Age Differences Among Different Sources of Stressor Related Negative Affect.

We examine age differences in the relationship between negative affect (NA) and different indicators of daily stress (interpersonal, health, and financial stressors and perceived stress). Participants completed 56 days of daily diary surveys from Wave 1 of the Notre Dame Study of Health & Well-being. Multi-level modeling allowed us to assess the within-person relationships between daily stress and NA and the cross-level interactions between these daily relationships and cross-sectional age. Each type of stress additively related to daily NA. Older age related to an exacerbated relationship between daily interpersonal stressors and NA, but a weaker relationship between daily perceived stress and NA. Interventions focused on enhancing daily well-being can encourage older adults to ensure they do not have overpacked schedules in regards to social relationships, and encourage midlife and younger adults to engage in activities that disrupt the link between perceived stress and NA.

Race and Personal Exposure to AD Influence Projected Memory Failure Attributions and Help-Seeking Behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: Examine race and personal exposure to Alzheimer's Disease (AD) on projected memory failure attributions and medical help-seeking thresholds of pre-morbid adults. The goal is to better understand race discrepancies in help-seeking for those potentially at risk for early-onset AD. METHODS: 498 adults aged 40 to 65 (M = 52.27), screened for current memory failure, completed an online questionnaire exploring their help-seeking intentions and threshold, attributions of hypothetical memory failures, and level of AD concern. RESULTS: Non-Hispanic Whites (n = 248) were significantly more concerned about AD than African Americans (n = 250) (p =.027). Personal exposure to AD moderated the impact of race on memory failure attributions (p =.036), so that personal exposure was more influential for African Americans. Those who were more likely to attribute hypothetical memory failures to AD had lower projected thresholds for seeking a medical evaluation (p =.010). Memory failure attribution emerged as a potential mediator of the impact of race on projected help-seeking behaviors (p =.057). CONCLUSIONS: African Americans were more influenced by personal experience when considering the causes of hypothetical memory failures. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Healthcare providers should emphasize to African American families the value of early AD detection and treatment in terms of quality of life for both patient and caregiver.

Older Adults' Experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Stresses and Joys.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is experienced differently across individuals, and older adults' different life experiences lead to a variety of ways of coping. The present study explores older adults' reports of what about the pandemic is stressful, and what brings joy and comfort in the midst of stress. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: An online survey asked 825 U.S. adults aged 60 and older to complete questionnaires assessing 3 psychological well-being indicators: perceived stress, negative affect, and positive affect. Participants also responded to open-ended questions about what was stressful and what brought joy or comfort at the time of the survey. A mixed-method approach first qualitatively analyzed the open-ended responses, content analysis identified themes most frequently reported, and quantitative analysis examined the associations between various stressors and joys and the psychological well-being indicators. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis revealed 20 stress categories and 21 joy/comfort categories. The most commonly reported stressors were confinement/restrictions, concern for others, and isolation/loneliness; the most commonly reported sources of joy/comfort were family/friend relationships, digital social contact, and hobbies. Demographic comparisons revealed variations in experience. Independent t tests revealed stress from concern for others, the unknown future, and contracting the virus to be significantly associated with poorer psychological well-being; faith, exercise/self-care, and nature were associated with more positive psychological well-being. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Results are discussed in the context of stress and coping theory, highlighting the importance of understanding the unique stress experience of each individual for effective distress intervention.

COVID-19 as a Stressor: Pandemic Expectations, Perceived Stress, and Negative Affect in Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic is appraised as a stressor influences perceived stress (PS) and psychological well-being during the event. Here, the association of older adults' expectations concerning the pandemic's duration and impact with PS and negative affect (NA) is investigated. Based on the stress and coping framework, PS is expected to mediate the association between COVID-19 expectations and NA. METHODS: Seven hundred fourteen residents of the United States and aged 60 and older completed an anonymous online survey in late March 2020 reporting PS, NA, and expectations regarding the pandemic. RESULTS: Regression analyses controlling for demographic factors revealed that more dire pandemic expectations significantly predicted PS and NA directly, and the effects on NA were significantly mediated by PS. DISCUSSION: Findings provide evidence that expectations about a pandemic influence the extent to which older adults experience stress and NA in the midst of a pandemic event. Implications for mental health are discussed.

