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.     

Intergenerational Coresidence and Life Satisfaction in Old Age: The Moderating Role of Homeownership

Household structure for older people’s subjective well-being is important to promote healthy ageing in the context of the rapid increase of the older population. Living with adult children is known to promote older people’s life satisfaction, a key indicator of subjective well-being, whereas others claim a negative impact of such intergenerational coresidence. This study aims to empirically test these theories (family support vs. family conflict), by examining the role of homeownership–another important factor contributing to subjective well-being–in this association between intergenerational coresidence and life satisfaction. Analysing the nationally representative data on the elderly population in South Korea, the findings showed that intergenerational coresidence decreases life satisfaction when the elderly achieve a certain level of housing security by living in owner-occupied housing. Living with adult children is negatively associated with life satisfaction particularly for older old homeowners compared to younger old owners. Our findings provide implications for public policies promoting intergenerational coresidence and asset-based welfare to enhance older people’s well-being in Korea and more broadly in East Asia.

     

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.     

Change in Life Satisfaction Under Chronic Physical Multi-morbidity in Advanced Old Age: Potential and Limits of Adaptation

We examined the impact of chronic multi-morbidity on intra-individual change of life satisfaction (LS) in advanced old age, considering (1) adaptation in terms of stabilization or restoration of LS across accumulation of chronic conditions and (2) loss in functional competence to conduct activities of daily living (ADL) as potentially mediating the effect of chronic multi-morbidity on LS. Longitudinal data from a German sample (N = 451, aged 80–90 at baseline, 3 measurements covering 2.25 years) was analyzed by means of latent growth curve modeling. An adaptive curvilinear relationship between self-reported number of chronic conditions health constraints (NCC) at baseline and change in LS was confirmed, where the largest LS decline occurred under medium, but less worsening under highest levels of NCC. Change in ADL predicted LS change, but did not mediate the effects of NCC on LS. The findings confirmed the importance of both chronic multi-morbidity and loss of functional competence as independent predictors of decline in LS in very old age. Only limited evidence supported an adaptive stabilization of LS under accumulating levels of chronic multi-morbidity.     

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.     

Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life in Iranian Women of Reproductive Age

Introduction

Quality of life, one of the major concerns of health professionals, is the main indicator for measuring health status. The present study aimed to assess the quality of life and its predictors in women of reproductive age in Tabriz (Iran).

Methods & Materials

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 532 married women of reproductive age using a two-stage cluster random sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. It included questions on demographic characteristics, quality of life (SF-36), female sexual function index (FSFI), and ENRICH marital satisfaction. The general linear model in SPSS-13 was used to determine the predictors of quality of life.

Results

The mean (standard deviation, SD) score of physical and mental health was 62.2 (17.1) and 60.3 (18.5), respectively (from an attainable score range of 0–100). The highest mean (SD) score [69.5 (25.7)] was obtained for “physical functioning,” while the lowest [52.9 (24.4)] was for “role limitations due to emotional problems.” There was a significant positive correlation between the quality of life and its sub-domains with sexual function (r?=?0.15–0.33) and marital satisfaction (r?=?0.15 to 0.49). Higher sexual function and marital satisfaction, higher educational level, and no prior history of depression were predictors of physical and mental components of health-related quality of life.

Conclusion

Physical and mental components of quality of life among women were moderate. Relieving sexual problems and dysfunction and improving marital satisfaction may improve women's quality of life and help to achieve a strong family life.

     

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.     

Ethical Issues in Psychologists' Professional Practice: Agreement Over Problematic Professional Behaviors Among Spanish Psychologists

A sample of 703 Spanish psychologists completed an online survey containing 114 behaviors related to professional practice in different areas. The aim of the study was to learn which professional behaviors create ethical dilemmas most often for psychologists and how they respond to these issues. Findings suggest that psychologists who have actually faced a particular dilemma are less strict on judging the inappropriateness of a possible ethical transgression than those psychologists who have not experienced it. Also, four clusters can be identified according to the attitude of respondents toward the dilemmas, namely “rejection,” “aprioristic,” “utilitarian,” and “no conflict.”     

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.     

African American and European American Perceptions of Problematic Issues in Interethnic Communication Effectiveness

African American and European American perceptions of interethnic communication effectiveness were compared. Interethnic communication was conceptualized as a problematic event (perceptually organized into communication issues). Hypotheses proposed that ethnic identity would predict conversational issues which, in turn, would predict satisfaction. Nine issues salient to communication were derived from previous research: powerlessness, stereotyping, acceptance, goal attainment, authenticity, understanding, expressiveness, shared worldview, relational solidarity, and relaxation. The hypotheses were tested for differences between African Americans and European Americans with additional tests far relationship closeness. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factorial validity of the issues and indicated that identity had both political and social dimensions for African Americans but only a single dimension for European Americans. Path analysis did not support the causal ordering. However, when the causal link between identity and issues was eliminated and satisfaction was regressed on the entire set of predictor variables the multiple Rs were above .91 for both ethnic groups. Different issues were associated with satisfaction for each group and for close and distant relationships for each ethnic group.     

Dying to Be Old: A Sociological Analysis of Old Age as Cause of Death

While gerontology and issues of aging are attracting more focus and scholarship, little has been done to examine the social constructions of old age as perception, particularly in historical contexts. We use data from gravestones and burial records (1870s–1950s) of a single, large, midwestern cemetery to examine those who were said to have died of old age or senility for patterned differences in the application of these labels. We then compare this labeled group with all others of the same age range in the cemetery for fundamental demographic differences that would explain the presence or absence of these elder-status labels. Though differences in patterns between and within groups were often small and not statistically significant, they are typically in the direction predicted, and contribute to some historical sense of old age as social construction.     

The Hard Issues of Life

In pastoral counseling, the practitioner and client face the most difficult human problems. An authentic encounter and subsequent connection with one's fundamental Being often occurs, creating a direct existential knowing of what is. Because there are no directions or steps in a protocol to follow in this process, it is helpful for the client to reframe his/her existential search for Being as a Rite of Passage, comprising three distinct, but not separate stages—the separation phase, the initiation phase, and the return or integration phase. Such a process permits the individual a realization of what is through his/her own life circumstances, as a meaningful progression of spiritual growth.decorated Vietnam combat veteran and a marriage, family, and child counselor specializing in treatment of PTSD     

Remembering Numbers in Old Age: Mnemonic Training Versus Self-Generated Strategy Training

The effectiveness of two memory training programs designed to enhance four-digit number recall was examined in 90 healthy older adults. One group received instruction and training in the number-consonant mnemonic, whereas another group was instructed to adopt their own encoding and retrieval strategies to enhance number recall. Also, a control group receiving no training between testing occasions was included. The criterion task was administered according to the Buschke selective reminding procedure. Posttest performance was evaluated with and without cognitive support for remembering (i.e., verbal cues). Under unsupported conditions, the mnemonic group improved number recall following training and the self-generated strategy group showed a tendency in the same direction. When support was provided, group differences in favor of the two training groups increased. In addition, no training-related gains were observed in two verbal transfer tasks. The relatively similar patterns of gains in the two intervention groups were discussed in terms of advantages and disadvantages in the two training regimens balancing each other.     

气短——多种疾病的信号

生活中不利健康的因素很多,人们把这些因素称为“催老剂”。铝生活中人们使用的铝制品,如盘、铲、锅、勺等含有大量的铝元素。人体摄取过多的铝,会直接破坏人体神经细胞内遗传物脱氧核酸的功能,不仅使