife in the United States study. The study includes three waves of data collection on adults ranging from 22 to 95 years old. Cross-sectional findings reveal that older age is related to lower levels of psychological distress and negative affect and to higher levels of positive affect across each successive age group. Yet, longitudinal findings vary across younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Psychological distress decreases over time among younger adults (although only until age 33 for weekly reports), remains stable in midlife, and is stable (monthly) or slightly increases (daily and weekly) among older adults. For negative affect, levels decrease over time for younger and middle-aged adults, and only increase for the oldest adults for daily and monthly affect. Positive affect is stable over time among younger adults, but decreases in midlife starting in the mid-fifties. In conclusion, overall patterns of findings suggest that being old (assessed cross-sectionally) is related to higher levels of emotional well-being. Growing old (assessed longitudinally) is related to improvements in emotional well-being across younger and early middle adulthood, which mirrors cross-sectional findings. There is relative stability in later midlife, however, and continued stability or slight declines across older age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Who Has Active Lifestyles? Sociodemographic and Personality Correlates of Activity Diversity in Two Samples of Adults.

OBJECTIVES: Activity diversity-an index of active lifestyles that captures variety (number) and evenness (consistency) in activity engagement-is known to support health in adulthood. However, less is known who has higher or lower activity diversity, information that helps identify individuals who may be at greater risk for poor health. This article examined sociodemographic characteristics and Big Five personality traits that may be associated with activity diversity. METHODS: We used 2 independent project samples (nsample1 = 2,699; nsample2 = 301). Sample 1 included U.S. national adults in a wide age range (25-84). Sample 2 included U.S. community-dwelling older adults (age = 65-89). Each study asked about different types of activity engagement using surveys. The activity diversity index was calculated in each sample, using Shannon's entropy method. RESULTS: In Sample 1, older adults, women, non-Hispanic White individuals, married/partnered individuals, and those with higher education and fewer functional limitations had higher activity diversity. Additionally, higher conscientiousness, higher extraversion, and lower neuroticism were each associated with higher activity diversity after controlling for sociodemographic factors. Extraversion and neuroticism remained significant in the younger group (age < 65) of Sample 1, but only extraversion was a significant factor associated with activity diversity in the older group (age ≥ 65). The results in the older group were generally replicated in Sample 2, such that higher extraversion in older adults was consistently associated with higher activity diversity independent of the strong correlates of sex, education, and functional limitations. DISCUSSION: Findings were discussed in terms of age-specific associations between sociodemographic and personality characteristics and activity diversity.

Physical Activity and Daily Stress Processes in Older Adulthood.

OBJECTIVES: Older adults who are physically active report lower levels of stress. Less is known about the links between physical activity and exposure and reactivity to stressful events in daily life. The current study examined within-person associations between actigraphy-assessed daily physical activity and exposure and affective reactivity to naturally occurring interpersonal stressors. METHOD: Older adults (N = 180) from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study completed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) every 3 hr for 5-6 days where they reported negative affect throughout the day and interpersonal tensions at the end of the day. They also wore Actical accelerometers to capture physical activity. RESULTS: Older adults reported greater numbers of interpersonal stressors on days when they spent less time being sedentary and engaged in more light physical activity. On days when older adults experienced more interpersonal stressors, they reported higher levels of negative affect, but this association was attenuated when they were more physically active that day. DISCUSSION: Physical activity may bolster older adults' capabilities to manage affective responses to interpersonal stressors in a more successful way. These findings underscore the importance of assessing physical activity and stressful events in daily life and have implications for both physical and psychological well-being.

Longitudinal change in daily stress across 20 years of adulthood: Results from the national study of daily experiences.

This study examined age-related patterns in exposure and affective reactivity to daily stressors across a 20-year time span among adults who were between 22 and 77 years old at their baseline interview. Longitudinal data from the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) consisted of three bursts of eight consecutive nightly interviews of stress and affect. Analyses made use of all available data from a U.S. National sample of respondents who participated in any of the three NSDE bursts (N = 2,845; number of daily assessments = 33,688). Findings revealed increasing age-related benefits. Younger adults (< 30 years) reported the highest levels of stressor exposure and reactivity, but their stress profile improved with age. Over time, adults averaged an 11% reduction in the occurrence of stressor days, and the younger adults exhibited an even steeper decline (a 47% reduction) in their levels of stressor reactivity. For people in midlife and old age, stressor occurrence continued to decrease over time, yet among adults aged 54 years or older at baseline, stress reactivity remained stable across time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Adding Insult to Injury: Everyday Discrimination Moderates Stressor-Related Negative Affect.

Studies examining the effects of discrimination on emotional well-being have often overlooked (a) differential effects of both everyday and lifetime discrimination and (b) how both types of discrimination may exacerbate stressor-related affect-even when daily stressors are unrelated to discrimination. The current study examined the effects of daily stressors not attributed to discrimination (i.e., nondiscrimination-related daily stressors) on daily negative and positive affect in the presence of either form of discrimination (everyday and lifetime). Participants who completed the second wave of the Survey of Midlife Development in the US (MIDUS-II) and the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE-II) answered questionnaires about everyday and lifetime discrimination. Later, they completed daily phone interviews across 8 consecutive days, asking about the nondiscrimination-related daily stressors and the positive and negative affect they had experienced that day. Multilevel model analyses revealed that everyday discrimination was associated with decreased daily positive affect and lifetime discrimination was associated with increased daily negative affect. Moreover, higher frequency of everyday discrimination exacerbated the within-person effects of nondiscriminatory daily stressors on negative affect. Results underscore the importance of considering both independent and synergistic effects of discrimination on daily emotional well-being.

