Altruistic Attitudes Among Older Adults: Examining Construct Validity and Measurement Invariance of a New Scale.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Scholarly research has established the role of altruism in facilitating human cooperation and prosocial behaviors and highlighted its contribution to psychological well-being. Given the health significance of altruistic attitudes and orientations, we developed a valid and reliable measure of this construct that is suitable for use with older adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Based on data from a long-term panel study on adaptation to frailty among older adults (n = 366; mean age = 86 years), we used confirmatory factor analysis to perform construct validation of a five-item Elderly Care Research Center Altruism Scale among older adults (e.g., "Seeing others prosper makes me happy"). Moreover, we examined the invariance of the scale's factor structure across time and gender using nested models. RESULTS: Composite reliability (coefficient omega = 0.78), factor loadings (>0.45 with eigenvalue = 2.84) from exploratory factor analysis, and model fit indices (e.g., comparative fit index = 0.999) from confirmatory factor analysis suggest a single factor, supporting a unidimensional reliable construct of altruistic orientation at baseline. The results provided support for configural, metric, and scalar invariance across time. Findings pertaining to measurement invariance across gender confirmed full configural invariance but only offered support for partial metric, scalar, and residual invariance at baseline. Strong correlations among the altruism scale, salient personality traits, psychological well-being, religiosity, and meaning in life help establish construct validity. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The availability of a reliable and valid measure of altruistic attitudes enables a comprehensive evaluation of altruism's influence on later-life health and well-being.

Psychological predictors of eating pathology in older adult women.

Eating pathology is generally considered to affect females during adolescence and early adulthood. However, in recent years, there has been an increased recognition that disordered eating occurs in middle-aged and elderly women and that the presentation is similar to that of eating disorders in younger women. In the research presented here, results of an Internet survey of older adult women (N = 245; aged 60-90 years) indicate that the factors significantly associated with eating pathology-perfectionism, depression, and sociocultural pressures to be thin-closely parallel those reported for both younger and middle-aged women.

Treatment With Chemotherapy and Cognitive Functioning in Older Adult Cancer Survivors.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether treatment of cancer with chemotherapy, as compared with surgery and radiation, differentially affects cognitive functioning in older adults. DESIGN: Latent class growth analysis approach. SETTING: Health and Retirement Study. PARTICIPANTS: Older adults (N=403) with a new diagnosis of cancer who were still alive 4 years after their diagnosis. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cognition (degree of immediate recall and delayed recall of a word list). RESULTS: Findings indicated that 3 classes of cognitive functioning best fit the data, specifically high, middle, and low recall classes. Individuals treated with chemotherapy were significantly more likely to be in the high recall class, with no effect of receiving surgery or radiation. When interactions with demographic predictors were entered into the model, an Age × Treatment interaction was present such that individuals younger than 80 years were more likely to both receive chemotherapy and have high recall cognition. CONCLUSIONS: Three distinct classes of cognitive functioning emerged in older adults with cancer. Treatment with chemotherapy predicted likely membership in the high recall class in this sample of cancer survivors; however, this was due to an Age × Treatment interaction. Implications for understanding cognitive sequelae of cancer in late life are discussed.

Depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning among older adults with cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The US population of older adults is growing, with an increase in diseases like cancer. As cancer rates increase, there is a concomitant increase in adverse correlates, such as cognitive impairment and depressive symptomatology. In order to develop appropriate interventions, it is vital to assess relationships among cancer, depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning. METHODS: The sample consisted of 403 older adults with cancer diagnoses from the Health and Retirement Study. Using latent class growth analysis, longitudinal data were explored. The goals were to investigate trajectories of cognitive functioning, and to identify whether depressive symptoms and demographic factors predicted membership in the cognitive classes. RESULTS: Three classes of cognitive functioning best fit the data: High, Middle and Low Recall, fairly stable trajectories from pre-diagnosis to a period four years after diagnosis. More depressive symptoms after diagnosis (but not prior) significantly predicted membership in the Low Recall class. Depressive symptoms did not distinguish between the High and Middle Recall classes. CONCLUSION: Depressive symptomatology is thought to affect cognition in late life. We found that depressive symptoms after a cancer diagnosis, but not before, successfully differentiated between those who had Low Recall from those with Middle and High Recall. Implications are discussed.

