[Gerontological research in social and behavioral sciences in Germany since 1968 : Review, critical assessment and perspectives]. / Gerontologische Forschung im Bereich der Sozial- und Verhaltenswissenschaften in Deutschland seit 1968 : Rückblick, kritische Würdigung und Perspektiven.

This article addresses the development of German social and behavioral aging research during the last 50 years based on four propositions: (a) the development and unfolding of social and behavioral aging research in the 1960s and 1970s was tedious. (b) During the 1980s and 1990s the significance of social and behavioral aging research grew considerably. (c) The last 20 years brought increasing and strong recognition of social and behavioral aging research. (d) Currently, social and behavioral aging research in Germany follows high and internationally established standards, and findings are published in internationally recognized journals. In a resume and outlook the structural aspects, future research topics, funding dynamics, and issues of the application of social and behavioral aging science are discussed.

District-level primary care supply buffers the negative impact of functional limitations on illness perceptions in older adults with multiple illnesses.

BACKGROUND: Illness perceptions predict important outcomes, e.g. coping, adherence and well-being. Less is known about the sources of illness perceptions, in particular the role of environmental factors such as primary care supply. PURPOSE: This study examines whether and how primary care supply (on district level) affects individual illness perceptions. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal study in 271 adults 65 years and older with multiple illnesses. Functional limitations (SF-36 physical functioning subscale) at time 1 were tested as predictors of illness perceptions 6 months later. Primary care supply on district level was matched to individual data. RESULTS: In multilevel models, functional limitations predicted illness perceptions. Primary care supply on district level moderated the impact of functional limitations on individual identity and emotional response perceptions, with better supply buffering detrimental effects of functional limitations. CONCLUSIONS: Illness perceptions do not only depend on individual factors, but socio-structural factors also substantially contribute to individual illness perceptions.

On the Role of Personality in Successful Aging: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to critically examine current knowledge on the role of personality in successful aging, considering Hooker and McAdams' 3-level, 6-foci model of personality. The aim was also to pinpoint knowledge gaps that research should address in the future. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We carried out a scoping review of the literature on successful aging and personality, following the 5-step framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley and further expanded by Levac et al. RESULTS: Research into the role of personality in successful aging has grown significantly over the last 20 years. However, the increasing number of publications on the topic was primarily accounted for by studies focused on Layer 1 and particularly Layer 2 of McAdams' model of personality, with Layer 3 being scarcely addressed. Research that included more than 1 layer of personality was rare. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Our study pinpointed gaps that should be considered in future research in this area. These gaps were related to advancing toward agreed-upon definitions of successful aging and personality, broadening the scope of research on this topic, and integrating personality dimensions on research on successful aging.

Digital Gender Gap in the Second Half of Life Is Declining: Changes in Gendered Internet Use Between 2014 and 2021 in Germany.

OBJECTIVES: The main purpose of the study has been to examine changes in Internet use among men and women in 3 age groups (midlife, early old age, and advanced old age) between 2014 and 2021. We tested 2 hypotheses: The complementary hypothesis posits that online activities reproduce gender differences in offline activities. The compensatory hypothesis posits that women are catching up over time in male-typed activities as Internet access approaches saturation for both genders. METHODS: We used representative, longitudinal data from the German Ageing Survey collected in 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2021 (n = 21,505, age range 46-90 years). We ran logistic regressions on Internet access and Internet use for 4 different gender-typed activities: social contact (female-typed), shopping (gender-neutral), entertainment (male-typed), and banking (male-typed). RESULTS: Between 2014 and 2021, women drew level with men in Internet access. Gender differences in all 4 forms of Internet use declined considerably between 2014 and 2021. Women overtook men in using the Internet for social contact. In older age groups, men held the lead regarding online banking. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, women caught up to men in Internet use, especially for entertainment. DISCUSSION: Overall time trends support the complementary hypothesis. By contrast, the finding that women have been catching up in some male-typed online activities during the COVID-19 pandemic supports the compensatory hypothesis.

Health-specific optimism mediates between objective and perceived physical functioning in older adults.

