Sex and age cohort differences in patterns of socioemotional functioning in older adults and their links to physical resilience

Resilience and Social Support-Giving Scales: Conceptual and Empirical Validation

OBJECTIVES

This report introduces National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) data users to 2 new measures-one that assesses older adults' resilience, defined as personal attributes that indicate an adaptive reserve that can be drawn on during adversity, and a second that expands on existing measures of social support received from others to also assess social support given to close others.

METHOD

Data from 4,604 NSHAP respondents born 1920-1965 were used to conduct psychometric analyses and validation of our measures of resilience and social support-giving.

RESULTS

Scale reliabilities were acceptable for the 4-item resilience scale, and the 2-item scales for family support-giving and friend support-giving. The 2 spousal support-giving items did not cohere well as a single scale. The resilience scale exhibited significant correlations with criterion validation variables, even after adjusting for correlated personality traits. The support-giving scales, and the spousal support-giving items, also exhibited significant correlations with criteria, and with the resilience scale, even after adjusting for social support receipt. Scale means exhibited demographic differences.

DISCUSSION

The resilience and social support-giving measures have acceptable psychometric characteristics (with the exception of spousal support-giving), convergent validity, and predictive utility net of related variables. NSHAP data users are offered several suggestions (key points) in the use of these measures in future research.

Cardiac defense reactivity and cognitive flexibility in high- and low-resilience women

Resilience is a protective health variable that contributes to successful adaptation to stressful experiences. However, in spite of its relevance, few studies have examined the psychophysiological and neuropsychological mechanisms involved in resilience. The present study analyzes, in a sample of 54 young women, the relationships between high- and low-resilience, measured with the Spanish versions of Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale questionnaire and the Resilience Scale, and two indices of psychophysiological and neuropsychological adaptability, the cardiac defense response (CDR) and cognitive flexibility. The CDR is a specific reaction to an unexpected intense noise characterized by two acceleration-deceleration heart rate components. Cognitive flexibility, defined as the ability to adapt our behavior to changing environmental demands, is measured in this study with the CAMBIOS neuropsychological test. The results showed that the more resilient people, in addition to having better scores on mental health questionnaires, had a larger initial acceleration-deceleration of the CDR-indicative of greater vagal control, obtained better scores in cognitive flexibility, and evaluated the intense noise as less unpleasant than the less resilient people. No group differences were found in the second acceleration-deceleration of the CDR-indicative of sympathetic cardiac control, in the skin conductance response, or in subjective intensity of the noise. The present findings broaden the understanding of how resilient people change their adaptable responses to address environmental demands.

Self-Reported Perceptions of Sleep Quality and Resilience Among Dance Students

This study examined relationships between self-perceived sleep quality and resilience among 116 dance students (Mean age = 21.6 years; SD = 4.348). who self-reported sleep quality with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and personal resilience with the Resilience Scale (RS). Most participants (59.5%) reported poor sleep quality on the PSQI, with 62.9% of the women and 42.1% of the men ( p = .092) scoring higher than five points on this instrument. On the RS, a large majority of the participants (75%) obtained scores less than 147, indicating low resilience, with no significant gender differences observed. Those reporting poor sleep quality (PSQI scores > 5) obtained lower resilience scores (RS < 147) than those reporting good sleep quality (PSQI scores ≤ 5; p = .025), and participants with poorer sleep quality were at higher risk of low resilience (Odds Ratio = 3.273) relative to those with good sleep quality ( p = .006). Those with shorter duration sleep (claiming they slept <7 hours/night) were also at higher risk for low resilience (Odds Ratio = 3.266), relative to those with longer duration sleep (>7 hours/night). These findings can help students and dance professionals improve their performance and face pressures inherent in dance practice. Follow-up research should verify these findings in varied populations with objective sleep measures and observational data from multiple respondents.

