Solitary Prosociality in Later Life: An Experience Sampling Study.

Loneliness is a risk factor for older adults, one exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although time spent alone is associated with both loneliness and greater well-being, the experience of solitude may depend on the type of activity pursued. We examined formal prosocial activity as one facilitator of positive solitary experiences. Older adults (N = 165, Mage = 71.13, SD = 5.70) highly committed to prosocial-program work (e.g., tutoring) filled out surveys at six random times every day for a week. Using multilevel modeling, we investigated whether participating in prosocial-program activity alone was associated with greater well-being compared to other solitary activity. While prosocial-program activity did not buffer against negative affect in solitude, it promoted positive affect and relatedness when alone. To the extent that prosocial-program work can facilitate positive solitary experiences by enhancing feelings of connection, it may protect against threats to well-being posed by loneliness in later life.

Reflecting on an Academic Career: Associations Between Past Mentoring Investments and Career Benefits.

Receiving mentoring is positive associated with lasting career benefits for academic protégés; however, less is known about the connection to long-term career gains for mentors. In this study national sample of retired academics were surveyed to examine the associations between past mentoring behaviors and current evaluations of their careers. Participants (N=277) were on average 73.6 (SD=6.2) years old with 34.9 (SD=8.0) years of occupational tenure and 7.7 (SD=5.8) years post-retirement. Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that having more protégés (ß=.19, p=.024) and engaging in more mentoring behaviors (ß=.18, p=.027) were associated with objective career achievements. However, mentoring behaviors, and not the number of protégés, were linked to subjective career achievements (ß=.33, p<.001). Interestingly, previous mentoring experiences were not related to career satisfaction. While prior research demonstrates that mentors experience short-term benefits from mentoring, the present study's findings suggest that mentors may also experience long-term objective and subjective career benefits.

Measuring Self-Perceptions of Aging: Differences Between Measures When Predicting Health Outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: The majority of self-perceptions of aging (SPA) research uses either a combination of the Aging-related Cognitions (AgeCog) scales of Ongoing Development and Physical Loss, or the Attitudes Towards Own Aging (ATOA) subscale to assess views on aging. Although these scales are used interchangeably, the valence (positive/negative) and the specificity of the view on aging (domain-based/general) being assessed are not consistent. This study investigates how different measures of SPA relate to one another and whether they differentially predict various types of health outcomes (psychological/physiological; well-being/ill-being). METHOD: Data from the 2008 and 2014 waves of the German Aging Survey (DEAS; N = 3,745), a population-based representative survey of adults aged 40-95, was used to examine the relationship between the AgeCog scales and the ATOA subscale, as well as the differences in the types of health outcomes each predicts. RESULTS: The correlations between the AgeCog scales and the ATOA were higher than the correlation between the AgeCog scales (p < .001). The AgeCog scale of Ongoing Development significantly predicted psychological health outcomes across a 6-year period, while the AgeCog scale of Physical Loss and the ATOA subscale predicted both physiological and psychological health outcomes. DISCUSSION: Evidence supports using the AgeCog scale of Ongoing Development to predict domain-relevant, psychological health outcomes. However, the multidimensionality of SPA is best measured by the ATOA subscale or a combination of the two AgeCog scales. Both forms of measurement were found to maximize the amount of explained variance for psychological and physiological indicators of well-being and ill-being.

Medium Matters: A Decade of Media Consumption Predicts Positive and Negative Dimensions of Self-Perceptions of Aging.

OBJECTIVES: Media consumption over time is suggested to be a significant contributor to how people develop their self-perceptions of aging (SPA); however, this association has only been investigated with cross-sectional methodologies. The current study used growth curve modeling to examine the influence of 10 years of television, newspaper, radio, and book consumption on positive and negative dimensions of SPA. METHODS: Growth curve modeling on 4 waves of data from the German Aging Survey (N = 2,969), a population-based representative survey of adults aged 40-95, was used to examine the longitudinal associations between media consumption and SPA trajectories. RESULTS: Across 10 years, more television intake (B = -0.58, 95% CI [-0.94, -0.21]) was associated with lower perceptions of continuous growth. Inversely, greater book (B = 0.10, 95% CI [0.06, 0.13]) and radio (B = 0.52, 95% CI [0.29, 0.74]) consumption was significantly linked to higher perceptions of continuous growth. In parallel, more television (B = 0.88, 95% CI [0.52, 1.25]) and newspaper consumption (B = 0.46, 95% CI [0.04, 0.88]) was associated with higher perceptions of physical decline, while greater radio (B = -0.40, 95% CI [-0.64, -0.16]) and book (B = -0.05, 95% CI [-0.09, -0.00]) consumption was associated with lower perceptions of physical decline. DISCUSSION: This study provides longitudinal evidence for the relationship between media consumption and SPA. However, not all types of media intake are negative as radio and book consumption were associated with better SPA across time. Age-group differences were investigated and are discussed in the Supplementary Materials.