Particularly in older adults, self-reports of physical health need not necessarily reflect their objective health status as they can be biased by optimism. In this study, we examine whether the effect of objective physical functioning on subjective physical functioning is modified by health-specific optimism and self-efficacy. A longitudinal study with three measurement points over 6 months and 309 older adults (aged 65-85) with multimorbidity was conducted. Subjective physical functioning was regressed on objective physical functioning, health-specific optimism and self-efficacy. Subjective physical functioning was predicted by both objective physical functioning and optimism as a mediator. Moreover, an interaction between optimism and self-efficacy was found: Optimism predicted subjective physical functioning only for individuals with low self-efficacy. Subjective physical functioning is as much based on objective physical functioning as it is on health-specific optimism. Older adults base their subjective physical functioning on objective indicators but also on optimism, when they are less self-efficacious.

What do people include when they self-rate their health? Differential associations according to health status in community-dwelling older adults.

AIMS: Self-rated health (SRH) is widely regarded a valid and reliable indicator of health status. The validity of self-rated health has been demonstrated in many studies, for example by predicting mortality over and above medical and epidemiological data. However, the meaning of SRH can differ between individuals, especially in elderly individuals with considerable individual differences in their physical health states. It is thus important to determine whether predictors of self-rated health vary according to physical health status in order to interpret self-rated health data. METHODS: In a representative survey study, 1174 individuals over 65 years of age rated their health and filled in questionnaires on subjective well-being, control beliefs, depressive symptoms, and functional health. Structural equation modeling with latent moderated structural equations was used to determine whether health status (number of illnesses) moderated the association of self-rated health with these predictors. RESULTS: Self-rated health was predicted by positive affect, depressive symptoms, control beliefs, and physical functioning. Moderated effects were found for positive affect and physical functioning, suggesting that there are stronger associations with positive affect in healthier individuals and stronger associations with physical functioning in less healthy individuals. CONCLUSIONS: This implies that SRH has differential associations depending on health status, which should be taken into account in interpreting any research with SRH as predictor or criterion.

Longitudinal findings on aging-related cognitions, control beliefs, and health in later life.

We examined the influence of individual views of aging on health changes in later life. We hypothesized that aging-related cognitions affect health changes irrespective of control beliefs and that the impact of aging-related cognitions on health is higher than for the reverse direction of causality. We based our analyses on data from the longitudinal part of the German Aging Survey (N = 1,286; participants were 40-85 years of age at baseline). Because of the selectivity of the sample, we also computed the same analyses for the baseline sample (N = 4,034) with estimated Time 2 data for those individuals who dropped out. The results of structural equation modeling were concordant with our hypotheses, and therefore they corroborate previous findings on the importance of beliefs about aging.

Toward a More Comprehensive Concept of Successful Aging: Disability and Care Needs.

Rowe and Kahn's model of Successful Aging 2.0 argues that changing environmental settings, societal policies, and individual life styles will lead to a significant extension of healthy life years. Recent epidemiological research, however, confirms the dilemma that the ongoing extension of life expectancy prolongs not only the years in good health but also those in poor health. We see it as a major limitation that Rowe and Kahn's model is not able to cover the emerging linkage between increasing life expectation and aging with disability and care needs. Therefore, we suggest a set of propositions towards a more comprehensive model of successful aging which captures desirable living situations including for those who grow old with disabilities and care needs. We describe individual, environmental, and care related strategies and resources for autonomy and quality of life when facing disabilities and care needs in late life, putting emphasis on inter-individual differences and social inequality. We argue that expanding the traditional concept of successful aging to aging with disabilities and care needs serves not to undermine, but rather to anchor the concept in aging science and in public perception.

Perceived control across the second half of life: The role of physical health and social integration.

