Healthy Aging-Relevant Goals: The Role of Person-Context Co-construction.

OBJECTIVES: This article considers how individuals' motivation for healthy aging manifests within the myriad of different contexts that older adults are embedded in as they move through later life. METHODS: Drawing on the concept of co-construction, we argue that persons and contexts both contribute to the emergence, maintenance, and disengagement from healthy aging relevant goals in adulthood and old age. RESULTS: To promote the understanding of such co-constructive dynamics, we propose four conceptual refinements of previous healthy aging models. First, we outline various different, often multidirectional, ways in which persons and contexts conjointly contribute to how people set, pursue, and disengage from health goals. Second, we promote consideration of context as involving unique, shared, and interactive effects of socio-economic, social, physical, care/service, and technology dimensions. Third, we highlight how the relevance, utility, and nature of these context dimensions and their role in co-constructing health goals change as individuals move through the Third Age, the Fourth Age, and a terminal stages of life. Finally, we suggest that these conceptual refinements be linked to established (motivational) theories of lifespan development and aging. DISCUSSIONS: In closing, we outline a set of research questions that promise to advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which contexts and aging persons co-construct healthy aging relevant goals and elaborate on the applied significance of this approach for common public health practices.

Conscientiousness, Activity Engagement, and Momentary Affect in Oldest-Old Adulthood.

OBJECTIVES: Remaining engaged with life is a hallmark of aging well and pursuing personally meaningful activities is presumably important for late-life affect. We examined how moment-to-moment variability in meaning and degree of challenge ascribed to daily activities relate to positive and negative affect in very old adults. Possible moderating effects of between-person differences in conscientiousness on meaning-affect associations were also examined. METHODS: Participants were 73 adults aged 89 years on average from the Australian Daily Life Time-Sampling module of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging. Participants provided self-report data on activity engagement (meaning and challenge associated with activities) and affect, on 5 occasions per day for a period of 7 consecutive days. RESULTS: Within-person associations of activity meaning with affect varied as a function of within-person challenge ratings. Specifically, gains in positive affect associated with meaningful activity were more strongly evident when activities were regarded as more challenging. In contrast, meaningful activity was associated with higher negative affect when activities were regarded as more challenging and lower negative affect when activities were regarded as less challenging. Conscientiousness did not moderate associations of activity meaning with affect. DISCUSSION: Our findings shed light on the intricate interplay between maintaining meaningful engagement and daily emotional experiences in very old age. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and consider the role of late-life conscientiousness for self- and emotion regulation.

Everyday solitude, affective experiences, and well-being in old age: the role of culture versus immigration.

Objectives: Being alone is often equated with loneliness. Yet, recent findings suggest that the objective state of being alone (i.e. solitude) can have both positive and negative connotations. The present research aimed to examine (1) affective experience in daily solitude; and (2) the association between everyday affect in solitude and well-being. We examined the distinct roles of culture and immigration in moderating these associations. Method: Using up to 35 daily life assessments of momentary affect, solitude, and emotional well-being in two samples (Canada and China), the study compared older adults who aged in place (local Caucasians in Vancouver , Canada and local Hong Kong Chinese in Hong Kong, China) and older adults of different cultural heritages who immigrated to Canada (immigrated Caucasians and immigrated East Asians). Results: We found that older adults of East Asian heritage experienced more positive and less negative affect when alone than did Caucasians. Reporting positive affect in solitude was more positively associated with well-being in older adults who had immigrated to Canada as compared to those who had aged in place. Conclusions:These findings speak to the unique effects of culture and immigration on the affective correlates of solitude and their associations with well-being in old age.

Characterizing Social and Recreational Programming in Assisted Living.

The objectives of this three-phased investigation were to (1) characterize existing recreational programming opportunities for tenants residing in assisted living (AL) and (2) gather perceptions on factors influencing activity program planning and delivery. Using an integrated knowledge translation framework during a one-year collaboration, we targeted 51 publicly funded AL sites from two health authorities in British Columbia. We conducted an activity calendar review, staff survey, and interactive symposia to identify factors that enabled or restricted recreational programming. From the information obtained, we determined that all AL sites delivered recreational programming. Although exercise and physical activity opportunities were perceived as having high importance, most activities were social. Staff reported confidence in delivering this type of programming and believed it met the holistic needs of tenants, including their mental well-being, and fostered a sense of community. Future avenues for increasing physical activity of AL tenants should address individual, site, and organizational characteristics.