Daily associations among aging perceptions, perceived health, and perceived stress in older adults.

OBJECTIVES: Daily perceived stress is a key indicator of well-being across adulthood, but particularly for those experiencing age-linked challenges. Understanding how day-level factors most salient to the aging process are associated with daily stress levels can further elucidate the mechanisms involved. Here, we investigate two such age-salient factors-daily perceived health and day-level aging perceptions-on daily perceived stress in later life, with a particular interest in the potential role of aging perceptions as an emotion-focused coping resource. METHOD: 127 older adults (mean age 79) completed daily surveys reporting aging perceptions, perceived health, and perceived stress for 14 days, along with a global questionnaire. Multilevel models assessed the between-person and within-person influences of both daily aging perceptions and daily perceived health on day-level perceived stress. RESULTS: Key findings: (a) days of worse perceived health are also days of higher perceived stress; (b) days of more negative aging perceptions are days of higher perceived stress; (c) these individual effects maintain significance when the other is controlled, and (d) these effects interact, so that perceived health is more strongly associated with perceived stress on days when aging perceptions are below a person's mean. CONCLUSION: The moderating effect identifies aging perceptions as a potentially important resource for emotion-focused coping in later life, particularly for older adults experiencing stress associated with poorer perceived health.

Daily Religious Coping Buffers the Stress-Affect Relationship and Benefits Overall Metabolic Health in Older Adults.

This study focuses on how daily religious coping mitigates daily stress, regulates emotional responses, and ultimately produces more optimal health outcomes. Participants were 267 community-dwelling older adults from the Later Life Cohort of the Notre Dame Study of Health & Well-being (mean age=72; 63% female). Daily diary data (56 days) were used to assess the effects of daily perceived stress, daily religious coping, and their interaction on daily negative affect. Multi-level modeling (MLM) results suggested that religious coping regulated the effects of stress on negative affect (ß=0.02; p<.01). The intraindividual variability in these day-level effects represent specific dynamic aspects of the individual, referred to as dynamic characteristics. These person-level dynamic characteristics derived from the MLM were correlated with indicators of metabolic health, and predicted healthier values. Most significantly, the stress buffering effects of Religious Coping predicted better metabolic health, as indicated by negative correlations with glucose tolerance (A1c; r = -0.32, p < .001) and the Obesity composite variable (r = -0.23, p = .01). Results demonstrate that the ability to use religious coping to regulate the effects of stress on negative affect may delay the onset of disorders associated with obesity and dysregulation in the metabolic system.

Investigating the function spiral in later life: Aging attitudes, physical activity, and gait.

This study tests the Function Spiral Model, which proposes that functional decline often occurs prematurely: negative aging attitudes reduce activity engagement, which then advances functional decline via physical deconditioning. A total of 89 adults aged 61-96 (M = 77) years completed a questionnaire assessing aging attitudes and physical activity and participated in a follow-up assessment of gait/balance and function. Results supported the process model: physical activity mediated the impact of negative aging attitudes on gait/balance, and gait/balance mediated the impact of physical activity on function. Findings highlight multiple points of intervention that could mitigate the acceleration of functional decline in later life.

Daily Well-Being Benefits of Physical Activity in Older Adults: Does Time or Type Matter?

Purpose of the Study: There is little debate that maintaining some level of physical activity in later life conveys positive benefits both physically and psychologically. What is less understood is the extent to which the type of activity or the length of time spent doing it matters when it comes to these benefits on the daily level. Here, we investigated (a) whether the presence of daily purposeful exercise (Exercise) or non-exercise physical activity (Activity) is sufficient for experiencing day-level benefits, or if time spent matters, and (b) whether there are differential well-being benefits of Exercise and Activity on the daily level. Design and Methods: Older adults (N = 127; aged 60-95, Mage = 79.4) filled out surveys for 14 days, reporting daily Exercise and Activity behaviors as well as Positive and Negative Affect (PA/NA), Perceived Stress (PS), Perceived Health (PH), and Sleep Quality (SQ). Results: Multilevel regression models showed that for purposeful exercise, more time spent was beneficial for PA, NA, and PH, but for PS, only the presence of exercise was important (time did not matter). For non-exercise activity, time did not have as great an influence as presence-doing any form of activity was beneficial for both PA and SQ. Exercise and Activity had largely independent (additive) effects. Implications: Results reveal that both purposeful exercise and non-exercise activity convey independent daily well-being benefits, and that for some aspects of daily well-being, duration does matter. Findings can be applied in the development of physical activity education or engagement programs for older adults.

