Cohort differences in adult-life trajectories of internal and external control beliefs: A tale of more and better maintained internal control and fewer external constraints

Retirement and Volunteering in Germany - Historical Changes and Social Inequalities

The first years of retirement have often been seen as a typical time window to take up (or intensify) voluntary work. Due to the changing context of retirement and historical differences in resources, the role of retirement for volunteering may have changed with historical time. We compared individuals aged 60-70 in five cross-sectional waves (1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019) of the German Survey on Volunteering (Deutscher Freiwilligensurvey: FWS) to investigate how the association of retirement status and volunteering has changed. We found a negative association of retirement and volunteering, which was not significant once controlling for age, education, gender and region. While engagement levels seem to have increased with historical time, voluntary work seems to have become less time consuming. There were no historical differences in the association of retirement and volunteering. Our results highlight the role of historical time and contextual factors when investigating volunteering and post-retirement activities.

Cohort Differences in Depressive Symptoms and Life Satisfaction in 75- and 80-Year-Olds: A Comparison of Two Cohorts 28 Years Apart

Objectives: To examine birth cohort differences in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction in older men and women and the mechanisms underpinning the possible cohort differences. Methods: Two independent cohorts of Finnish men and women aged 75 and 80 were assessed in 1989-1990 (n = 617) and 2017-2018 (n = 794). They reported their depressive symptoms (CES-D), current life satisfaction, and evaluation of life until now. Results: The later-born cohort reported fewer depressive symptoms (8.6 ± 7.1 vs. 13.9 ± 8.3) and the differences were similar for the subdomains of depressive symptoms. The later-born cohort was more often mostly satisfied with life until now (90 vs. 70%) but not with the current life than the earlier-born cohort. Better self-rated health and education of the later-born cohort partly explain the cohort differences. Discussion: Older people in Finland report fewer depressive symptoms and they are more satisfied with their past life compared to their counterparts assessed 28 years ago.

Are generations a useful concept?

The concepts of generations and generational differences have received much attention in the academic literature, in the popular press, and among practitioners, policymakers, and politicians. Despite the continued interest, research has failed to find convincing evidence for the existence of distinct generations, commonly conceptualized as broad groupings of birth cohorts (e.g., 1980-2000) that have been influenced by a set of significant events (e.g., economic depressions) and labeled with names and qualities that supposedly reflect their defining characteristics (e.g., Millennials). Further, any differences that have been found in empirical studies, and that have been attributed to generational membership, are more likely due to age and/or contemporaneous period effects. Nonetheless, some researchers, employers, institutions, governments, and many laypeople continue to treat generations like they are a powerful and actionable phenomenon. We address these issues in two ways. First, we review the science of generations, focusing on what is known, what is not, and why the evidence points to the conclusion that generations, as popularly conceptualized, do not exist in objectively quantifiable ways. We also address the disconnect between science and practice regarding generations. Second, we explore alternate explanations for effects that are attributed to generations and review approaches that are both more theoretically sound and empirically supported, including lifespan theory and social constructionist frameworks. Finally, we address connections between assumptions made about generations and concerns about diversity, equity, and inclusion at work. Specifically, we address what has been termed generationalism, the belief that members of specific generations possess unique, stereotypic characteristics.

Beyond Big Five trait domains: Stability and change in personality facets across midlife and old age

OBJECTIVE

Accumulated evidence indicates both stable and malleable parts of inter-individual differences in the broad Big Five domains. Less is known, however, about stability and change at the more diversified facet level. With the current study, we fill this gap by investigating personality stability and change across midlife and old age.

METHOD

We apply local structural equation measurement models and second-order growth curve models to four waves of data obtained with the full NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) collected over 11 years from 1667 adults (Mage  = 62.69 years, SDage  = 15.62, 55% female) who participated in the Seattle Longitudinal Study.

RESULTS

Measurement invariance analyses indicated that the psychometric properties of the NEO-PI-R facets are comparable across time and age. Results revealed substantial rank-order stabilities across all facets, yet the exact pattern varied strongly between facets of the same trait and across traits. Mean-level change of facets from midlife to old age largely mirrored the mean-level change observed for the broader traits.

CONCLUSION

We discuss conceptual implications and argue that in the face of overall stability across midlife and old age, changes in the rank-ordering of people reveals a much more complex and diverse pattern of development than analyses at the trait level suggest.

Younger Than Ever? Subjective Age Is Becoming Younger and Remains More Stable in Middle-Age and Older Adults Today

Little is known about historical shifts in subjective age (i.e., how old individuals feel). Moving beyond the very few time-lagged cross-sectional cohort comparisons, we examined historical shifts in within-person trajectories of subjective age from midlife to advanced old age. We used cohort-comparative longitudinal data from middle-age and older adults in the German Ageing Survey (N = 14,928; ~50% female) who lived in Germany and were between 40 and 85 years old when entering the study. They provided up to seven observations over 24 years. Results revealed that being born later in historical time is associated with feeling younger by 2% every birth-year decade and with less intraindividual change toward an older subjective age. Women reported feeling younger than men; this gender gap widened across cohorts. The association of higher education with younger subjective age became weaker across cohorts. Potential reasons for the subjective-rejuvenation effect across cohorts are discussed.

