For living well, behaviors and circumstances matter just as much as psychological traits.

In 2004 through 2016, three studies in the national Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project asked participants the open-ended question "What do you do to make life go well?". We use verbatim responses to this question to evaluate the relative importance of psychological traits and circumstances for predicting self-reported, subjective well-being. The use of an open-ended question allows us to test the hypothesis that psychological traits are more strongly associated with self-reported well-being than objective circumstances because psychological traits and well-being are similarly self-rated-meaning that they both ask respondents to decide how to place themselves on provided and unfamiliar survey scales. For this, we use automated zero-shot classification to score statements about well-being without training on existing survey measures, and we evaluate this scoring through subsequent hand-labeling. We then assess associations of this measure and closed-ended measures for health behaviors, socioeconomic circumstances, biomarkers for inflammation and glycemic control, and mortality risk over follow-up. Although the closed-ended measures were far more strongly associated with other multiple-choice self-ratings, including Big 5 personality traits, the closed- and open-ended measures were similarly associated with relatively objective indicators of health, wealth, and social connectedness. The findings suggest that psychological traits, when collected through self-ratings, predict subjective reports of well-being so strongly because of a measurement advantage-and that circumstance matters just as much when assessed using a fairer comparison.

Do We Become More Lonely With Age? A Coordinated Data Analysis of Nine Longitudinal Studies.

Loneliness is a pervasive experience with adverse impacts on health and well-being. Despite its significance, notable gaps impede a full understanding of how loneliness changes across the adult life span and what factors influence these changes. To address this, we conducted a coordinated data analysis of nine longitudinal studies encompassing 128,118 participants ages 13 to 103 from over 20 countries. Using harmonized variables and models, we examined loneliness trajectories and predictors. Analyses revealed that loneliness follows a U-shaped curve, decreasing from young adulthood to midlife and increasing in older adulthood. These patterns were consistent across studies. Several baseline factors (i.e., sex, marital status, physical function, education) were linked to loneliness levels, but few moderated the loneliness trajectories. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of loneliness and underscore the need for targeted interventions to reduce social disparities throughout adulthood.

Engagement with nature and proinflammatory biology.

BACKGROUND: Prior evidence indicates that contact with nature improves physical health, but data explicitly linking engagement with nature to biological processes are limited. DESIGN: Leveraging survey and biomarker data from 1,244 adults (mean age = 54.50 years, range = 34-84 years) from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS II) study, we examined associations between nature engagement, operationalized as the frequency of pleasant nature encounters, and systemic inflammation. Concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), and fibrinogen were measured from fasting blood samples. Analyses adjusted for sociodemographic, health behavior, and psychological well-being covariates. RESULTS: More frequent positive nature contact was independently associated with lower circulating levels of inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings add to a growing literature on the salubrious health effects of nature by demonstrating how such experiences are instantiated in downstream physiological systems, potentially informing future interventions and public health policies.

Linking Amygdala Persistence to Real-World Emotional Experience and Psychological Well-Being.

Neural dynamics in response to affective stimuli are linked to momentary emotional experiences. The amygdala, in particular, is involved in subjective emotional experience and assigning value to neutral stimuli. Because amygdala activity persistence following aversive events varies across individuals, some may evaluate subsequent neutral stimuli more negatively than others. This may lead to more frequent and long-lasting momentary emotional experiences, which may also be linked to self-evaluative measures of psychological well-being (PWB). Despite extant links between daily affect and PWB, few studies have directly explored the links between amygdala persistence, daily affective experience, and PWB. To that end, we examined data from 52 human adults (67% female) in the Midlife in the United States study who completed measures of PWB, daily affect, and functional MRI (fMRI). During fMRI, participants viewed affective images followed by a neutral facial expression, permitting quantification of individual differences in the similarity of amygdala representations of affective stimuli and neutral facial expressions that follow. Using representational similarity analysis, neural persistence following aversive stimuli was operationalized as similarity between the amygdala activation patterns while encoding negative images and the neutral facial expressions shown afterward. Individuals demonstrating less persistent activation patterns in the left amygdala to aversive stimuli reported more positive and less negative affect in daily life. Further, daily positive affect served as an indirect link between left amygdala persistence and PWB. These results clarify important connections between individual differences in brain function, daily experiences of affect, and well-being.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT At the intersection of affective neuroscience and psychology, researchers have aimed to understand how individual differences in the neural processing of affective events map onto to real-world emotional experiences and evaluations of well-being. Using a longitudinal dataset from 52 adults in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, we provide an integrative model of affective functioning: less amygdala persistence following negative images predicts greater positive affect (PA) in daily life, which in turn predicts greater psychological well-being (PWB) seven years later. Thus, day-to-day experiences of PA comprise a promising intermediate step that links individual differences in neural dynamics to complex judgements of PWB.

