[Acceptance of assistive robots in the field of nursing and healthcare : Representative data show a clear picture for Germany]

In view of the ageing society and the high costs of support and care in private households, the question arises as to what role assistive robots can play. This article focuses on the extent to which robots in nursing are accepted by the adult population in Germany today, as well as the extent to which gender, age, and experience (professional and private) influence this level of acceptance. The analysis carried out for this purpose was based on three representative surveys conducted among a total of over 7000 respondents. Of these surveys two were conducted in the second half of 2017 on behalf of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and the life insurance company ERGO, while the third was commissioned by the German Council of Economic Experts (SVRV) in the spring of 2018. An in-depth and cumulative analysis of these surveys and data sets, which the authors helped to design, with respect to assistive robotics has not yet been published. Despite the different application scenarios for assistive care robots, the results of all three surveys are surprisingly consistent: in Germany there is already a significant minority of people who are open to, and would accept nursing care robots as long as they do not replace but rather support traditional human nursing. Roughly one third of the sample differentiated according to age and gender, fundamentally rejected assistance by robots.

Is Healthy Neuroticism Associated with Chronic Conditions? A Coordinated Integrative Data Analysis

Early investigations of the neuroticism by conscientiousness interaction with regards to health have been promising, but to date, there have been no systematic investigations of this interaction that account for the various personality measurement instruments, varying populations, or aspects of health. The current study - the second of three - uses a coordinated analysis approach to test the impact of the neuroticism by conscientiousness interaction on the prevalence and incidence of chronic conditions. Using 15 pre-existing longitudinal studies (N > 49,375), we found that conscientiousness did not moderate the relationship between neuroticism and having hypertension (OR = 1.00,95%CI[0.98,1.02]), diabetes (OR = 1.02[0.99,1.04]), or heart disease (OR = 0.99[0.97,1.01]). Similarly, we found that conscientiousness did not moderate the prospective relationship between neuroticism and onset of hypertension (OR = 0.98,[0.95,1.01]), diabetes (OR = 0.99[0.94,1.05]), or heart disease (OR = 0.98[0.94,1.03]). Heterogeneity of effect sizes was largely nonsignificant, with one exception, indicating that the effects are consistent between datasets. Overall, we conclude that there is no evidence that healthy neuroticism, operationalized as the conscientiousness by neuroticism interaction, buffers against chronic conditions.

Trajectories of Big Five Personality Traits: A Coordinated Analysis of 16 Longitudinal Samples

This study assessed change in self-reported Big Five personality traits. We conducted a coordinated integrative data analysis using data from 16 longitudinal samples, comprising a total sample of over 60 000 participants. We coordinated models across multiple datasets and fit identical multi-level growth models to assess and compare the extent of trait change over time. Quadratic change was assessed in a subset of samples with four or more measurement occasions. Across studies, the linear trajectory models revealed declines in conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness. Non-linear models suggested late-life increases in neuroticism. Meta-analytic summaries indicated that the fixed effects of personality change are somewhat heterogeneous and that the variability in trait change is partially explained by sample age, country of origin, and personality measurement method. We also found mixed evidence for predictors of change, specifically for sex and baseline age. This study demonstrates the importance of coordinated conceptual replications for accelerating the accumulation of robust and reliable findings in the lifespan developmental psychological sciences.

Dehydration predicts longitudinal decline in cognitive functioning and well-being among older adults

Adequate hydration is essential for health, with even mild forms of dehydration often having negative effects on cognition and well-being. Despite evidence of higher risk for dehydration among older adults, links between dehydration and cognitive or well-being outcomes have not been established in old age. In this study, we used longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study II (age range 60-89) to investigate whether trajectories of cognitive functioning (digit symbol, N = 1,111) and well-being (Diener satisfaction with life, N = 1,066; Socio-Economic Panel Study life satisfaction, N = 1,067; and Lawton morale, N = 1,067) are associated with objective dehydration (osmolarity; 33% dehydrated). Our results revealed that higher dehydration was associated with steeper decline in cognitive functioning and well-being over time, and lower well-being among those with higher body mass index. These associations were independent of sociodemographic and physical health characteristics. Our findings highlight the importance of adequate hydration for preserved cognition and well-being across old age. We discuss potential mechanisms and consider practical implications arising from our results. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Trajectories of multiple subjective well-being facets across old age: The role of health and personality

