Shared Responsibility and Civic Engagement in Very Old Age

Although late-life potentials are increasingly recognized as a valuable resource for shaping social change, contributions of the very old to civil society are still regularly overlooked. The authors outline a comprehensive perspective on very old age (or the fourth age), which integrates vulnerability and developmental potential, and report findings from the Generali study of the very old in Germany. This mixed-methods study included 400 qualitative biographical interviews with people aged 85+ and a standardized survey of 800 employees of municipalities and voluntary organizations. The authors found that feelings of shared responsibility and motives for engagement in family and community, especially for younger generations, were highly prevalent among the very old participants. Approximately one half of them reported being civically engaged, mostly in informal settings, and many had been engaged before. The very old participants emphasized the importance of positive intergenerational relationships, physical health, positive perceptions of aging, and supportive environments as major factors that might promote their civic engagement. However, perspectives of institutional staff were different. Institutional staff rated the very old more negatively as compared with the young-old and saw the barriers to civic engagement primarily within the individuals (e.g., in their old age and poor health). The authors’ findings indicate that lacking institutional opportunity structures may contribute to the exclusion of some very old people from civic life.     

Predispositional Engagement,Activity Engagement,and Cognition among Older Adults

ABSTRACT

We investigated interrelationships between the predisposition toward approaching experiences in a mindful and creative way, participation in specific activities, and cognition among older adults. Participants were administered a battery measuring cognition (i.e., working memory, processing speed, divergent thinking, inductive reasoning, visuo-spatial processing), activity level, and the predisposition towards mental engagement (Need for Cognition, Mindfulness, and Openness to Experience). Results indicated that predispositional engagement and activity engagement are distinct constructs that independently contribute to different aspects of fluid ability, highlighting the importance of considering both the predisposition toward mental engagement as well as the habitual tendency to participate in activities when exploring principles of cognitive optimization.     

Sex Differences in Cognition are Stable Over a 10-Year Period in Adulthood and Old Age

ABSTRACT

Sex differences in declarative memory and visuospatial ability are robust in cross-sectional studies. The present longitudinal study examined whether sex differences in cognition were present over a 10-year period, and whether age modified the magnitude of sex differences. Tests assessing episodic and semantic memory, and visuospatial ability were administered to 625 nondemented adults (initially aged 35–80 years), participating in the population-based Betula study at two follow-up occasions. There was stability of sex differences across five age groups and over a 10-year period. Women performed at a higher level than men on episodic recall, face and verbal recognition, and semantic fluency, whereas men performed better than women on a task-assessing, visuospatial ability. Sex differences in cognitive functions are stable over a 10-year period and from 35 to 90 years of age.     

Glycosylated Hemoglobin Level,Race/Ethnicity,and Cognition in Midlife and Early Old Age

Empirical evidence linking racial/ethnic differences in glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c) to cognitive function in midlife and early old age is limited. We use biomarker data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 2006–2014), on adults 50–64 years at baseline (57–73 years by 2014), and fit multinomial logistic regression models to assess the association between baseline HbA1c, cognitive function (using Langa–Weir classifications) and mortality across 8 years. Additionally, we test for modification effects by race/ethnicity. In age- and sex-adjusted models high HbA1c level was associated with lower baseline cognition and higher relative risk ratios (RRR; vs. normal cognition) for cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND; RRR = 2.3; 95%CI = [1.38;3.84]; p < .01), and dementia (RRR = 4.00; 95%CI = [1.76;9.10]; p < .01). Adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral risk factors, and other health conditions explained the higher RRR for CIND and attenuated the RRR for dementia by approximately 30%. HbA1c levels were not linked to the slope of cognitive decline, and we found no evidence of modification effects for HbA1c by race/ethnicity. Targeting interventions for glycemic control in the critical midlife period can protect baseline cognition and buffer against downstream development of cognitive impairment. This can yield important public health benefits and reductions in burdens associated with cognitive impairment, particularly among race/ethnic minorities who are at higher risk for metabolic diseases.     