Predictors of WAIS-R vocabulary in late life: Differences by race.

BACKGROUND: Vocabulary scores tend to be significantly related to education in heterogeneous groups of older adults, even after controlling for confounding variables. However, there may be other factors that impinge on cognitive functioning for certain demographic groups, particularly those whose educational opportunities were limited, and who may have experienced considerable stress as a result of their minority status. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to explore possible predictors of vocabulary scores among African American and White older adults. METHOD: In this study, samples of African American (N = 165) and White (N = 146) community-dwelling older adults reported their level of education, perceived health status, and number of stressful life events, and were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) Vocabulary subtest. RESULTS: Among the White participants, level of education was the only significant predictor of vocabulary score after controlling for perceived health and exposure to stress. Among African American participants, education was also a significant predictor of vocabulary score. However perceived health and number of stressful life events were also significantly predictors of vocabulary score. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that for certain cohorts of older adults, especially those who may have experienced stressful life circumstances and health disparities as a result of racial inequality, education may not be the only variable that predicts verbal intelligence. The importance of investigating cognitive functioning within a broader sociocultural context is discussed.

Social Support, Mastery, and Psychological Distress in Black and White Older Adults.

Social support and mastery can protect against psychological distress in late life, carrying implications for theory and intervention. However, some groups have not been well studied, with African Americans receiving less empirical attention, especially in regard to their satisfaction with social support. In this study, samples of African American and White American community-dwelling older adults reported their perceived mastery, degree of psychological distress, and social support. A model investigating the separate relationships of these variables by race explained significantly more variance than a model for all participants combined. For both groups, mastery was significantly associated with lower psychological distress. However, among White Americans, social support was significantly associated with lower distress, while among African Americans, there was no relationship between satisfaction with social support and distress. The findings indicate that social support and mastery are important variables to consider in their relationship to psychological distress in later life and that diverse racial groups may display differing relationships among these variables.

Religiousness and Psychological Distress in Jewish and Christian Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, the authors explore how the association between religiousness and psychological distress varies by religious affiliation. Prior work has shown that the association between religious belief and psychological distress is stronger for Christians than Jews, while religious activity is associated with lower psychological distress for both groups. METHODS: Interviews were conducted using a community sample of 143 Christian and Jewish older adults, ages 65 and over. Quantitative measures were used to assess levels of organizational and intrinsic religiosity, as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety. RESULTS: Christians who are highly involved in the organizational aspects of their religion report fewer depressive symptoms than Jews who have high levels of organizational religiosity, and the opposite is the case at lower levels of organizational religiosity. No significant group differences were found in the relationship between religiousness and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate a difference between Jews and Christians in the reasons that they turn to their respective religious services, particularly in late life.

Altruism, helping, and volunteering: pathways to well-being in late life.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the influence of prosocial orientations including altruism, volunteering, and informal helping on positive and negative well-being outcomes among retirement community dwelling elders. METHOD: We utilize data from 2 waves, 3 years apart, of a panel study of successful aging (N = 585). Psychosocial well-being outcomes measured include life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and depressive symptomatology. RESULTS: Ordinal logistic regression results indicate that altruistic attitudes, volunteering, and informal helping behaviors make unique contributions to the maintenance of life satisfaction, positive affect and other well being outcomes considered in this research. Predictors explain variance primarily in the positive indicators of psychological well-being, but are not significantly associated with the negative outcomes. Female gender and functional limitations are also associated with diminished psychological well-being. DISCUSSION: Our findings underscore the value of altruistic attitudes as important additional predictors, along with prosocial behaviors in fostering life satisfaction and positive affect in old age.

The Experienced Self and Other Scale: A technique for assaying the experience of one's self in relation to the other.

