Good night-good day? Bidirectional links of daily sleep quality with negative affect and stress reactivity in old age.

Bidirectional links between sleep quality and emotional experiences are complex and not yet well understood-especially in old age when substantial changes occur in sleep and emotional experiences. Because previous research rarely considered the role of stressors, we examine if older adults' sleep quality is directly associated with subsequent negative affect (NA) or more indirectly via affective reactivity to stressors. Specifically, we investigate whether and how older adults' sleep quality predicts negative affect and affective reactivity to stress on the following day, and vice versa. For seven consecutive days, 325 older adults (61-90 years, 49% women) reported their sleep quality each morning as well as momentary negative affect and stressful events multiple times a day. Results from multilevel structural equation models showed that after nights of lower sleep quality, older adults reported more negative affect, but not higher affective reactivity to stressors. In turn, after days with increased affective reactivity but not more negative affect, participants reported worse sleep quality. We discuss whether older adults are able to regulate the effects of low sleep quality, but have difficulties downregulating stress and its effects on sleep. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Physical Intimacy in Older Couples' Everyday Lives: Its Frequency and Links With Affect and Salivary Cortisol.

OBJECTIVES: Physical intimacy is important for communicating affection in romantic relationships. Theoretical and empirical work highlights linkages between physical intimacy, affect, and physiological stress among young and middle-aged adults, but not older adults. We examine physical intimacy and its associations with positive and negative affect and cortisol levels in the daily lives of older couples. METHODS: We applied actor-partner multilevel models to repeated daily-life assessments of physical intimacy (experienced and wished) and affect obtained 6 times a day over 7 consecutive days from 120 older heterosexual German couples (Mage = 71.6, SDage = 5.94). Physiological stress was indexed as total daily cortisol output, the area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg). RESULTS: Physical intimacy experienced and wished were reported at the vast majority of occasions, but to different degrees at different times. Within persons, in moments when participants experienced more physical intimacy, older women reported less negative affect, whereas older men reported more positive affect. Between persons, higher overall levels of physical intimacy experienced were associated with higher positive affect and less negative affect among women and with lower daily cortisol output among men. A stronger wish for intimacy was related to more negative affect among both women and men, and to higher daily cortisol output among men. DISCUSSION: Physical intimacy is linked with mood and stress hormones in the daily life of older couples. We consider routes for future inquiry on physical intimacy among older adults.

Partner Pain and Affect in the Daily Lives of Older Couples.

OBJECTIVES: The susceptibility of older adults' affect to fluctuations in their own health (within-person health sensitivity) indicates how they handle everyday health challenges. In old age, affective well-being is often increasingly influenced by close others, yet it is unknown whether older adults' affect is additionally susceptible to fluctuations in their spouse's health (within-partnership health sensitivity) and the extent to which age and relationship satisfaction moderate such associations. METHODS: Parallel sets of multilevel actor-partner interdependence models are applied to self-reported health (feelings of pain/discomfort) and positive and negative affect, obtained 6 times a day over 7 consecutive days from 2 independent samples, the Berlin Couple Dynamics Study (N = 87 couples; Mage = 75 years; M relationship length = 46 years) and the Socio-Economic Panel Couple Dynamics Study (N = 151 couples; Mage = 72 years; M relationship length = 47 years). RESULTS: Husbands and wives had lower positive affect and higher negative affect in moments when they reported more pain (within-person health sensitivity) and when their respective spouse reported more pain (within-partnership health sensitivity). Tests for moderation suggest that within-person, but not within-partnership, health sensitivity is lower at older ages and higher with more satisfying relationships. DISCUSSION: These findings empirically illustrate life-span notions that close relationships shape time-varying health-affect links and thus underscore the theoretical and practical utility of examining social-contextual antecedents of older adults' everyday affective well-being.

Positive and negative affect are associated with salivary cortisol in the everyday life of older adults: A quantitative synthesis of four aging studies.