Old Age:

According to the research of gerontologists, old age is not as bad as many negative stereotypes portray. However, the crises of loss, physical decline, and social oppression are spiritually difficult for many older persons. This article suggests that we develop images of the latter part of life that are honest with both the possibilities and the dangers. The ministry of the church involves much more than "taking care of" fragile older persons. We must also challenge ourselves to be open to the crises through which God transforms our individual and corporate lives at all ages.     

Personality and Memory in Old Age

We examined the impact of personality on episodic memory performance in a sample of 287 healthy adults aged 68-95 years. Extraversion and neuroticism were assessed with a standardized personality inventory. Episodic memory was assessed with an everyday task. Results from regression analyses controlling for the effects of age, gender, and education show that higher extraversion and lower neuroticism are associated with higher episodic memory performance. In addition, the strength of the correlations between neuroticism and episodic memory declined with increasing age in a male sub-sample, revealing an interaction between age and neuroticism.     

The University of Manchester Longitudinal Study of Cognition in Normal Healthy Old Age, 1983 through 2003

This paper describes the participants, design, method and tests used during a 20-year longitudinal study of cognitive changes in increasing age experienced by 6542 healthy residents of Greater Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then aged from 42 to 92 years. Information collected and updated includes demographics and health, scores on two, biennially alternated batteries of cognitive tests, repeated administrations of the Beck and Yesavage depression inventories and of self-reports of stressful life events, self-evaluation and locus of control questionnaires and detailed information on lifestyle, hobbies and occupations, physical and social activities, family circumstances and health history. Records have allowed investigation of rates of cognitive changes from 36 months to 20 years preceding death from a variety of causes. Collection of blood and saliva provide, blood chemistry and cortisol levels to analyse associations of rates of cognitive change to genetic factors, blood chemistry and cortisol levels. A random effects analysis confirms marked effects of drop-out and practice due to repeated testing and shows how true rates of change, and of increases in variability between individuals may be ascertained after these have been identified.     

Improving Attention in Old Age

The aim of this study was to examine whether a mindful intervention, based on noticing distinctions, could be used to improve the attention of older individuals. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four attention interventions. In the mindfulness groups, participants studying a set of pictures were told to notice either three or five distinctions. In the control groups, participants were either told to pay attention or were not given any directions related to attention before exposure to the set of pictures. The results indicated that those who viewed the stimuli in terms of distinctions were able to remember significantly more pictures than did those in the control groups. Distinction drawing also increased liking for the stimuli. The findings suggest that if older individuals want to increase attention and recall, rather than focus their attention, they may want to find ways to vary their attention.     

Institutional and Personal Adjustment in Old Age

Assertive behaviors, as measured by teachers, observers, and an experimental task, were related to each other and to Stanford-Binet intelligence scores. All measures of assertion were correlated with each other and with total IQ. Subsequent item analysis of the Binet showed that the more assertive children did better on certain items: comprehension, verbal, and discrimination. These results are discussed as are possible reasons for non-responsiveness of 20% of the sample and the implications of this for future research.     

Between Midlife and Old Age:

This article is based on taped interviews with 56 women, individually and in groups, between the ages of 60 and 70, as well as my own experience as a woman past 65. Discussions with my friends and colleagues in this age group also contributed to my thinking. My sense is that the seventh decade is one of numerous transitions in the lives of women, and that these transitions require extensive, varied, and often painful opportunities for learning. Furthermore, the proximity to life's ending also acts as a strong motivator for engaging in activities that had previously been put off; these include a variety of self-selected and often pleasurable learning experiences. The learning that takes place at this age is rarely acknowledged; it is more likely to be overshadowed by the ageist assumption that old people lost their ability to learn or even to comprehend new information, and by the sexist assumption that women are incapable of making intelligent and practical decisions. These interviews and informal discussion contradict such stereotypical misinformation about old women, showing instead a high level of personal and interpersonal learning, as well as the development of extensive and creative new coping strategies.     