Subjective well-being is often characterized by average stability across old age, but individual differences are substantial and not yet fully understood. This study targets physical and cognitive health and personality as individual difference characteristics and examines their unique and interactive roles for level and change in a number of different facets of subjective well-being. We make use of medical diagnoses, performance-based indicators of physical (grip strength) and cognitive functioning (Digit Symbol), and extraversion and neuroticism and apply parallel sets of multilevel growth models to multiyear well-being data obtained in the Berlin Aging Study 2 (N = 1,216; M_age = 71; SD = 3.84; 51% women) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (N = 3,418; M_age = 70; SD = 6.89; 51% women). Results revealed by and large average stability of life satisfaction, morale, and emotions (anger, fear, sadness, happiness) across old age. Most important for our research questions, higher morbidity, poor performance on grip strength and perceptual speed tests, lower extraversion, and higher neuroticism were each uniquely associated with lower life satisfaction, morale, and positive affect and higher negative affect. Some evidence emerged for facet-specific health-personality interaction effects in predicting affective experiences, but effects observed were not consistent across studies and of small size. We take our findings to indicate that health and personality traits constitute important individual difference characteristics for our understanding of subjective well-being in old age and that these likely do not interact with one another to shape well-being. We discuss theoretical and practical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Poor glucose regulation is associated with declines in well-being among older men, but not women

Glucose regulation is a key aspect of healthy aging and has been linked to brain functioning and cognition. Here we examined the role of glucose regulation for within-person longitudinal trajectories of well-being. We applied growth models to data from the Berlin Aging Study II (N = 955), using insulin resistance as an index of glucoregulatory capacity. We found that poor glucose regulation (higher insulin resistance) was consistently associated with lower levels of well-being among older men but not women. Our study provides novel evidence for the relevance of glucose regulation for well-being among older men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

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

Life Span theory posits that sociohistorical contexts shape individual development. In line with this proposition, cohort differences favoring later-born cohorts have been widely documented for cognition and health. However, little is known about historical change in how key resources of psychosocial functioning such as control beliefs develop in old age. We pooled data from 3 independent samples: Berlin Aging Study (6 waves, N = 414); Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (4 waves, N = 925); and Berlin Aging Study II (4 waves, N = 1,111) to construct overlapping multiyear longitudinal data from ages 61 through 85 years for cohorts born 1905 to 1953 and examine historical changes in within-person trajectories of internal and external control beliefs. Results revealed that earlier-born cohorts exhibit age-related declines in internal control beliefs regarding both desirable and undesirable outcomes, whereas later-born cohorts perceive higher internal control and maintain this advantage into old age. Earlier-born cohorts also experience steep age-related increases in external control beliefs regarding both powerful others and chance, whereas later-born cohorts perceive lower external control and were stable across old age. Education and gender disparities in control beliefs narrowed over historical time. Sociodemographic, physical health, cognitive, and social factors explained some of the differences in control beliefs, and accounted for sizable portions of cohort effects. Our results indicate that current generations of older adults perceive more and better maintained internal control and fewer external constraints. We discuss potential underlying mechanisms and consider conceptual and societal implications of our findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Is Healthy Neuroticism Associated with Health Behaviors? A Coordinated Integrative Data Analysis

Current literature suggests that neuroticism is positively associated with maladaptive life choices, likelihood of disease, and mortality. However, recent research has identified circumstances under which neuroticism is associated with positive outcomes. The current project examined whether "healthy neuroticism", defined as the interaction of neuroticism and conscientiousness, was associated with the following health behaviors: smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Using a pre-registered multi-study coordinated integrative data analysis (IDA) approach, we investigated whether "healthy neuroticism" predicted the odds of engaging in each of the aforementioned activities. Each study estimated identical models, using the same covariates and data transformations, enabling optimal comparability of results. These results were then meta-analyzed in order to estimate an average (N-weighted) effect and to ascertain the extent of heterogeneity in the effects. Overall, these results suggest that neuroticism alone was not related to health behaviors, while individuals higher in conscientiousness were less likely to be smokers or drinkers, and more likely to engage in physical activity. In terms of the healthy neuroticism interaction of neuroticism and conscientiousness, significant interactions for smoking and physical activity suggest that the association between neuroticism and health behaviors was smaller among those high in conscientiousness. These findings lend credence to the idea that healthy neuroticism may be linked to certain health behaviors and that these effects are generalizable across several heterogeneous samples.