Research on time-fluctuating links between positive affect and cortisol is inconsistent and mostly based on young to middle-aged samples. The current project investigated how moment-to-moment changes in positive and negative affect are associated with moment-to-moment changes in cortisol levels in older adults' daily lives and whether those associations are moderated by differences in health status (as indicated by the number of comorbidities). Affect and cortisol data collected in four separately conducted momentary assessment studies with parallel protocols were pooled to obtain a sample of N=476 individuals aged 56-88 years (Mage=71.9, SD=6.6; 52% female). Participants provided affect reports and collected salivary cortisol 5-7 times a day for a 7-day period and reported the presence of 13 different health conditions. Data were analyzed using multilevel models, with time since waking, daily behaviors associated with cortisol secretion, age, and sex controlled. Feeling more positive affect than usual was associated with lower momentary cortisol. In contrast, feeling more negative affect than usual was associated with higher momentary cortisol. Associations of momentary positive and negative affect with cortisol were weaker among participants in worse as compared to those in better health. Trait positive affectivity was associated with more curvature of waking cortisol profiles and trait negative affectivity was associated with smaller cortisol awakening responses. Findings suggest that HPA axis responses fluctuate with everyday changes in positive and negative affect in older adults, and that higher HPA reactivity may indicate preserved health in this age group.

Political context is associated with everyday cortisol synchrony in older couples.

Prior research with predominantly younger to middle-aged samples has demonstrated that couples' cortisol levels covary throughout the day (cortisol synchrony). Not much is known about cortisol synchrony in old age, and its potential broader societal correlates. The current study investigates associations between the socio-political context and cortisol synchrony as observed in older couples' daily lives. 160 older German couples (Mage = 72 years, range: 56-89) provided salivary cortisol samples 7 times daily for a 7-day period. Socio-political context was quantified using state-specific voting data from the 2017 German federal election along the left-right political spectrum. Multilevel models controlling for diurnal cortisol rhythm, food intake, sex, age, body mass index, education, and individual-level political orientation revealed evidence for synchrony in partners' cortisol fluctuations (b = 0.03, p < .001). The extent of cortisol synchrony was moderated by left-right political context, such that older couples living in a federal state placed further right exhibited greater cortisol synchrony than couples living in a federal state placed further left (b = 0.01, p = .015). Findings point to the importance of considering the socio-political context of health-relevant biopsychosocial dynamics in old age. Future research needs to investigate mechanisms underlying such associations, including how politics shape opportunities and motivation for interdependencies that promote better or worse health.

Sexual activity, sexual thoughts, and intimacy among older adults: Links with physical health and psychosocial resources for successful aging.

Research on close relationships in later life has received increased attention over the past decade. However, little is known about sexuality and intimacy in old age. Using cross-sectional data from the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II; Mage = 68 years, SD = 3.68; 50% women; N = 1,514), we examine age differences in behavioral (sexual activity), cognitive (sexual thoughts), and emotional (intimacy) facets of sexuality and investigate associations with physical health and psychosocial resources for successful aging. Older age was associated with less sexual activity and fewer sexual thoughts, but not with differences in intimacy. Relative to a reference sample of 22- to 36-year-olds within BASE-II (N = 475), the average older adult reported considerably fewer sexual activity and thoughts (ds > .60), but only slightly lower intimacy (d = .20). Substantial heterogeneity existed among older adults, with almost one third of the 60- to 82-year-olds reporting more sexual activity and thoughts than the average younger adult. Examining correlates of sexuality among older adults revealed that, covarying for diagnosed illnesses and performance-based grip strength, psychosocial factors (e.g., partnered, relationship satisfaction) accounted for considerable shares of variance in sexual activity and intimacy, whereas age and gender explained more of the variance in sexual thoughts. Some psychosocial factors exhibited similar-sized associations with all sexuality facets, whereas other factors operated in more facet-specific ways. To illustrate, participants reporting more loneliness also reported less sexual activity and less intimacy, but not fewer sexual thoughts. We discuss implications of our findings for theories of successful aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).