Relationships Among Nightly Sleep Quality, Daily Stress, and Daily Affect.

OBJECTIVES.: We explored the prospective, microlevel relationship between nightly sleep quality (SQ) and the subsequent day's stress on positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) as well as the moderating relationships between nightly SQ, subsequent stress, and subsequent PA on NA. We investigated whether age moderated these relationships. METHOD.: We collected 56 days of sleep, stress, and affect data using daily diary questionnaires (N = 552). We used multilevel modeling to assess relationships at the between- and within-person levels. RESULTS.: Daily increases in SQ and decreases in stress interacted to predict higher daily PA and lower daily NA. Better SQ in older adults enhanced the benefits of PA on the stress-NA relationship more during times of low stress, whereas better sleep in younger adults enhanced the benefits of PA more during times of high stress. Between-person effects were stronger predictors of well-being outcomes than within-person variability. DISCUSSION.: The combination of good SQ and higher PA buffered the impact of stress on NA. The moderating impact of age suggests that sleep and stress play different roles across adulthood. Targeting intervention and prevention strategies to improve SQ and enhance PA could disrupt the detrimental relationship between daily stress and NA.

The effect of the financial crisis on physical health: Perceived impact matters.

The impact of the financial crisis on health was investigated ( N = 312). Intraindividual intercept, slope, and quadratic parameters capturing trends in income, subjective financial situation, and perceived stress across the period predicted physical health, controlling for baseline health. For those experiencing a decline in financial situation, a decrease in financial situation and an increase in perceived stress predicted poorer health; neither financial situation nor perceived stress predicted health in those not experiencing this decline. Although we cannot intervene in contextual factors like the financial crisis, health outcomes may be improved by targeting perceived impact and stress levels in those who feel affected.

Health behaviors in older adults: Considering age, affect, and attitudes.

Identifying psychological factors associated with engagement in healthy behaviors in later life is a key to effective behavior interventions. In all, 204 adults ( Mage = 80) took a questionnaire assessing objective and perceived health, positive affect and negative affect, aging attitudes, and three classes of health behaviors: eating/nutrition, exercise, and general health behavior. Regression models found better eating behavior was best explained by older age, more exercise was best explained by more positive affect, and better general lifestyle behavior was best explained by worse perceived health. Programs promoting health behaviors in older adults can utilize the findings to tailor interventions to the health behavior of interest.

Affective health bias in older adults: Considering positive and negative affect in a general health context.

RATIONALE: Because subjective health reports are a primary source of health information in a number of medical and research-based contexts, much research has been devoted to establishing the extent to which these self-reports of health correspond to health information from more objective sources. One of the key factors considered in this area is trait affect, with most studies emphasizing the impact of negative affect (negative emotions) over positive affect (positive emotions), and focusing on high-arousal affect (e.g., anger, excitement) over moderate- or low-arousal affect (e.g., relaxed, depressed). OBJECTIVES: The present study examines the impact of both Positive and Negative Affect (PA/NA)-measured by items of both high and low arousal-on the correspondence between objective health information and subjective health reports. Another limitation of existing literature in the area is the focus on samples suffering from a particular diagnosis or on specific symptom reports; here, these effects are investigated in a sample of community-dwelling older adults representing a broader spectrum of health. METHOD: 153 older adults (Mage = 71.2) took surveys assessing Perceived Health and Affect and underwent an objective physical health assessment. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the extent to which the relationship between Objective Health and Perceived Health was moderated by PA or NA, which would indicate the presence of affective health bias. RESULTS: Results reveal a significant moderation effect for NA, but not for PA; PA appeared to serve a more mediational function, indicating that NA and PA operate on health perceptions in distinct ways. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that in our high-functioning, community-dwelling sample of older adults, a) affective health bias is present within a general health context, and not only within specific symptom or diagnostic categories; and b) that both PA and NA play important roles in the process.

Ups and downs of daily life: age effects on the impact of daily appraisal variability on depressive symptoms.

