'With or without you': associations between noteworthy events and cognitive complaints across 100 days.

OBJECTIVES: Daily noteworthy events have implications for physical and mental health, but less is known about the role daily events have for self-reported cognition and whether the involvement of close social partners differentiates these associations. The current study examined how daily positive and negative noteworthy events relate to subjective memory and attentional difficulties and whether close social partners moderated associations. METHOD: We used data from a 100-day microlongitudinal web-based study of 104 older adults (Nobservations=7,051; Mage=63.13 years, SDage=7.81, 88.46% Female). Participants reported on exposure to and valence of noteworthy events, involvement of close social partners, and subjective cognitive complaints at the end of each day. RESULTS: Logistic multilevel models revealed that days with a negative event were associated with increased odds of forgetting something and trouble concentrating whereas days with positive events were associated with decreased odds of trouble concentrating. Close social partner involvement did not moderate within-person associations. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that day-to-day events are correlates of cognitive complaints regardless of close social partner involvement in the events. Research should clarify the role of daily positive and negative events in personalized interventions and determine whether this person-centered approach to self-reported cognitive health helps inform diagnostic practices.

Age Discrepancies Across Two Decades: Desiring to be Younger Is Associated with Daily Negative Affect Over Three Waves of Assessment.

Negative perceptions of aging and older adulthood, including the idealization of youth, are common in the United States. Past work has found that holding negative perceptions of aging is closely associated with poor mental and physical health consequences, yet few studies have examined how these perceptions impact day-to-day experiences. The current study had two objectives: (1) investigate whether age discrepancy (specifically desiring to be younger than one's chronological age) was related to daily negative affect and (2) examine whether this relationship changed as participants aged over time. We utilized the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) diary study, a longitudinal measurement burst study with three waves of 8-day daily diaries indexing approximately 20 years. Participants (N = 2398; Mage [baseline] = 46.85, SD = 12.24; 54.7% women; 92.4% White) reported their desired age as well as daily negative affect at each wave. Using multilevel modeling, we examined whether age discrepancy predicted daily negative affect across 3 waves of observation. Results supported a significant relationship between age discrepancy and daily negative affect. However, no interactions among age discrepancy and baseline age or time across study were found. This suggests that the relationship between age discrepancy and daily negative affect was consistent across waves and participants over a 20-year period and provides evidence for the pernicious effect of deidentifying with one's real age on daily life. Daily experiences can act as potential risk or protective factors and shape developmental trajectories. Reducing ageism through societal interventions or increasing personal acceptance of aging through targeted interventions are two potential pathways of promoting health and well-being across the lifespan.

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.

Daily Experiences and Relationship Well-Being: The Paradoxical Effects of Relationship Identification.

OBJECTIVE: Even couples in healthy romantic relationships experience conflict at times. We examine whether relationship identification (the extent to which the relationship is incorporated into the self) predicts immediate reactivity to partner transgressions and also promotes global resilience over time. METHOD: Sixty-three couples participated in a 2-week event-contingent diary study. RESULTS: On a daily basis, experiencing more partner transgressions than usual predicted decreases in relationship well-being and increases in negative affect. This within-person association was stronger for those high in relationship identification. However, after 2 weeks, changes in global relationship evaluations of low identifiers, but not of high identifiers, were contingent on the accumulation of partner transgressions and the degree of negative affect in response to these daily transgressions. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that internalizing a relationship into the self does not blind intimates to immediate negative events but rather provides a basis for their global relationship evaluations that is not contingent on recent events.

Daily life with depressive symptoms: Gender differences in adolescents' everyday emotional experiences.

Depression is a prevalent and debilitating illness facing many adolescents, especially adolescent girls, whose risk for this disorder is approximately twice that of boys. Many studies have identified mechanisms that place girls at higher risk for depression during adolescence. Few, however, have examined differences in the everyday emotional experiences of boys and girls with varying levels of depressive symptoms. Using the Experience Sampling Method, this study investigated the roles of gender and depressive symptomatology in the emotional experiences of a community sample of youth (11-18 year-olds) from the Sloan 500 Family Study. Females with higher levels of depressive symptoms were more likely than females with fewer depressive symptoms and all males to experience strong negative emotions and to attribute the cause of these emotions to other people. These results suggest that emotional reactivity in interpersonal contexts is especially important to understand gender differences in the daily experience of depressive symptoms.

