Cognitive Interference in the Context of Daily Stressors, Daily Awareness of Age-Related Change, and General Aging Attitudes

Between-Person and Daily Within-Person Variation Patterns in Measures of Views of Aging

OBJECTIVES

Recent work suggests that views of aging (VOA; a meta-construct reflective of individuals' aging-related thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and experiences) fluctuate within persons in day-to-day life. This study characterized the extent of daily variability in VOA and explored differences in variability patterns based on measure to enhance understanding of the dynamic nature of VOA.

METHODS

An online sample of 122 adults aged 26-78 years completed multiple measures of VOA (subjective age, age group identity, aging attitudes, implicit theories of aging, awareness of age-related losses or gains) on each of 7 consecutive days. We partitioned variance in responses to each measure at the person level and day level to assess between-person and within-person variability, respectively.

RESULTS

Between-person variability accounted for most of the total observed variation in VOA, whereas within-person variability accounted for a smaller amount. Different measures exhibited different ratios of between-person to within-person variation, with the lowest ratios observed for subjective age. Exploration of potential differences between age groups also suggests lower ratios in younger compared to older adults.

DISCUSSION

Analyses suggest relative stability in daily measures of VOA over a 1-week period. Further study of measures (and age groups) showing greater within-person variability (evidenced by lower ratios of between-person to within-person variation) can increase understanding about constructs with greater sensitivity to fluctuating contexts. It can also inform future work linking VOA to other phenomenon in daily life.

The cognitive tenacity of self-directed ageism

Ageism refers to prejudice or discrimination based on a person's age. When ageism is directed at older people, it is unique in two ways: it is socially condoned in a manner that other types of prejudice are not, and the animus is eventually self-directed. Of central interest here is why ageism becomes self-directed in late adulthood, despite its potentially harmful personal costs. We present a cognitive model in which negative ageist beliefs become increasingly accessible and difficult to eliminate owing to broader developmental shifts in mentation. Given that these effects are contingent on our social environment, systemic changes in societal conceptions of age and aging are needed if we are to reduce vulnerability to self-directed ageism.

The aging mind: A complex challenge for research and practice

Cognitive decline as part of mental ageing is typically assessed with standardized tests; below-average performance in such tests is used as an indicator for pathological cognitive aging. In addition, morphological and functional changes in the brain are used as parameters for age-related pathological decline in cognitive abilities. However, there is no simple link between the trajectories of changes in cognition and morphological or functional changes in the brain. Furthermore, below-average test performance does not necessarily mean a significant impairment in everyday activities. It therefore appears crucial to record individual everyday tasks and their cognitive (and other) requirements in functional terms. This would also allow reliable assessment of the ecological validity of existing and insufficient cognitive skills. Understanding and dealing with the phenomena and consequences of mental aging does of course not only depend on cognition. Motivation and emotions as well personal meaning of life and life satisfaction play an equally important role. This means, however, that cognition represents only one, albeit important, aspect of mental aging. Furthermore, creating and development of proper assessment tools for functional cognition is important. In this contribution we would like to discuss some aspects that we consider relevant for a holistic view of the aging mind and promote a strengthening of a multidisciplinary approach with close cooperation between all basic and applied sciences involved in aging research, a quick translation of the research results into practice, and a close cooperation between all disciplines and professions who advise and support older people.

Stressful life events and subjectively rated sleep quality among older adults in China: the roles of positive and negative attitudes towards ageing

Sleep is an integral part of individuals' health and wellbeing. Despite evidence showing that social stressors are important contributors to older adults' sleep problems, how the accumulative stressful life events (SLEs) and ageing attitudes independently and jointly affect sleep quality among older adults in developing countries remains unclear. This study examined the effects of SLEs on subjectively rated sleep quality among older adults in China, and explored the potential mediating and moderating roles of positive and negative ageing attitudes on the above association. Using data from the 2014 China Longitudinal Ageing Social Survey, we had complete data for 7,780 older adults aged 60 and older. We employed logistic regression models and the Karlson–Holm–Breen decomposition method. Our findings indicated that SLEs significantly increased the risk of poor sleep quality, especially for those who had experienced two or more SLEs during the past year. Positive ageing attitudes were associated with lower odds of poor sleep quality, whereas negative ageing attitudes were related to higher odds of poor sleep quality. Moreover, the mediation analyses suggested that SLEs were associated with poor sleep quality via negative ageing attitudes. The moderating effects further documented that higher levels of positive ageing attitudes can significantly attenuate the deleterious impact of SLEs on sleep quality. The findings highlight the significance of SLEs for older adults' sleep quality and shed light on the importance of ageing attitudes to improve older adults' sleep in China as well as other low- and middle-income countries, where the social safety nets are still underdeveloped.