OBJECTIVES: Day-to-day variability in appraisals has emerged as an index of emotion regulation and overall well-being; there is also evidence that such emotion regulation processes change with age. We investigate the impact of day-to-day variability in positive and negative event appraisals on depressive symptoms, focusing on (a) how variability and mean appraisal characteristics interact to impact well-being and (b) whether these effects differ by age. METHODS: Participants from the Notre Dame Study of Health & Well-Being (aged 40-75 years, N = 654) completed daily diaries for up to 56 days, along with a global survey. Measures included daily data on life events and appraisals and global assessments of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale) and neuroticism. RESULTS: Both mean and variability components of daily positive and negative event appraisals predict global depressive symptoms; mean and variability interactions were also significant. The negative appraisal effects became less pronounced with age. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that those in later life are better able to manage the impact that their cognitive and emotional responses to daily stressors have on depressive symptoms. The results also highlight the importance of examining daily variability-in addition to mean levels-in understanding the impact of daily events and appraisals on well-being.

Self-reported health bias: the role of daily affective valence and arousal.

OBJECTIVE: The present study addresses gaps in the literature on affect-biased health perceptions by (a) investigating health bias while considering both valence and arousal components of affect; (b) establishing the presence of, and variability in, affective health bias at the daily level; and (c) exploring daily health bias in a non-clinical, community sample of adults. DESIGN: Participants were 477 adults (aged 33-80 years) who reported daily health events, health satisfaction and affect for up to 56 days. Health bias was present when the effect of a given day's health events on that day's health satisfaction was significantly moderated by that day's affect. Multilevel modelling was used to investigate fixed and random within-day effects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Daily health satisfaction. RESULTS: Significant interaction effects indicated the presence of health bias on the daily level: positively valenced affect buffered the negative impact of health events on health satisfaction, whereas negatively valenced affect exacerbated this association; additionally, valence emerged as the most salient characteristic of positive affect, whereas arousal was a differentiating factor for negative affect. CONCLUSION: The results provide evidence that both valence and arousal components of affect are important to consider when investigating day-level health bias, and that these effects can be detected using a general population of adults.

Combinations of stressors in midlife: examining role and domain stressors using regression trees and random forests.

OBJECTIVES: Global perceptions of stress (GPS) have major implications for mental and physical health, and stress in midlife may influence adaptation in later life. Thus, it is important to determine the unique and interactive effects of diverse influences of role stress (at work or in personal relationships), loneliness, life events, time pressure, caregiving, finances, discrimination, and neighborhood circumstances on these GPS. METHOD: Exploratory regression trees and random forests were used to examine complex interactions among myriad events and chronic stressors in middle-aged participants' (N = 410; mean age = 52.12) GPS. RESULTS: Different role and domain stressors were influential at high and low levels of loneliness. Varied combinations of these stressors resulting in similar levels of perceived stress are also outlined as examples of equifinality. Loneliness emerged as an important predictor across trees. DISCUSSION: Exploring multiple stressors simultaneously provides insights into the diversity of stressor combinations across individuals--even those with similar levels of global perceived stress--and answers theoretical mandates to better understand the influence of stress by sampling from many domain and role stressors. Further, the unique influences of each predictor relative to the others inform theory and applied work. Finally, examples of equifinality and multifinality call for targeted interventions.

Coping with daily stress: differential role of spiritual experience on daily positive and negative affect.

OBJECTIVES: On the global-level, spiritual experiences have been shown to buffer against the negative effects of stress on well-being for older adults, but this global-level analysis may not reflect the day-to-day processes at work. The present project uses a daily paradigm to examine the potential moderating effect of everyday spiritual experience (ESE) on the deleterious impact of a given day's perceived stress (PS) on that day's positive and negative affect (PA/NA). METHOD: Participants were 244 older adults aged 55-80 years who completed daily assessments for up to 56 days. RESULTS: Results partially support the moderating hypothesis: ESE buffered the negative effect of PS on same-day NA but had a positive direct effect on same-day PA. DISCUSSION: These results point to a differential function of ESE-that it serves a coping function for NA but enhances PA directly-in the day-to-day lives of older adults, shedding light on the nuanced role of religiousness and spirituality when it comes to coping with daily stress.