Marital Experiences and Parental "Highs" and "Lows" When A Child with Autism Starts School.

This study describes parents' daily "highs" and "lows" during their child's transition to school for the first time and examines how those experiences relate to turbulence in the parents' relationship. 106 parents (53 couples) rated their relationship qualities at pre-test and post-test and described "high" and "low" points of their day every three days for 42 days. Content analysis revealed experiences contributing to "high" or "low" points that were primarily related to: the child with ASD, the spouse, other children, personal situations, and other. Latent profile analysis identified three profiles that represented the relationship experiences of couples in the study: resilient couples, couples getting by, and asymmetrically engaged couples. Results highlight the variety of daily experiences these parents encounter.

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.

Friendships in Old Age: Daily Encounters and Emotional Well-Being.

OBJECTIVES: Having friends in old age is linked to higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Yet, we know little about older adults' emotional experiences when they encounter friends throughout the day. This study examined whether older adults reported (a) more pleasantness, (b) fewer conversations about stressful experiences, and (c) better mood when they had contact with friends compared to when they had contact with other social partners or were alone throughout the day. We also examined whether these experiences varied by the friendship closeness. METHOD: Adults aged 65+ (n = 313) from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study provided background information and listed and described their close social partners. Participants then completed ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys every 3 hr for 5 to 6 days where they reported their encounters with social partners, rated the pleasantness and indicated whether they discussed stressful issues during these encounters, and rated positive and negative mood. RESULTS: Multilevel models revealed that encounters with friends were more pleasant and were associated with fewer discussions about stressful experiences compared to encounters with romantic partners or family members throughout the day. Encounters with friends were also associated with better mood, though this link only held for encounters with friends who were not considered close. DISCUSSION: Findings are discussed in terms of functionalist theory, socioemotional selectivity theory, relationship ambivalence, and the benefits of less close ties. This work facilitates the understanding of how daily contact with friends can promote older adults' emotional well-being.

Functional Limitations, Volunteering, and Diurnal Cortisol Patterns in Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: Older adults often experience functional limitations that affect their everyday lives, but many of them continue to make positive contributions to society and benefit from these contributions themselves. We examine (a) whether older adults' functional limitations are associated with diurnal cortisol patterns and (b) whether these associations vary on volunteering days versus nonvolunteering days. METHODS: Participants were adults aged older than 60 years (N = 435) from the National Study of Daily Experiences, part of the Midlife in the United States Study. They completed an initial interview on functional limitations and background characteristics, indicated volunteering activities in daily interviews, and also provided salivary samples across 4 days. RESULTS: Multilevel models showed that older adults with greater functional limitations exhibited dysregulated cortisol awakening responses and diurnal cortisol slopes throughout the rest of the day, compared to older adults with lower limitations. Yet, we also observed a significant moderating effect of volunteering on these associations. DISCUSSION: This study advances our understanding of functional limitations and cortisol stress responses, revealing the benefits of volunteering to older adults who experience these limitations. Rather than treating these older adults solely as care recipients, interventions should offer them opportunities to help others.

A Dialogue-Based Approach to Subjective Well-Being: Co-Interpreting the Meaning of Daily Experiences.

Different from statistically analyzed self-reports of Subjective Well-Being (SWB), we explored how dialogue engenders the meaning of SWB as constituted through an individual's daily experiences. A revised Day Reconstruction Method (DRM; Kahneman et al. 2004) was used to describe the participants' previous day episodically, followed by a semi-structured life world interview (Kvale 1996) for the explication through dialogue of those episodes. The results of qualitative analyses on the structure and contents of the discourse of the DRM and interviews with three participants highlighted the following: 1) the participants construed the meaning of daily experiences by organizing and weighting them in individualized ways; 2) the meaning of daily episodes emerged and was clarified in the process of collaborative dialogue in the interview as well as in the analyses, and was vividly expressed in particular protocol sequences; and 3) Kelly's (1955) notion of Personal Construct is applicable to make sense of individualized narratives as a form of Well-Being. We concluded that the subjectivity of SWB does not merely imply the first-person authority in charge of the evaluation in the questionnaires, but rather is understood as a construct that reveals the personal meaning of one's daily experiences. The emergent quality of this process is crucial for understanding the nature of subjectivity in SWB.