Exploring awareness of age-related changes among over 50s in the UK: findings from the PROTECT study

OBJECTIVES

Older people describe positive and negative age-related changes, but we do not know much about what contributes to make them aware of these changes. We used content analysis to categorize participants' written comments and explored the extent to which the identified categories mapped onto theoretical conceptualizations of influences on awareness of age-related change (AARC).

DESIGN

Cross-sectional observational study.

PARTICIPANTS

The study sample comprised 609 UK individuals aged 50 years or over (mean (SD) age = 67.9 (7.6) years), enrolled in the PROTECT study.

MEASUREMENTS

Between January and March 2019, participants provided demographic information, completed a questionnaire assessing awareness of age-related change (AARC-10 SF), and responded to an open-ended question asking them to comment on their responses.

RESULTS

While some of the emerging categories were in line with the existing conceptual framework of AARC (e.g. experiencing negative changes and attitudes toward aging), others were novel (e.g. engagement in purposeful activities or in activities that distract from age-related thoughts). Analysis revealed some of the thought processes involved in selecting responses to the questionnaire items, demonstrating different ways in which people make sense of specific items.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support the ability of the AARC questionnaire to capture perceived age-related changes in cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and engagement in social activities and in healthy and adaptive behaviors. However, findings also suggest ways of enriching the theoretical conceptualization of how AARC develops and offer insights into interpretation of responses to measures of AARC.

Identifying predictors of self-perceptions of aging based on a range of cognitive, physical, and mental health indicators: Twenty-year longitudinal findings from the ILSE study

Research exploring whether health predicts self-perceptions of aging (SPA) has mostly focused on single predictors and has been hampered by short observational intervals. We examined whether 20-year changes in cognitive functioning, physical and mental health predict SPA. We used data of 103 German participants who remained of a sample of 500 participants born in 1930-1932 enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE) in 1993/1996 (mean age at fourth measurement wave = 82.5 years). Health indicators included six cognitive tests, objective and subjective physical health, and self-reported depression. We used a new and multidimensional (awareness of age-related gains and losses) and a well-established (attitudes toward own aging) measure of SPA. Linear regression analyses showed that, among the cognitive tests, decline in information processing speed (Digit Symbol) predicted less awareness of age-related gains and more awareness of age-related losses but not attitudes toward own aging. Decline in subjective but not objective physical health, predicted more awareness of age-related losses and negative attitudes toward own aging, but not awareness of age-related gains. Increase in depressive symptoms predicted more awareness of age-related losses and negative attitudes toward own aging, but not awareness of age-related gains. The size of associations suggests that objective cognitive decline has limited influence on older adults' SPA and, if so, only when the decline is related to mental slowing. Similarly, perceived physical and mental health, but not objective health, have a small-to-moderate influence on awareness of age-related losses and attitudes toward own aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Awareness of age-related change, chronological age, subjective age and proactivity: An empirical study in China

An aging workforce and the increasing value placed on employees' proactivity are two important features of current workplaces. We address the extent to which this proactivity is affected by age and aging. The study has two objectives. First, it aims to validate the concept of awareness of age-related change (AARC) in the Chinese context. Second, it compares the explanatory power of AARC with that of chronological age and subjective age in predicting three types of proactivity: task proactivity, development proactivity and organization proactivity. We used the ten-item AARC instrument in a survey of teachers (n = 421, mean age = 41.0) in China, and validated its content by comparing the responses of a subsample of these teachers (n = 33, mean age = 42.5) to questions asked in a semi-structured interview. This confirmed the validity of the instrument's content, and its applicability beyond North America and Europe, in a Chinese context. We then show that awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC-Gains and AARC-Losses) are, respectively, positively and negatively associated with the three types of proactivity, and that they are better predictors than chronological age and subjective age. The research adds weight to challenges to negative age stereotyping--that older employees are set in their ways and less proactive--and to claims about the value of AARC for measuring aging, by showing that this factor can predict outcomes beyond health and the concerns of older adults.