The Relational Wear and Tear of Everyday Racism Among African American Couples.

The wear and tear of adapting to chronic stressors such as racism and discrimination can have detrimental effects on mental and physical health. Here, we investigated the wider implications of everyday racism for relationship quality in an adult sample of 98 heterosexual African American couples. Participants reported on their experiences of racial discrimination and positive and negative affect for 21 consecutive evenings. Using dyadic analyses, we found that independently of age, gender, marital status, income, racial-discrimination frequency, neuroticism, and mean levels of affect, participants' relationship quality was inversely associated with their partner's negative affective reactivity to racial discrimination. Associations did not vary by gender, suggesting that the effects of affective reactivity were similar for men and women. These findings highlight the importance of a dyadic approach and call for further research examining the role of everyday racism as a key source of stress in the lives of African American couples.

Personality differences in the occurrence and affective correlates of daily positive events.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research shows that Neuroticism predicts exposure and affective reactivity to daily stressors. Zautra and colleagues extended this work to daily positive events. Building on these frameworks, we examined the Big Five personality traits as predictors of the occurrence and affective correlates of daily positive events. METHOD: Participants in two national U.S. daily diary studies (NSDE 2: N = 1,919 and NSDE Refresher: N = 778; aged 25-84) reported daily positive events, emotions specific to the events, and daily affect for 8 consecutive days. RESULTS: In parallel analyses in both samples, Extraversion and in the NSDE Refresher sample only Openness (but not Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, or Agreeableness) predicted more frequent positive event occurrence. All Big Five traits were associated with one or more emotional experiences (e.g., calm, proud) during positive events. Neuroticism predicted greater event-related positive affect in the NSDE 2 sample, whereas Agreeableness was related to more event-related negative affect in the NSDE Refresher sample. CONCLUSIONS: The Big Five personality traits each provided unique information for predicting positive events in daily life. The discussion centers on potential explanations and implications for advancing the understanding of individual differences that contribute to engagement in positive experiences.

The pandemic and social experience: For whom did discrimination and social isolation increase?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine whether experiences of discrimination have increased during the pandemic, particularly among negatively stigmatized racial/ethnic groups, and whether such experiences have exacerbated feelings of social isolation. METHOD: Discrimination and social isolation were assessed before and during the pandemic in a sample of 263 Black and White young adults attending a large, predominantly White 4-year research university in the Southeastern region of the United States (52% Black, 48% White, 53% female, mean age = 19.2). RESULTS: Increases in discrimination were evident among Black but not White participants. Black participants also reported greater increases in social isolation than White participants, and changes in discrimination partially mediated the emergent racial disparity in social isolation. CONCLUSIONS: Findings are consistent with theoretical perspectives on discrimination during times of stress and suggest the need for broader attention to the impact of the pandemic on unfair treatment of stigmatized groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

More than Hurt Feelings: The Wear and Tear of Day-to-Day Discrimination in Adults with Chronic Pain.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the extent to which self-reported experiences of discrimination are associated with pain interference among men and women with chronic non-cancer pain. METHODS: Data are from the Study of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Refresher Cohort. The analytic sample consisted of 207 adults with chronic pain (54.2 ± 12.8 years; 53.6% female) who completed the Major Experiences of Discrimination and Everyday Discrimination scales. Regression analyses examined cross-sectional relations between discrimination and pain interference. RESULTS: On average, the level of pain interference was moderate in the sample (mean = 3.46, standard deviation = 2.66; observed range 0-10). Approximately a third of respondents reported at least one major discriminatory event in their lifetime, while 22% reported three or more discriminatory lifetime events. Everyday discrimination scores averaged 14.19 ± 5.46 (observed range 0-33). With adjustment for sociodemographics, physical health, cognitive and psychological factors, social isolation, and loneliness, everyday discrimination was associated with increased pain interference (B = 0.099; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02 to 0.17). CONCLUSION: These findings add weight to the importance of day-to-day experiences of interpersonal discrimination by documenting independent associations with functional interference in adults with chronic pain.