Perceived control is a key component of successful aging and may serve as a protective factor against age-related declines in central domains of functioning. However, it is a largely open question whether and how perceived control changes from midadulthood to very old age and how such change is shaped by health and social contexts. To examine these questions, we apply growth models to up to 15-year 4-wave longitudinal data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS; N = 10,081; aged 40-85 years at baseline; 49% women). Results revealed that perceived control is relatively stable in midlife, but starts to decline after midlife. Starting at 70, perceived control declines an average of a quarter of a SD per 10 years. Suffering from comorbidity and functional limitations were each associated with considerably lower perceived control. Volunteering and less loneliness were each uniquely associated with higher perceived control, over and above the other social factors as well as sociodemographic and health variables. Surprisingly, less social support was associated with stronger perceived control. We also found significant interaction effects suggesting that the combination of functional limitations with older age and loneliness with lower education were each associated with particularly compromised perceived control. Overall we found little evidence for correlates of change in perceived control, with only the loneliness-control association becoming slightly weaker over time. We take our findings to suggest that various different facets of social integration later in life are uniquely relevant for perceived control and suggest routes for further inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record

Regional resources buffer the impact of functional limitations on perceived autonomy in older adults with multiple illnesses.

Retaining perceptions of autonomy is a key component of successful aging. Perceived autonomy refers to the capacity to make and enact self-directed decisions. These perceptions are often threatened in older adults with multiple illnesses, when functional limitations resulting from these illnesses impede the enactment of self-directed decisions. Regional resources (in Germany specifically at the level of administrative districts) might counteract these impediments of autonomy. Economically stronger districts can provide more-concrete support resources for older adults, buffering the negative effect of functional limitations on self-perceived autonomy. This study assessed participants aged over 65 with 2 or more chronic conditions. In total, N = 287 provided data (Mage = 73.3, SD = 5.07), and n = 97 were women. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was used as a proxy measure of administrative district wealth in Germany. Hierarchical multilevel regression analyses with cross-level interactions were conducted. Results suggest that the detrimental effect of functional limitations on perceived autonomy is less pronounced for participants residing in higher GDP districts. Conversely, for participants in lower GDP districts, the effect is exacerbated. This finding suggests that districts with greater financial resources might be better able to invest in supports that promote and facilitate autonomy and, thus, provide a buffer against threats to individual perceived autonomy.

Changing predictors of self-rated health: Disentangling age and cohort effects.

Previous studies have shown that some predictors of self-rated health (SRH) become more important with age, while others become less important. Although based on cross-sectional data, these findings are often interpreted as age-related changes in evaluation criteria. However, results could be due to cohort effects as well. We attempted to disentangle age and cohort effects by combining and comparing cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a large-scale longitudinal survey. The sample consisted of 2,982 community-dwelling participants from 2 measurement occasions of the German Ageing Survey ages 40-81 years at baseline. Multigroup latent regression models were used to examine whether associations between various predictors and SRH differed between age groups and whether they changed over time. Comparisons of cross-sectional age differences in SRH-predictor associations and longitudinal age changes in the same associations allow the identification of cohort effects. Number of chronic conditions showed a constant negative association with SRH independently of age and cohort. In contrast, the association between SRH and all other predictors (physical functioning, exercise, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and positive affect) changed longitudinally, pointing to an age effect. Prediction of SRH by depressive symptoms and positive affect showed an additional cohort effect: The negative associations between depressive symptoms and SRH and the positive associations between positive affect and SRH were stronger among younger cohorts. The findings provide not only longitudinal support for previous cross-sectional studies, but also show the impact of historical change: Emotional facets of psychological well-being increase in relevance for SRH across cohorts.

Interactive effects of social support and social conflict on medication adherence in multimorbid older adults.