The construct "self" appears in diverse forms in theories about what it is to be a person. As the sense of "self" is typically assessed through personal reports, differences in its description undoubtedly reflect significant differences in peoples' apperception of self. This report describes the development, reliability, and factorial structure of the Experience of Sense of Self (E-SOS), an inventory designed to assess one's perception of self in relation to the person's perception of various potential "others." It does so using Venn diagrams to depict and quantify the experienced overlap between the self and "others." Participant responses to the instrument were studied through Exploratory Factor Analysis. This yielded a five-factor solution: 1) Experience of Positive Sensation; 2) Experience of Challenges; 3) Experience of Temptations; 4) Experience of Higher Power; and 5) Experience of Family. The items comprising each of these were found to produce reliable subscales. Further research with the E-SOS and suggestions for its use are offered.

Religion, ethnicity, and attitudes toward psychotherapy.

Many presume that White culture supports psychotherapy utilization. However, cultural analyses suggest that many aspects of White culture are antithetical to the values and practices underlying psychotherapy, which appear more congruent with Ashkenazic Jewish attitudes and values. The current research empirically tested this possibility by comparing older Jewish White people, non-Jewish Whites, and Black participants on attitudes relevant to psychotherapy. Results indicated that Jews had greater confidence in a therapist's ability to help, were more tolerant of stigma, and more open to sharing their feelings and concerns than participants in the other groups. Furthermore, initial differences between Whites and African Americans were lessened when Jewish identity was included in the analysis. Results suggest that Jewish culture is relatively accepting of psychotherapy, and that previous reports of different rates of mental health seeking attitudes and utilization by Whites and Blacks may be due, in part, to the inclusion of Jewish individuals in these samples.

Religiosity, authoritarianism, and attitudes toward psychotherapy in later life.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores whether intrinsic religiosity in older adults is associated with attitudes toward psychotherapy (perceived need, stigma tolerance, interpersonal openness, and confidence in mental health practitioners) when controlling for authoritarianism. METHOD: Interviews were conducted with a sample of 307 community-residing adults aged 65­82. Data were collected from 164 Black and 142 White older adults about their intrinsic religiosity, authoritarianism, and mental health help-seeking attitudes. RESULTS: Intrinsic religiosity was associated with stigma tolerance and interpersonal openness after controlling for authoritarianism. CONCLUSION: Intrinsic religiosity and authoritarianism appear to be independently related to psychotherapy attitudes. Religious older adults may prefer to seek help in religious contexts, while the association of authoritarianism to less favorable psychotherapy attitudes toward psychotherapy may be explained by a fear of external perspectives. Results on the whole reinforce the importance of including religiousness and authoritarianism in models of mental health help-seeking.

Does negative religious coping accompany, precede, or follow depression among Orthodox Jews?

BACKGROUND: Cross sectional research suggests that negative religious coping (e.g., anger at God and religious disengagement) strongly correlates with depression and anxiety. However, causality is difficult to establish as negative coping can accompany, cause, or result from distress. Among Orthodox Jews, some studies have found correlations between negative religious coping and anxiety and depression, while others found that high levels of negative coping related with decreased distress. We therefore examined longitudinal relationships between negative coping and depressive symptoms among Orthodox Jews. METHODS: Participants (80 Orthodox Jews) completed the Jewish Religious Coping Scale and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies' Depression Scale at two times. Using Structural Equation Modeling, we compared four models describing possible causal patterns. RESULTS: Negative religious coping and depressive symptoms were linearly related. Furthermore, a model including negative coping as a predictor of future depression fit the data best and did not significantly differ from a saturated model. LIMITATIONS: This research was limited by reliance on self-report measures, an internet sample, and examination of only negative religious coping. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with a "primary spiritual struggles" conceptualization, negative religious coping appears to precede and perhaps cause future depression among Orthodox Jews. Clinical interventions should target spiritual struggles, and more research integrating this construct into theory and practice is warranted.

Does social support mediate the moderating effect of intrinsic religiosity on the relationship between physical health and depressive symptoms among Jews?