Day-to-day fluctuations in experiences of discrimination: Associations with sleep and the moderating role of internalized racism among African American college students.

OBJECTIVES: Studies of discrimination and sleep have largely focused on between-person differences in discrimination as a correlate of sleep outcomes. A common criticism of this research is that standard questionnaire measures of discrimination may be confounded by personality and identity and are subject to recall bias. Partially addressing these limitations, the current study examined within-person, day-to-day fluctuations in perceived discrimination as a predictor of day-to-day fluctuations in sleep. The role of internalized racism as a moderator of the within-person association between discrimination and sleep was also considered. METHOD: Participants were African American college students attending a predominantly White institution (N = 124, 26% male, Mage = 20.1, SD = 1.6). Each student was asked to complete a baseline questionnaire and a 9-day diary. Experiences of discrimination were assessed in the questionnaire and daily diary format. Sleep problems were measured each day using self-report measures focusing on sleep quality. Internalized racism was assessed with the miseducation scale, which captures the degree to which individuals associate negative characteristics such as laziness and criminality with their racial/ethnic group. Established measures of racial identity were considered as covariates. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses indicated that on days when participants experienced more discrimination, subsequent sleep problems increased (B = .037, SE = .017, p = .034). Furthermore, this within-person association was moderated by internalized racism such that the effects of daily discrimination on sleep were stronger among those who scored higher on miseducation (B = .046, SE = .021, p = .033). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results suggest that ongoing efforts to reduce discrimination, support the adjustment of racial/ethnic minority students, and address internalized racism are warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Being Happy and Becoming Happier as Independent Predictors of Physical Health and Mortality.

OBJECTIVE: The present study tested preregistered predictions regarding the prospective associations between level and change in subjective well-being (SWB) and physical health. METHODS: In two large longitudinal panel studies conducted in the United States (N = 3294) and Japan (N = 657), we used multilevel growth curve models to estimate level and change in components of SWB (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). Next, we used random intercepts and slopes to predict subsequent self-reported general health and number of chronic health conditions (in the United States and Japan) and mortality risk (in the United States). RESULTS: Greater life satisfaction, higher positive affect, and lower negative affect were associated with better health (0.22 < |ß values| < 0.46) and longer survival. Above and beyond SWB level, longitudinal increases in life satisfaction and positive affect and longitudinal decreases in negative affect were associated with better health (0.06 < |ß values| < 0.20). Moreover, all three SWB components independently predicted health, and life satisfaction and negative affect independently predicted survival. The preregistration and analysis scripts are available at osf.io/mz9gy. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings suggest that being happy and becoming happier across time are independently associated with better physical health in the United States and Japan.

Discrimination and systemic inflammation: A critical review and synthesis.

Exposure to discrimination or unfair treatment has emerged as an important risk factor for illness and disease that disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities. Discriminatory experiences may operate like other stressors in that they activate physiological responses that adversely affect the maintenance of homeostasis. Research suggests that inflammation plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of stress-related diseases. Recent findings on discrimination and inflammation are discussed. We highlight limitations in the current evidence and provide recommendations for future studies that seek to examine the association between discrimination and inflammation.

Perceived Partner Responsiveness, Daily Negative Affect Reactivity, and All-Cause Mortality: A 20-Year Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested longitudinal associations between absolute levels of perceived partner responsiveness (PPR; how much people perceive that their romantic partners understand, care for, and appreciate them), daily negative affect reactivity and positive affect reactivity, and all-cause mortality in a sample of 1,208 adults for three waves of data collection spanning 20 years. We also tested whether longitudinal changes in PPR predicted mortality via affect reactivity. METHODS: Data were taken from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. PPR was assessed at waves 1 and 2, affect reactivity to stressors was assessed by daily diary reports at wave 2, and mortality status was obtained at wave 3. RESULTS: Mediation analyses revealed absolute levels of PPR at wave 1 predicted wave 3 mortality via wave 2 affective reactivity in the predicted direction, but this did not remain robust when statistically accounting for covariates (e.g., marital risk, neuroticism), ß = .004, 95% confidence interval = -.03 to .04. However, wave 1-2 PPR change predicted negative affect (but not positive affect) reactivity to daily stressors at wave 2, which then predicted mortality risk a decade later (wave 3); these results held when adjusting for relevant demographic, health, and psychosocial covariates, ß = -.04, 95% confidence interval = -.09 to -.002. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are among the first to provide direct evidence of psychological mechanisms underlying the links between intimate relationships and mortality and have implications for research aiming to develop interventions that increase or maintain responsiveness in relationships over time.