Examining Racial Disparities in Historical Change of Mental and Physical Health Across Midlife and Old Age in the United States

OBJECTIVES

To examine whether racial disparities are narrowing or widening with historical time among U.S. middle-aged and older adults, and test the extent to which educational attainment moderates racial disparities over historical time.

METHODS

Multilevel models were applied to longitudinal data on middle-aged (ages 40-65) and older adults (ages 66 and older) from the Health and Retirement Study. Historical change was indexed as cohort or birth year. The outcomes of focus were depressive symptoms, episodic memory, health conditions, functional limitations, and self-rated health.

RESULTS

Results revealed a differential pattern of racial disparities in historical change between midlife and old age. Across midlife and old age, on average, Blacks and Hispanics reported poorer levels of mental and physical health, compared with Whites. In midlife, racial disparities narrowed with historical time; later-born cohorts of Hispanics but not Whites reported fewer depressive symptoms than their earlier-born peers. Likewise, historical improvements in health were stronger among Hispanics and Blacks than Whites. Conversely, in old age, later-born cohorts across race consistently showed historical improvements in each of the outcomes examined. Regarding educational attainment, we observed little consistent evidence that health-promoting effects of educational attainment differ across race and cohort. Examining questions about heterogeneity, results revealed that in midlife and old age there was greater heterogeneity between race across each of the outcomes.

DISCUSSION

Our discussion elaborates on reasons behind the documented racial differences in historical changes among U.S. middle-aged and older adults, and how the protective role of education is changing over time.

Awareness of Age-Related Changes Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Longitudinal Trajectories, and the Role of Age Stereotypes and Personality Traits

Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC) describes to what extent people become aware of changes which they attribute to getting older. So far little is known regarding how different AARC dimensions change over time, to what extent these changes in different domains of AARC gains and losses are interrelated, and which predictors account for inter-individual differences in within-person longitudinal trajectories. Specifically, the extent to which individuals perceive age-related gains and losses might be shaped by their chronological age, their personality as well as by their general views on aging (i.e., their age stereotypes). We investigated changes in global and domain-specific AARC gains and losses over about five years in a sample of originally N = 423 participants aged 40 to 98 years at baseline. We analyzed the role of personality traits and age stereotypes for levels and changes of AARC, taking into account participants' age at baseline and controlling for gender, education, and subjective health. Based on longitudinal multilevel regression models, we observed mean-level declines in most AARC gain domains. In contrast, perceived general AARC losses, as well as AARC losses in health and physical functioning, in cognitive functioning and in social-cognitive/socio-emotional functioning remained, on average, stable over time. Baseline scores on AARC gains (global scale) were higher among individuals with higher neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness and more positive age stereotypes. Additionally, the association of higher neuroticism with higher AARC gain scores was stronger among individuals with more positive age stereotypes. Higher neuroticism and more negative age stereotypes also predicted higher baseline scores on AARC losses (global scale). At the same time, higher neuroticism was associated with a steeper decrease in AARC loss perceptions over time. Most of the intercorrelations within the intercepts and within the intra-individual trajectories of the different AARC domains were positive, but small in size. Our findings show the importance of considering trajectories of age-related gains and losses in parallel and across multiple developmental domains when investigating the subjective perception of the aging process. They also suggest that personality traits and general age stereotypes are related with individual experiences of aging.

Acting Like a Baby Boomer? Birth-Cohort Differences in Adults' Personality Trajectories During the Last Half a Century

Society and developmental theory generally assume that there are wide generational differences in personality. Yet evidence showing historical change in the levels of adult Big Five traits is scarce and particularly so for developmental change. We tracked adult trajectories of personality in 4,732 participants (age: M = 52.93 years, SD = 16.69; 53% female) from the Seattle Longitudinal Study (born 1883-1976) across 50 years. Multilevel models revealed evidence for historical change in personality: At age 56, later-born cohorts exhibited lower levels of maturity-related traits (agreeableness and neuroticism) and higher levels of agency-related traits (extraversion and openness) than earlier-born cohorts. Historical changes in agreeableness and neuroticism were more pronounced among young adults, but changes in openness were less pronounced. Cohort differences in change were rare and were observed only for agreeableness; within-person increases were more pronounced among later-born cohorts. Our results yield the first evidence for historical change in the Big Five across adulthood and point to the roles of delayed social-investment and maturity effects.