Age Effects in the Processing of Typical and Distinctive Faces

Two experiments exploring the differential processing of distinctive and typical faces by adults and children are reported. Experiment 1 employed a recognition memory task. On three out of four dimensions of measurement, children of 5 years of age did not show an advantage for distinctive faces, whereas older children and adults did. In Experiment 2, however, subjects of all ages classified typical faces faster than distinctive ones in a face/non-face decision task: the 5-year-olds performed exactly as did adults and older children. The different patterns in performance between these two tasks are discussed in relation to possible cognitive architectures for the way young children represent faces in memory. Specifically, we examine two alternative architectures proposed by Ellis (1992) as precursors for Valentine's (1991a) multidimensional adult face-space and discuss whether implementations of these spaces should be based on a norm-based or an exemplar-based framework.     

Reminiscence,Retirement, and Rorschach Responses in Old Age

A longitudinal design examined changes in the 11 response types on the Children's Form of the Picture-Frustration (P-F) Study. Eighty-six children were retested on the instrument after a 5-year interim. Children showed changes reflecting an increase in verbal aggression and an increase in making amends for wrongdoing. They showed decreases in unfocused emotional outbursts and apologies. The finding add to the literature on children's emotional development of aggression and guilt and on the validity of the instrument.     

教育水平对老年人认知能力的影响模式

来自北京三个社区的217位60~85岁的老年人接受了五项基本心理能力测验、感觉功能测查、加工速度和工作记忆容量的测试。运用相关分析、方差分析以及结构方程模型考察了教育水平对老年人基本心理能力的影响。研究得到：（1）从整体上看,教育水平对老年人基本心理能力的积极作用是普遍存在的,不依赖于具体的领域;分水平看,教育水平对认知功能的积极作用随教育水平的高低表现出领域间的差异。（2）教育水平与年龄各自独立地对老年人的认知能力产生影响,教育水平的作用是积极的,年龄的影响是极性的。（3）教育水平对老年人基本心理能力的影响不是直接的,而是以加工速度和工作记忆为中介的。     

基于年龄建构的老化心理——一项深度访谈研究报告

为考察年龄建构的老化心理,采用质化深度访谈法收集资料,结合现象学分析法和使用扎根理论资料分析法分析资料,结果发现,年龄建构了“增龄即老化”以及拒老、服老、怯老、终老等老化心理。老年人先以“不老之心”抵抗生理性老化;后屈服于并认可“落伍者”和退休者的老年身份;再因老年病的常态化对成为“累赘”和“负担”感到担忧;最后在恐惧和无奈中向人生告别。研究评估了结果的描述型、解释型和评价型效度作,分别为5、4.77、4.38分。     

Old Age as a Stage of Life

The objective list account of wellbeing is usually taken to say that the same set of goods is relevant to wellbeing for any person, regardless of age. Coupled with reasonable assumptions about how goods are distributed over the lifespan, that leads to a picture of wellbeing as higher in midlife and lower in childhood and old age. I argue that a stage-relativized objective list theory is more plausible, after exploring several ways to understand the concept of a life stage. On the stage-relativized view, lists of goods that define wellbeing vary in the sense that there are shifting thresholds and subcategories relevant to different stages of life, but also because there are goods that count at one stage and count less or not at all at others. After exploring the list of goods for old age, I argue that the old age form of wellbeing can be welcomed even if the goods it offers are not superior to midlife goods.     

Gratitude From Early Adulthood to Old Age

Are there age differences in gratitude from early adulthood to old age? The current studies tested several ways by which an association between age and dispositional gratitude may present, by considering multiple measures on both fronts. We used data from three cross‐sectional studies (total N = 1,736; total age range: 19–94). The results indicated that (a) age effects in gratitude are more likely to occur for subjective age in terms of future time perspective (i.e., people's perceptions of their remaining opportunities and time) than chronological age; (b) chronological age effects are more domain specific than general in nature; and (c) they are more likely to occur for the instrumental domain as compared to the interpersonal domain. Finally, the results indicated that (d) perceived future time, particularly with respect to remaining opportunities, mediates the relation between chronological age and general gratitude. Overall, the findings suggest that gratitude is subject to a variety of developmental influences across adulthood.