Stress-buffering effects of volunteering on salivary cortisol: Results from a daily diary study.

Based on the theoretical foundations of the caregiving system model, which holds that prosocial behavior can be conceptualized in relation to a neurobiological stress-buffering mechanism, we addressed the question of whether daily volunteering yields buffering effects in terms of suppressing a neuroendocrine response (i.e., salivary cortisol) to daily stressors. We used daily diary data from the second wave of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE II), which is part of the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS II), a nationally representative survey of middle-aged and older adults. Analyzing a sample of volunteers (N = 340), we tested the buffering role of daily volunteer work for the same day stressors-salivary cortisol response relationship (person-day observations, N = 1,042). Findings from multilevel models indicated that the relationship between daily stressors and cortisol output was attenuated on days when volunteering was performed compared to days volunteering was not performed. Our findings are suggestive of a unique, but unobserved, neurobiological mechanism underlying the link between volunteering and better health. Volunteer programs designed to help others in need may be considered as an intervention strategy for individuals living under stressful conditions.

Types of Family Caregiving and Daily Experiences in Midlife and Late Adulthood: The Moderating Influences of Marital Status and Age.

Guided by the life-course perspective, this study contributes to the family caregiving, aging, and disability literature by examining the daily experiences of three types of family caregivers in midlife and late adulthood. A sample of 162 caregivers from the National Survey of Midlife in the United States study completed interviews, questionnaires, and a Daily Diary Study. Multilevel models showed the patterns of daily time use did not differ by caregiver types. Caregivers of sons/daughters with developmental disabilities (DD) experienced more daily stressors than caregivers of parents with health conditions (HC) and caregivers of spouses with HC. Unmarried caregivers of sons/daughters with DD reported spending more time on daily leisure activities and exhibited greater daily stressor exposure than other family caregivers. Age did not moderate the associations between caregiver types and daily experiences. Findings highlight the important consideration of the caregivers' characteristics to better determine the quality of their daily experiences in midlife and late adulthood.

Daytime trajectories of cortisol: demographic and socioeconomic differences--findings from the National Study of Daily Experiences.

Cortisol's daytime rhythm is thought to be altered by aging and by exposure to chronic stress. However, measurement of an individual's usual cortisol rhythm is hampered by the effects of acute stressors, by differences between working days and weekends, by between-day variation in waking time and sleep duration, by variability in cortisol sampling times, and by possible variability in the timing of cortisol peak and nadir. Therefore, to determine differences in the usual daytime cortisol rhythm by age, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity, we measured salivary cortisol levels at four time-points, repeated over four days that included both weekdays and weekend days, in 1693 men and women from a national sample, and used three alternate growth curve specifications for the underlying cortisol rhythm (linear spline, quadratic spline, piece-wise linear-cubic) in order to minimize the impact of sample timing and other methodological issues. Model-predicted mean values of (and demographic and socioeconomic differences in) cortisol peak, nadir, and area under the curve (AUC) were nearly identical across model specifications. Older age and male gender were independently associated with higher cortisol peak, nadir, and AUC. Low education and minority race/ethnicity status were independently associated with lower cortisol peak and higher nadir, but were not associated with AUC. We also found significant cortisol peak and AUC associations with waking time, sleep duration, and workday vs. weekend day status, suggesting the importance of measuring these confounders and of collecting cortisol measurements over multiple days in research studies. We conclude that daytime cortisol levels are higher in older age and in men compared to women, and that the daytime cortisol rhythm is flatter (more blunted) in less privileged segments of society. Flattening of daytime cortisol rhythms may represent one mechanism by which social stressors lead to poor health outcomes.