With increasing age and multimorbidity, medication regimens become demanding, potentially resulting in suboptimal adherence. Social support has been discussed as a predictor of adherence, but previous findings are inconsistent. The study examines general social support, medication-specific social support, and social conflict as predictors of adherence at two points in time (6 months apart) to test the mobilization and social conflict hypotheses. A total of 309 community-dwelling multimorbid adults (65-85 years, mean age 73.27, 41.7% women; most frequent illnesses: hypertension, osteoarthritis and hyperlipidemia) were recruited from the population-representative German Ageing Survey. Only medication-specific support correlated with adherence. Controlling for baseline adherence, demographics, physical fitness, medication regimen, and attitude, Time 1 medication-specific support negatively predicted Time 2 adherence, and vice versa. The negative relation between earlier medication-specific support and later adherence was not due to mobilization (low adherence mobilizing support from others, which over time would support adherence). Social conflict moderated the medication-specific support to adherence relationship: the relationship became more negative, the more social conflict participants reported. Presence of social conflict should be considered when received social support is studied, because well-intended help might have the opposite effect, when it coincides with social conflict.

Loneliness in old age in Eastern and Western European societies: theoretical perspectives.

Data from European countries participating in the Generations and Gender Surveys showed that mean loneliness scores of older adults are higher in Eastern than in Western European countries. Although co-residence is considered as one of the fundamental types of social integration, and although co-residence is more common in Eastern Europe, the mean loneliness scores of older co-resident adults in Eastern Europe are still very high. This article investigates mechanisms behind the puzzling between-country differences in social integration and loneliness. Firstly, the theoretical framework of loneliness is discussed starting from the individual's perspective using the deficit and the cognitive discrepancy approach and taking into account older adults' deprived living conditions. Secondly, mechanisms at the societal level are investigated: cultural norms, the demographical composition and differences in societal wealth and welfare. It is argued that an integrated theoretical model, as developed in this article, combining individual and societal level elements, is most relevant for understanding the puzzling reality around social integration and loneliness in country-comparative research. An illustration of the interplay of individual and societal factors in the emergence of loneliness is presented.

Health is health is health? Age differences in intraindividual variability and in within-person versus between-person factor structures of self-reported health complaints.

The variability of health complaints within individuals across time has rarely been studied, and the question whether between- and within-person factor structures of health-related variables are equivalent has not been tested so far. We examined self-reported health complaints in 101 younger (20-31 years) and 103 older adults (65-80 years) over a period of 100 daily assessments. Data were analyzed with confirmatory two-level factor analysis. One-factor structures of health complaints provided an acceptable fit at the between- and average within-person levels in both age groups, supporting the assumption of equivalent average within- and between-person factor structures for health complaints. Age differences in loading patterns indicated that subjective health may be experienced differently by younger and older adults. Small age differences in mean levels of health symptoms were observed. Intraindividual variability in health complaints was reliable. Older adults fluctuated less from day to day than younger adults, presumably reflecting less fluctuation in objective health, differences in response styles, situational influences, or habituation processes. We conclude that future research should consider intraindividual variability as being descriptive of a person's health status, and take possible differences between within- and between-person factor structures of subjective health into account.

Contextual and individual predictors of physical activity: Interactions between environmental factors and health cognitions.

OBJECTIVE: Although health behavior theories assume a role of the context in health behavior self-regulation, this role is often weakly specified and rarely examined. The two studies in this article test whether properties of the environment (districts) affect if and how health-related cognitions are translated into physical activity. METHODS: Multilevel modeling was used to examine the assumed cross-level interactions. Study 1 is a large-scale survey representative of the German adult population (N = 6,201). Gross domestic product (GDP) on the level of administrative districts was used to indicate environmental opportunities and barriers. Study 2 examined cross-level interactions of proximal predictors of physical activity (intentions, action planning, and coping planning) in older adults with multiple illnesses (N = 309), a high-risk group for health deteriorations. RESULTS: Study 1 showed that on the individual level, health attitudes (B = .11) and education (B = .71) were significantly associated with physical activity. GDP moderated the attitudes-behavior relation (B = .01), with higher attitude-behavior relations in districts with higher GDP. Study 2 finds that intention (B = .16), action planning (B = .17), and coping planning (B = .13) significantly predict activity. In addition, district-level GDP significantly moderated the relations between action planning and coping planning, but not intention, on physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the effects of health attitudes and planning on physical activity are moderated by environmental factors. Districts with higher GDP provide better contextual opportunities for the enactment of concrete if-then plans for physical activity. This has implications for both theory and health promotion.