POOR GLUCOSE REGULATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER WELL-BEING AMONG OLDER MEN, BUT NOT WOMEN

Glucose regulation is a key aspect of healthy aging, but little is known about gluco-regulatory capacity and older adults’ well-being. In this study, we examine whether gluco-regulatory capacity is predictive of within-person age-related trajectories of three major well-being indicators. We applied growth models to multi-year longitudinal data obtained in the Berlin Aging Study II (N = 1437; age 60-89; 53% women) and used insulin resistance as an index of glucose regulation capacity. Poor glucose regulation was associated with lower levels of well-being in men, but not women. These associations among men emerged for two of the three well-being indicators, were maintained across old age, and were independent of the other cognitive and physical factors examined. We discuss how sexual dimorphism may have contributed to our findings, and conclude that our results provide initial evidence for the relevance of glucose regulation for quality of life among older men.

Correction: Using the Dirichlet process to form clusters of people's concerns in the context of future party identification

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212944.].

Tropospheric ozone and skin aging: Results from two German cohort studies

During the last two decades, it has been well established that a short-term exposure to ozone (O₃) elicits an oxidative stress response in human and mouse skin, which leads to aberrant transcriptional expression of genes consistent with increased skin aging. Whether a long-term exposure to ambient O₃ is associated with any skin aging traits, has remained unclear. We addressed this question in two elderly German cohorts: the SALIA study (806 women aged 66-79 years), and the BASE-II study (1207 men and women aged 60-84 years). Five-year mean residential exposure to O₃ was modeled as the number of days with maximum daily 8-h mean O₃ concentrations ≥120 μg/m³ per year in the wider neighborhood (5-digit postcode) of a participant's residence. Extrinsic (environmentally induced) skin aging traits - coarse wrinkles and pigment spots (lentigines) on the face - were assessed by means of SCINEXA™, a validated visual score previously shown to be well suited to measure extrinsic facial skin aging in cohort studies. We observed positive associations of O₃ exceedances with coarse wrinkles in the face, but not with pigment spots. These associations were present in each cohort as well as in the combined sample of both cohorts. They were independent of chronic ultraviolet radiation exposure as the most obvious confounder, and also of co-pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide. Thus, long-term exposure to elevated concentrations of tropospheric O₃ appears to contribute to skin aging.

Genome-wide association analyses of risk tolerance and risky behaviors in over 1 million individuals identify hundreds of loci and shared genetic influences

Humans vary substantially in their willingness to take risks. In a combined sample of over 1 million individuals, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of general risk tolerance, adventurousness, and risky behaviors in the driving, drinking, smoking, and sexual domains. Across all GWAS, we identified hundreds of associated loci, including 99 loci associated with general risk tolerance. We report evidence of substantial shared genetic influences across risk tolerance and the risky behaviors: 46 of the 99 general risk tolerance loci contain a lead SNP for at least one of our other GWAS, and general risk tolerance is genetically correlated ([Formula: see text] ~ 0.25 to 0.50) with a range of risky behaviors. Bioinformatics analyses imply that genes near SNPs associated with general risk tolerance are highly expressed in brain tissues and point to a role for glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission. We found no evidence of enrichment for genes previously hypothesized to relate to risk tolerance.

Terminal change across facets of affective experience and domain satisfaction: Commonalities, differences, and bittersweet emotions at the end of life

General well-being is known to deteriorate sharply at the end of life. However, it is an open question how rates of terminal change differ across affective and evaluative facets of well-being and if individual difference correlates operate in facet-specific ways. We examined how discrete affective states (happy, angry, fearful, sad) and satisfaction with key life domains (health, leisure, family) change as people approach death and how differences in end-of-life trajectories are related to sociodemographic (age, gender, education), physical health (disability, body mass index, physician visits), and psychosocial characteristics (perceived control, social orientation, living with a partner). We applied growth models to 9-year annual longitudinal data of 864 participants (age at death: M = 75 years, 41% women) from the nationwide German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Findings revealed commonalities and specificities in terminal change: Six of seven facets became increasingly fragile late in life (6 to 35 times steeper terminal change than age change), but at vastly different rates of change (e.g., steep declines in happiness and satisfaction with health vs. stability in anger) and at different levels at which changes occurred. Commonalities and differences also emerged for the correlates: Those who perceived more control over their lives experienced generally more favorable late-life affect and satisfaction trajectories, whereas other correlates operated in more facet-specific ways. For example, participants living with a partner were happier and more satisfied with family life throughout their last years, but also reported more fear and steeper increases in sadness, a picture of bittersweet emotions at the end of life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

How far reaches the power of personality? Personality predictors of terminal decline in well-being