Vivencias cotidianas en espacios clínicos del estudiante de enfermería / Nursing students' daily experiences in clinical spaces / Vivências cotidianas em espaços clínicos do estudante de enfermagem

Objetivo: Comprender las vivencias cotidianas en espacios clínicos del estudiante de enfermería. Métodos: Es un estudio cualitativo con método fenomenológico, se recolectó la información a través de 8 entrevistas a profundidad, a estudiantes de 4.o año de la Licenciatura en Enfermería de la Escuela Superior de Enfermería Culiacán, México. Tras obtener el consentimiento se les informó individualmente del estudio y su desarrollo, respetando la confidencialidad y la veracidad de los datos. El análisis de discurso permitió señalar conceptos significativos y asignar códigos para generar categorías. La validación de los resultados fueron credibilidad, confirmabilidad y transferibilidad. Resultados: Se trata de resultados preliminares, se presenta el análisis de la primera categoría, 1) Significados del espacio clínico, con 3 subcategorías: 1.1 satisfacción en espacios clínicos, 1.2 aprendizajes en espacios clínicos, y 1.3 figura simbólica en espacios clínicos. Conclusiones: Los estudiantes manifestaron satisfacción y agrado porque van motivados a aprender y realizan actividades novedosas en los espacios clínicos. Además la enfermera del servicio simboliza el apoyo y enseñanza en los escenarios clínicos. Sin embargo, al referirse a los cuidados que realizan, estos aprendizajes están enfocados, como se ha señalado, a espacios planificados, fragmentados, basados en técnicas y procedimientos, como toma de signos vitales, tendido de cama y administración de medicamentos.

Objective: To comprehend the daily experiences of nursing students in their clinical spaces. Method: This is a qualitative study using a phenomenological method. Data were collected through 8 in-depth interviews to senior students enrolled in the Nursing Baccalaureate at the Nursing Superior School, Culiacan, Mexico. After gathering their corresponding informed consents, students were individually updated on the study development, always respecting the data confidentiality and veracity. The discourse analysis allowed to identify significant concepts, and assign them codes to form categories. The validation of the results included credibility, confirmability, and transferability. Results: Preliminary results refer to the analysis of the first category, 1) meanings of the clinical space, with its three sub-categories: 1.1: satisfaction in the clinical spaces, 1.2: learning in the clinical spaces, and 1.3: symbolical figure in the clinical spaces. Conclusions: Students expressed satisfaction and comfort because they go motivated to learn, and they perform novel activities in the clinical spaces. Also, the service nurse is a symbol of support and teaching within the clinical spaces. Nevertheless, while addressing their care duties, students stated that this learning is focused on planned and fragmented spaces and based on techniques and procedures such as vital signs readings, making beds, and medication dispensing.

Objetivo: Compreender as vivencias cotidianas em espaços clínicos do estudante de enfermagem. Métodos: É um estudo qualitativo com método fenomenológico, coletou-se a informação a través de 8 entrevistas a profundidade, a estudantes de 4° ano da Licenciatura em enfermagem da Escola Superior de Enfermagem Culiacán, México. Depois de obter o consentimento foram informados individualmente do estúdio e seu desenvolvimento, respeitando a confidencialidade e a veracidade 2 dados. A análise de discurso permitiu assinalar conceitos significativos, atribuir códigos para gerar categorias. A validação dos resultados foram credibilidade, confirmabilidade e transferibilidade. Resultados: Trata-se de resultados preliminares, apresenta-se a análise da primeira categoria, 1) Significados do espaço clínico, com três subcategorias: 1.1 satisfação em espaços clínicos, 1.2 aprendizagens em espaços clínicos, 1.3 figura simbólica em espaços clínicos. Conclusões: Os estudantes manifestaram satisfação e agrado porque estão motivados a aprender e realizam atividades inovadoras nos espaços clínicos. Além disso, a enfermeira de serviço simboliza o apoio e o ensino nos cenários clínicos. Porém, ao se referir aos cuidados que realizam, estes aprendizados estão focalizados, como se tem assinalado, aos espaços planificados, fragmentados, baseados em técnicas e procedimentos, como a toma de sinais vitais, o estendido de cama, a administração de medicamentos.