Previous research in the general population suggests that intrinsic religiosity moderates (mitigates) the effect of poor physical health on depression. However, few studies have focused specifically on the Jewish community. We therefore examined these variables in a cross-sectional sample of 89 Orthodox and 123 non-Orthodox Jews. Based on previous research suggesting that non-Orthodox Judaism values religious mental states (e.g., beliefs) less and a collectivist social religiosity more, as compared to Orthodox Judaism, we hypothesized that the moderating effect of intrinsic religiosity would mediated by social support among non-Orthodox but not Orthodox Jews. As predicted, results indicated that the relationship between physical health and depression was moderated by intrinsic religiosity in the sample as a whole. Furthermore, this effect was mediated by social support among non-Orthodox Jews, but not among the Orthodox. The importance of examining religious affiliation and potential mediators in research on spirituality and health is discussed.

Relationships among social support, perceived control, and psychological distress in late life.

Social support has been shown to buffer the relationship between life stress and psychological distress in late life. However, little attention has been paid to personality variables that are associated with the capacity to effectively utilize social support. Although the buffering effects of social support were replicated in our sample of 134 community-dwelling individuals over the age of 65, perceived control was found to significantly moderate the relationship between stress, social support, and psychological distress. Specifically, older adults who were highly satisfied with social support consistently reported less psychological distress than those who were less satisfied with social support, regardless of perceived control. However, under conditions of both low and high satisfaction with social support, external controllers were found to be less reactive to stress than internal controllers. Implications for developing more complex models of the relationship between stress, social support and psychological distress are discussed.

Eating disorders in middle-aged women.

Eating disorders are generally viewed as afflicting females during adolescence and early adulthood. However, in recent years there has been a growing recognition that these disorders may occur during midlife as well. When eating disorders have been observed in middle age, they have often been believed to be associated with depression. In an Internet survey, responses by middle-aged women (N = 290; aged 45-60 years) indicated that the factors significantly associated with eating pathology-body image dissatisfaction, sociocultural pressures to be thin, and perfectionism-closely parallel those reported for younger people. Furthermore, in the presence of these factors, depression and concerns about the effects of aging on appearance are not significantly related to eating pathology.

Domestic violence in the Chinese and South Asian immigrant communities.

Although the Chinese and South Asian immigrant populations are largely silent on this issue, domestic violence is a fact of life in many families. In this article, we discuss cultural factors that may cause and prolong abuse in Asian immigrant homes, and review similarities and differences between the two Asian cultures in this regard. This article also addresses the psychological trauma experienced by abused Asian immigrant women and the coping strategies that they are likely to employ. Culturally sensitive intervention strategies are presented that may be appropriately used in working with Chinese and South Asian immigrant women for whom abuse is a terrifying and demeaning fact of life.

Personality correlates of heroic rescue during the holocaust.

This study investigated the extent to which personality variables can be used to discriminate non-Jewish heroes of the Holocaust from bystanders and from a comparison group of prewar European immigrants who left their countries of origin prior to World War II. Eighty verified rescuers, 73 bystanders, and 43 immigrants were administered measures of locus of control, autonomy, risk taking, social responsibility, tolerance/authoritarianism, empathy, and altruistic moral reasoning. A three-group discriminant function analysis was able to correctly classify 80.2% of the sample by a combination of personality and demographic variables. When the bystanders and immigrants, who differed very little from each other, were grouped together and compared to the rescuers, the personality variables alone correctly classified 93.1% of the sample. Implications regarding the relationship between personality and altruistic behavior, as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

Helping by siblings of children with mental retardation.

Our purpose for conducting this investigation was to extend the research on the help that siblings of children with mental retardation give to their brothers and sisters to include not only custodial care, but also other forms of helping behavior, such as emotional support, tangible aid, and information giving. We compared 100 siblings (50 with and 50 without a brother or sister with mental retardation) in terms of their perceived helping behavior. Siblings of brothers and sisters with mental retardation engaged in higher levels of perceived emotional support and custodial care but not information giving or tangible aid. Perceived custodial care and emotional support were associated with gender, the child's need for assistance, and self-esteem.