Personality is a powerful predictor of central life outcomes, including subjective well-being. Yet, we still know little about how personality manifests in the very last years of life when well-being typically falls rapidly. Here, we investigate whether the Big Five personality traits buffer (or magnify) terminal decline in well-being beyond and in interaction with functioning in key physical and social domains. We applied growth models to up to 10-year longitudinal data from 629 now deceased participants in the nation-wide German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP; age at death: M = 76 years; SD = 11). Lower neuroticism and higher conscientiousness were each uniquely associated with higher late-life well-being one year prior to death. At the same time, participants low in neuroticism experienced steeper terminal well-being declines. Similarly, individuals high in agreeableness and women high in extraversion reported higher well-being far away from death, but experienced more severe terminal decline, such that personality-related differences in well-being were not discernible anymore at one year prior to death. Interaction effects further revealed that individuals suffering from disability benefit less from higher levels of conscientiousness, whereas openness to experience appeared particularly beneficial for the less educated. We conclude that in the context of often severe late-life health challenges that accompany the last years of life, adaptive personality-related differences continue to be evident and sizable for some traits, but appear to diminish and even reverse in direction for other traits. We discuss possible underlying mechanisms and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Immigrants, Natives and Social Assistance: Comparable Take-Up under Comparable Circumstances

Are immigrants on welfare because they are more likely to be eligible or because they are more likely to claim benefits for which they are eligible? The answer is politically important, but because most current research on immigration and welfare is based on data from the United States, the answer is difficult due to the complexities of the transfer system which make eligibility determinations difficult. In Germany, by contrast, eligibility for the main cash transfer program, Sozialhilfe (Social Assistance), is determined by a comparatively simple nationwide formula. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to test whether immigrants to Germany are more likely than natives to claim welfare benefits for which they are eligible. We find that immigrants are more likely than native Germans to receive welfare, both because immigrants are more likely to be eligible and because they are more likely, when eligible, to claim their benefits. However, we also find that this greater propensity to take-up benefits is not related to immigrant status per se: when other sociodemographic factors are accounted for in an appropriate manner, immigrant households are no more likely to take-up benefits than native households.

How does availability of county-level healthcare services shape terminal decline in well-being?

Both lifespan psychology and life course sociology highlight that contextual factors influence individual functioning and development. In the current study, we operationalize context as county-level care services in inpatient and outpatient facilities (e.g., number of care facilities, privacy in facilities) and investigate how the care context shapes well-being in the last years of life. To do so, we combine 29 waves of individual-level longitudinal data on life satisfaction from now deceased participants in the nationwide German Socio-Economic Panel Study (N = 4557; age at death: M = 73.35, SD = 14.20; 47% women) with county-level data from the Federal Statistical Office. Results from three-level growth models revealed that having more inpatient care facilities, more employees per resident, and more staff in administration are each uniquely associated with higher late-life well-being, independent of key individual (age at death, gender, education, disability) and county (affluence, demographic composition) characteristics. Number of employees in physical care, residential comfort, and flexibility and care indicators in outpatient institutions were not found to be associated with levels or change in well-being. We take our results to provide empirical evidence that some contextual factors shape well-being in the last years of life and discuss possible routes how local care services might alleviate terminal decline.

Relations Among Maternal Life Satisfaction, Shared Activities, and Child Well-Being

Maternal well-being is assumed to be associated with well-being of individual family members, optimal parenting practices, and positive developmental outcomes for children. The objective of this study was to examine the interplay between maternal well-being, parent-child activities, and the well-being of 5- to 7-year-old children. In a sample of N = 291 mother-child dyads, maternal life satisfaction, the frequency of shared parent-child activities, as well as children's self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were assessed using several methods. Data were collected in a special study of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a representative longitudinal survey of private households in Germany. Using structural equation modeling, significant positive direct and indirect relations between maternal life satisfaction, frequency of shared parent-child activities, children's self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were found. The more satisfied the mother was, the more she shared activities with her child and the more the child acted prosocially. Furthermore, the higher the frequency of shared parent-child activities, the higher the child scored in all three analyzed indicators of children's well-being: self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary. The current study supports the assumption of maternal well-being as the basis of positive parenting practices and child well-being.

Successfully Striving for Happiness: Socially Engaged Pursuits Predict Increases in Life Satisfaction

Happiness is considered a highly desirable attribute, but whether or not individuals can actively steer their lives toward greater well-being is an open empirical question. In this study, respondents from a representative German sample reported, in text format, ideas for how they could improve their life satisfaction. We investigated which of these ideas predicted changes in life satisfaction 1 year later. Active pursuits per se-as opposed to statements about external circumstances or fortune-were not associated with changes in life satisfaction ( n = 1,178). However, in line with our preregistered hypothesis, among individuals who described active pursuits ( n = 582), those who described social ideas (e.g., spending more time with friends and family) ended up being more satisfied, and this effect was partly mediated by increased socializing. Our results demonstrate that not all pursuits of happiness are equally successful and corroborate the great importance of social relationships for human well-being.