Lifetime discrimination, global sleep quality, and inflammation burden in a multiethnic sample of middle-aged adults.

OBJECTIVE: Despite considerable evidence that greater exposure to discrimination over the life course increases risk for systemic inflammation, little is known about the mechanisms responsible for this association. Here we examine the role of global sleep quality as a potential pathway by which self-reported experiences of discrimination contribute to inflammatory dysfunction in a multiethnic sample of middle-aged adults. METHOD: Participants were 300 adults (36-85 years; 65% women) from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a subset of the Midlife in the United States Study 2 (2004-2006). Racial/ethnic representation included African American (77.7%), Hispanic (12.7%), Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%), and Native American (4.0%). Global sleep quality and perceptions of lifetime and daily discrimination were measured by questionnaire. A composite score of inflammation burden was computed as the sum of five markers including C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), fibrinogen, E-selectin, and intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). RESULTS: Greater lifetime exposure to discrimination was associated with higher inflammation burden. This relationship remained significant after adjustments for potential confounding factors, including demographics, medication use, health behaviors, psychological distress, and daily discrimination. Mediation analyses suggested that poor global sleep quality was a key mechanism underlying the link between lifetime discrimination and inflammation burden. CONCLUSION: These results add to a growing literature on the effects of bias and unfair treatment experienced by people of color and other marginalized groups by demonstrating how such experiences may be particularly consequential for sleep and physiological functioning in midlife. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Affective reactivity to daily racial discrimination as a prospective predictor of depressive symptoms in African American graduate and postgraduate students.

This study examined whether individual differences in affective reactivity, defined as changes in positive or negative affect in response to daily racial discrimination, predicted subsequent depressive symptoms. Participants were African American graduate and postgraduate students (N = 174; M age = 30 years) recruited for a measurement-burst study. Data on depressive symptoms were gathered at two assessment points 1 year apart. Affective reactivity data was obtained from participants via a 14-day diary study of daily racial discrimination and affect. Participants who experienced pronounced increases in negative affect on days when racial discrimination occurred had elevated depressive symptoms 1 year later. Heightened positive affect reactivity was also associated with more depressive symptoms at follow-up. The results suggest that affective reactivity (either greater increases in negative affect or greater decreases in positive affect in the context of racial discrimination) may be an underlying psychological mechanism that confers vulnerability to future depressive symptoms.

Fragile and Enduring Positive Affect: Implications for Adaptive Aging.

There is robust evidence linking interindividual differences in positive affect (PA) with adaptive psychological and physical health outcomes. However, recent research has suggested that intraindividual variability or fluctuations in PA states over time may also be an important predictor of individual health outcomes. Here, we report on research that focuses on PA level and various forms of PA dynamics (variability, instability, inertia, and reactivity) in relation to health. PA level refers to the average level of positive feelings. In contrast, PA dynamics refer to short-term changes in PA that unfold over time. We discuss how consideration of both PA level and PA dynamics can provide a framework for reconciling when high PA is conducive or detrimental to health. We conclude that more work on PA dynamics is needed, especially in combination with PA level, and suggest productive questions for future inquiry in this area.

Everyday unfair treatment and multisystem biological dysregulation in African American adults.

OBJECTIVE: Increasing evidence suggests that chronic exposure to unfair treatment or day-to-day discrimination increases risk for poor health, but data on biological stress mechanisms are limited. This study examined chronic experiences of unfair treatment in relation to allostatic load (AL), a multisystem index of biological dysregulation. METHOD: Data are from a sample of 233 African-American adults (37-85 years; 64% women). Perceptions of everyday unfair treatment were measured by questionnaire. An AL index was computed as the sum of 7 separate physiological system risk indices (cardiovascular regulation, lipid, glucose, inflammation, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis). RESULTS: Adjusting for sociodemographics, medication use, smoking status, alcohol consumption, depressive symptoms, lifetime discrimination, and global perceived stress, everyday mistreatment was associated with higher AL. CONCLUSIONS: The results add to a growing literature on the effects of chronic bias and discrimination by demonstrating how such experiences are instantiated in downstream physiological systems. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Psychosocial Context of Financial Stress: Implications for Inflammation and Psychological Health.