Not Just How Much, But How Many: Overall and Domain-Specific Activity Variety and Cognitive Functioning in Adulthood.

OBJECTIVES: Active lifestyles are related to higher levels of cognitive functioning. Fewer studies have examined the importance of engaging in different activities (activity variety) for cognitive functioning. Moreover, it is unclear whether activity variety in specific domains (i.e., cognitive, physical, or social) is important for cognitive health. The current study examined whether overall activity variety as well as variety in specific domains relate to cognitive functioning. METHODS: In Waves 2 and 3 of the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, 3,337 adults reported their activity engagement and completed a cognitive battery. For longitudinal analyses, 2,049 participants were classified into 4 groups based on their rank ordering of activity variety across 9 years (remained high, increased, decreased, or remained low). RESULTS: Cross-sectional analyses revealed that overall activity variety was related to higher cognitive functioning over and above activity frequency; physical and social activity variety each contributed significantly and uniquely to this association. Longitudinal analyses revealed that those with consistently low overall activity variety at both waves had lower cognitive functioning at Wave 3 than those with high activity variety at either wave, after adjusting for cognitive functioning at Wave 2. Those with consistently high or increasing social activity variety had higher cognitive functioning at Wave 3 than participants with low activity variety at both waves. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that activity variety, particularly in the social domain, is related to concurrent and future cognitive function across adulthood.

Narcissism, Social Experiences, and Mood in Late Life.

OBJECTIVES: Social ties increase in importance in late life and narcissism may be deleterious to these ties. More narcissistic older adults may have more frequent social encounters than less narcissistic people and may prefer weak ties (e.g., acquaintances) over close ones (e.g., family, close friends). They may benefit more from these encounters due to their need for adulation. This study examined how daily social experiences and mood varied by narcissism among older adults. METHODS: Older adults aged 65-92 years (N = 303) completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-16 and completed ecological momentary assessments in which they reported number, type, and quality of social contacts and positive and negative mood every 3 h for 5-6 days. RESULTS: In multilevel models, narcissism did not predict the number or pleasantness of social encounters. But more narcissistic older adults reported a greater percentage of stressful discussions with weak ties. With regard to mood, more narcissistic people reported higher negative mood if they had more encounters with weak ties and when discussing something stressful with weak ties. Less narcissistic people reported lowered positive mood after they discussed something stressful with close ties. DISCUSSION: The findings present a nuanced understanding of how the self-centeredness of narcissism may be manifest in late life. More narcissistic people may be less sensitive to close partner's (e.g., family, friends) distress, but their mood may be more susceptible to negative social events, especially with weak ties (e.g., acquaintances).

Positive factors related to graduate student mental health.

Objective: Graduate students report high levels of distress, levels that professionals are calling a mental health crisis. Researchers have identified several factors that may exacerbate student distress, but our objective was to assess positive aspects that may attenuate distress. Methods: Over 3600 graduate students from 10 campuses responded to questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms as well as both positive and negative aspects of their current lives. Results: Both negative factors (financial concerns, poor mentorship, and perceived institutional discrimination) and positive factors (social support, departmental social climate, and optimism about their career prospects) are related to depressive symptoms in the expected directions, although the positive factors have stronger effects. Further, positive factors buffer the effects of the negative aspects on depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Although findings are correlational and do not imply causation, results suggest potentially modifiable factors that universities should consider when considering graduate student well-being.

Rich and Balanced Experiences of Daily Emotions Are Associated With Activity Diversity Across Adulthood.

OBJECTIVES: Studies demonstrate the association between diverse emotions and health. However, we know little about how these emotions are related to activities in daily life. This study examined whether the diversity of daily activities ("activity diversity") is associated with the diversity of both positive and negative daily emotions ("emodiversity") in adulthood. We also examined if these associations differed by age. METHOD: 2 separate samples of participants from the Midlife in the United States Study II (M2: 2004-2009, n = 2,012, Mage = 56 years) and Refresher (MR: 2012-2016, n = 779, Mage = 47 years) provided activity and emotion data for 8 consecutive days. Using Shannon's entropy, we constructed activity diversity and emodiversity (positive, negative) scores. Analyses adjusted for sociodemographic and health characteristics, total activity time, mean positive/negative emotions, and number of days with positive/negative emotion data. RESULTS: Greater activity diversity was associated with greater positive emodiversity and greater negative emodiversity in both samples. In the M2 sample, the association between activity diversity and positive emodiversity was stronger among relatively younger adults, such that the positive association among those aged 33-44 years was greater than that observed among those aged 68-84 years. Results held after adjusting for time spent in each of the activities or when using different emodiversity metrics (Gini or Simpson coefficients). DISCUSSION: Broad and even participation of daily activities may provide more opportunities to experience rich and balanced emotions. Findings suggest that the association between activity diversity and emodiversity exists across adulthood, underscoring the value of including information about daily activities when examining emotional experiences across the life span.

Diversity of daily activities is associated with greater hippocampal volume.

Greater engagement in a range of daily activities is associated with better cognitive functioning (Lee et al., Lee et al., 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 nonhuman 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.