Long working hours and depressive symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data

Objectives This systematic review and meta-analysis combined published study-level data and unpublished individual-participant data with the aim of quantifying the relation between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms. Methods We searched PubMed and Embase for published prospective cohort studies and included available cohorts with unpublished individual-participant data. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to calculate summary estimates across studies. Results We identified ten published cohort studies and included unpublished individual-participant data from 18 studies. In the majority of cohorts, long working hours was defined as working ≥55 hours per week. In multivariable-adjusted meta-analyses of 189 729 participants from 35 countries [96 275 men, 93 454 women, follow-up ranging from 1-5 years, 21 747 new-onset cases), there was an overall association of 1.14 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.25] between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms, with significant evidence of heterogeneity (I ²=45.1%, P=0.004). A moderate association between working hours and depressive symptoms was found in Asian countries (1.50, 95% CI 1.13-2.01), a weaker association in Europe (1.11, 95% CI 1.00-1.22), and no association in North America (0.97, 95% CI 0.70-1.34) or Australia (0.95, 95% CI 0.70-1.29). Differences by other characteristics were small. Conclusions This observational evidence suggests a moderate association between long working hours and onset of depressive symptoms in Asia and a small association in Europe.

Historical trends in modifiable indicators of cardiovascular health and self-rated health among older adults: Cohort differences over 20 years between the Berlin Aging Study (BASE) and the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II)

Background

The last decades have seen great advances in the understanding, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although mortality rates due to CVD have declined significantly in the last decades, the burden of CVD is still high, particularly in older adults. This raises the question whether contemporary populations of older adults are experiencing better or worse objective as well as subjective health than earlier-born cohorts. The aim of this study was to examine differences in modifiable indicators of cardiovascular health (CVH), comparing data obtained 20 years apart in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE, 1990–93) and the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II, 2009–2014).

Methods

Serial cross-sectional analysis of 242 propensity-score-matched participants of BASE (born 1907–1922) and BASE-II (born 1925–1942). Body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, total cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), diet, smoking and physical activity were operationalized according to the “Life’s simple 7“(LS7) criteria of the American Heart Association.

Results

121 matched pairs were identified based on age, sex, and education. In the later-born BASE-II sample, the mean LS7 score was significantly higher than in the earlier-born sample (7.8±1.8 vs. 6.4±2.1, p<0.001), indicating better CVH. In detail, diet, physical activity, smoking, cholesterol, and HbA1c were more favorable, whereas blood pressure was significantly higher in individuals from the later-born cohort. BMI did not differ significantly between the two matched samples. Notably, despite better CVH, later-born individuals (BASE-II) reported lower self-rated health, presumably because of higher health expectations.

Conclusions

Overall, cardiovascular health was significantly better in the later-born cohort, but several notable exceptions exist.

Levels of and changes in life satisfaction predict mortality hazards: Disentangling the role of physical health, perceived control, and social orientation

It is well documented that well-being typically evinces precipitous decrements at the end of life. However, research has primarily taken a postdictive approach by knowing the outcome (date of death) and aligning, in retrospect, how well-being has changed for people with documented death events. In the present study, we made use of a predictive approach by examining whether and how levels of and changes in life satisfaction prospectively predict mortality hazards and delineate the role of contributing factors, including health, perceived control, and social orientation. To do so, we applied shared parameter growth-survival models to 20-year longitudinal data from 10,597 participants (n = 1,560 [15%] deceased; age at baseline: M = 44 years, SD = 17, range = 18-98 years) from the national German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Our findings showed that lower levels and steeper declines of life satisfaction each uniquely predicted higher mortality risks. Results also revealed moderating effects of age and perceived control: Life satisfaction levels and changes had stronger predictive effects for mortality hazards among older adults. Perceived control was associated with lower mortality hazards; however, this effect was diminished for those who experienced accelerated life satisfaction decline. Variance decomposition suggests that predictive effects of life satisfaction trajectories were partially unique (3%-6%) and partially shared with physical health, perceived control, and social orientation (17%-19%). Our discussion focuses on the strengths and challenges of a predictive approach to link developmental changes (in life satisfaction) to mortality hazards, and considers implications of our findings for healthy aging. (PsycINFO Database Record