Role-Based Framing of Older Adults Linked to Decreased Ageism Over 210 Years: Evidence From a 600-Million-Word Historical Corpus

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Older adults are exhibiting greater diversity in their aging trajectories. This has led to movements by the World Health Organization and AARP to reframe aging. We compare role-based framing and age-based framing of older adults over 210 years-a time span beyond the reach of traditional methods-and elucidate their respective sentiments and narratives.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We combined the Corpus of Historical American English with the Corpus of Contemporary American English to create a 600-million-word-dataset-the largest historical corpus of American English with over 150,000 texts collected from newspapers, magazines, fiction and non-fiction. We compiled the top descriptors of age-based terms (e.g., senior citizen) and role-based terms (e.g., grandparent) and rated them for stereotypic valence (negative to positive) over 21 decades.

RESULTS

Age-based framing evidenced a significantly higher increase in negativity (15%) compared to role-based framing (4%). We found a significant interaction effect between framing (age-based vs. role-based) and stereotypic content across two centuries (1800s and 1900s). The percentage of positive topics associated with role-based framing increased from 71% in the 1800s to 89% in the 1900s, with narratives of affection and wisdom becoming more prevalent. Conversely, the percentage of positive topics for age-based framing decreased from 82% to 38% over time, with narratives of burden, illness and death growing more prevalent.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

We argue for a more role-centric approach when framing aging such that age ceases to be the chief determinant in how older adults are viewed in society.

Cohort profile: follow-up of a Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II) subsample as part of the GendAge study

PURPOSE

The study 'Sex- and gender-sensitive prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in older adults in Germany', the GendAge study, focuses on major risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and on the development of major outcomes from intermediate phenotypes in the context of sex and gender differences. It is based on a follow-up examination of a subsample (older group) of the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II).

PARTICIPANTS

The GendAge study assessments took place between 22 June 2018 and 10 March 2020. A total of 1100 participants (older BASE-II subsample, aged ≥65 years) with baseline data assessed at least by one of the BASE-II partner sites were investigated in the follow-up. These participants had a mean age of 75.6 years (SD ±3.8), with a mean follow-up at 7.4 years (SD ±1.5).

FINDINGS TO DATE

Data from different domains such as internal medicine, geriatrics, immunology and psychology were collected, with a focus on cardiometabolic diseases and in the context of sex and gender differences. Diabetes mellitus type 2 was reported by 15.6% and 8.6% of men and women, respectively. In contrast, this disease was diagnosed in 20.7% of men and 13.3% of women, indicating that a substantial proportion of almost 30% was unaware of the disease. Echocardiography revealed that left ventricular ejection fraction was higher in women than in men, in agreement with previous reports.

FUTURE PLANS

A gender questionnaire assessing sociocultural aspects implemented as part of the follow-up described here will allow to calculate a gender score and its evaluation based on the newly collected data. At the same time, the other BASE-II research foci established over the past 10 years will be continued and strengthened by the BASE-II transition into a longitudinal study with follow-up data on the older subsample.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

DRKS00016157.

Location, Location, Location: The Role of Objective Neighborhood Characteristics for Perceptions of Control

INTRODUCTION

Control beliefs can protect against age-related declines in functioning. It is unclear whether neighborhood characteristics shape how much control people perceive over their life. This article studies associations of neighborhood characteristics with control beliefs of residents of a diverse metropolitan area (Berlin, Germany).

METHODS

We combine self-report data about perceptions of control obtained from participants in the Berlin Aging Study II (N = 507, 60-87 years, 51% women) with multisource geo-referenced indicators of neighborhood characteristics using linear regression models.

RESULTS

Findings indicate that objective neighborhood characteristics (i.e., unemployment rate) are indeed tied to perceptions of control, in particular, how much control participants feel others have over their lives. Including neighborhood characteristics in part doubled the amount of explained variance compared with a reference model covarying for demographic characteristics only (from R2 = 0.017 to R2 = 0.030 for internal control beliefs; R2 = 0.056 to R2 = 0.102 for external control beliefs in chance; R2 = 0.006 to R2 = 0.030 for external control beliefs in powerful others).

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

Findings highlight the importance of access to neighborhood resources for control beliefs across old age and can inform interventions to build up neighborhood characteristics which might be especially helpful in residential areas with high unemployment.

Gender score development in the Berlin Aging Study II: a retrospective approach

In addition to biological sex, gender, defined as the sociocultural dimension of being a woman or a man, plays a central role in health. However, there are so far few approaches to quantify gender in a retrospective manner in existing study datasets. We therefore aimed to develop a methodology that can be retrospectively applied to assess gender in existing cohorts. We used baseline data from the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II), obtained in 2009–2014 from 1869 participants aged 60 years and older. We identified 13 gender-related variables and used them to construct a gender score by using primary component and logistic regression analyses. Of these, nine variables contributed to a gender score: chronic stress, marital status, risk-taking behaviour, personality attributes: agreeableness, neuroticism, extraversion, loneliness, conscientiousness, and level of education. Females and males differed significantly in the distribution of the gender score, but a significant overlap was also found. Thus, we were able to develop a gender score in a retrospective manner from already collected data that characterized participants in addition to biological sex. This approach will allow researchers to introduce the notion of gender retrospectively into a large number of studies.