OBJECTIVE: Psychological distress may contribute to chronic activation of acute-phase inflammation. The current study investigated how financial stressors influence psychosocial functioning and inflammation. This study examined a) the direct relations between financial stress and inflammation; b) whether the relationships between financial stress and inflammation are mediated in part by negative interpersonal events, psychological distress, and psychological well-being; and c) whether social standing in one's community moderates the relations between financial stress and psychological distress, psychological well-being, and markers of inflammation (interleukin-6 [IL-6] and C-reactive protein). METHODS: Stressful financial and interpersonal events over the previous year, perceived social status, indices of psychological well-being and distress, and levels of IL-6 and C-reactive protein were assessed in a community sample of 680 middle-aged adults (ages 40-65 years). RESULTS: Structural equation modeling analyses revealed significant relations among financial stress, interpersonal stress, and psychological distress and well-being, and complex relationships between these variables and inflammatory markers. Psychological well-being mediated the association between financial stress and IL-6 ([mediation] ab = 0.012, standard error [SE] = 0.006, p = .048). Furthermore, individuals with higher perceived social standing within their communities exhibited a stronger relation between negative financial events and both interpersonal stressors (interaction B = 0.067, SE = 0.017, p < .001) and C-reactive protein (interaction B = 0.051, SE = 0.026, p = .050). CONCLUSIONS: Financial stress demonstrates complex relations with inflammation, due partly to psychological well-being and social perceptions. Findings are discussed with regard to the social context of stress and physiological factors pertinent to stress adaptation and inflammation.

Loneliness and Health in Older Adults: A Mini-Review and Synthesis.

Increasing evidence suggests that perceived social isolation or loneliness is a major risk factor for physical and mental illness in later life. This review assesses the status of research on loneliness and health in older adults. Key concepts and definitions of loneliness are identified, and the prevalence, correlates, and health effects of loneliness in older individuals are reviewed. Theoretical mechanisms that underlie the association between loneliness and health are also described, and illustrative studies examining these mechanisms are summarized. Intervention approaches to reduce loneliness in old age are highlighted, and priority recommendations for future research are presented.

Perceived Partner Responsiveness Predicts Diurnal Cortisol Profiles 10 Years Later.

Several decades of research have demonstrated that marital relationships have a powerful influence on physical health. However, surprisingly little is known about how marriage affects health--both in terms of psychological processes and biological ones. Over a 10-year period, we investigated the associations between perceived partner responsiveness--the extent to which people feel understood, cared for, and appreciated by their romantic partners--and diurnal cortisol in a large sample of married and cohabitating couples in the United States. Partner responsiveness predicted higher cortisol values at awakening and steeper (i.e., healthier) cortisol slopes at the 10-year follow-up. These associations remained strong after we controlled for demographic factors, depressive symptoms, agreeableness, and other positive and negative relationship factors. Furthermore, declines in negative affect over the 10-year period mediated the prospective association between responsiveness and cortisol slope. These findings suggest that diurnal cortisol may be a key biological pathway through which social relationships affect long-term health.

Trajectories of affective well-being and survival in middle-aged and older adults.

Affective experiences are key components of subjective well-being with important implications for health. However, little is known about heterogeneous longitudinal affect trajectories and their links to survival. This study identified joint trajectory subgroups based on 18-year changes in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) and examined their differential associations with mortality risk. Participants were 3,250 adults (aged 39-93 years) from the Midlife in the U.S. study assessed over three waves (1995-2013). Parallel growth mixture modeling revealed three subgroups: (a) improving (increasing PA, decreasing NA), (b) deteriorating (decreasing PA, increasing NA), and (c) flourishing (high, stable PA, low, stable NA). Adjusting for baseline demographic and health covariates, Cox proportional-hazard results showed the improving group had the lowest mortality risk (HR = 0.82, 95% CI [0.35, 1.32]) and the deteriorating group had the highest mortality risk (HR = 1.86, 95% CI [1.34, 3.55]), relative to flourishing. These findings highlight the importance of modeling multidimensional trajectories of affective well-being and their heterogeneous links to survival. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).