Resilience in context: the special case of advanced age

OBJECTIVES

Advanced age is a time shaped by the current experience of physical, social and psychological characteristics associated with living into an eighth decade and beyond and also by reflection upon past experiences. Understanding the specific factors that contribute to ageing well is increasingly important as greater numbers of older people remain living independently in the community and may require targeted and sustainable support to do so. This paper offers a conceptualisation of resilience for advanced age (age 85+), a life stage currently under-researched.

METHOD

We utilise a developmental and socio-historical context to develop key arguments about adversity, resources and positive outcomes that affect the experience of resilient ageing.

RESULTS

Very late life is characterised by a unique balance between losses, associated with vulnerability and resource restrictions, and potential gains based upon wisdom, experience, autonomy and accumulated systems of support, providing a specific context for the expression of resilience. Post-adversity growth is possible, but maintenance of everyday abilities may be more relevant to resilience in advanced age.

CONCLUSION

An increasing life-span globally necessitates creative and conscientious thought about wellbeing, and resilience research has the important aim to focus health and wellness on success and what is possible despite potential limitations.

Mediating effect of decline in social activities on urinary incontinence and negative mood: Do sex and marital differences exist?

AIM

We tested the mediating effect of decline in social participation on urinary incontinence (UI) and negative mood in older adults by sex and marital status.

METHODS

We carried out secondary analysis of data collected from 5301 Chinese adults aged 60 years or older in Hong Kong who had completed an initial screening instrument for subsidized long-term care services in 2010. Path analysis within structural equation modeling was carried out.

RESULTS

Satisfactory model fit was obtained: male-married group (n = 1949, standardized root means squared residual [SRMR] = 0.034, robust root mean square error of approximation [R-RMSEA] = 0.045, robust comparative fit index [R-CFI] = 0.965), male-other group (n = 519, SRMR = 0.023, R-RMSEA = 0.011, R-CFI = 0.988), female-married group (n = 948, SRMR = 0.018, R-RMSEA = 0.002, R-CFI = 1.000) and female-other group (n = 2251, SRMR = 0.023, R-RMSEA = 0.048, R-CFI = 0.970). In the male-married subsample, UI had both a significant direct effect (β = 0.046) and significant indirect effect on mood through decline in social participation (β = 0.021); for the female-other subsample, UI (β = 0.058) and decline in social participation (β = 0.335) had significant direct effects on negative mood. Decline in social participation had a significant direct effect on negative mood in the male-other subsample (β = 0.306) and the female-married subsample (β = 0.325).

CONCLUSIONS

Decline in social participation mediated the relationship between UI and negative mood in married older men, but not male-other group or women. It is important to recognize these sex and marital status differences, and expand social participation opportunities for UI patients. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1829-1836.

Associations between neurocognitive functioning and social and occupational resilience among South African women exposed to childhood trauma

Background: Prior research on adaptation after early trauma among black South African women typically assessed resilience in ways that lacked contextual specificity. In addition, the neurocognitive correlates of social and occupational resilience have not been investigated. Objective: The primary aim of this exploratory study was to identify domains of neurocognitive functioning associated with social and occupational resilience, defined as functioning at a level beyond what would be expected given exposure to childhood trauma. Methods: A sample of black South African women, N = 314, completed a neuropsychological battery, a questionnaire assessing exposure to childhood trauma, and self-report measures of functional status. We generated indices of social and occupational resilience by regressing childhood trauma exposure on social and occupational functioning, saving the residuals as indices of social and occupational functioning beyond what would be expected given exposure to childhood trauma. Results: Women with lower non-verbal memory evidenced greater social and occupational resilience above and beyond the effects attributable to age, education, HIV status, and depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition, women with greater occupational resilience exhibited lower semantic language fluency and processing speed. Conclusion: Results are somewhat consistent with prior studies implicating memory effects in impairment following trauma, though our findings suggest that reduced abilities in these domains may be associated with greater resilience. Studies that use prospective designs and objective assessment of functional status are needed to determine whether non-verbal memory, semantic fluency, and processing speed are implicated in the neural circuitry of post-traumatic exposure resilience.

Gender moderates the associations between attachment and discrete emotions in late middle age and later life

OBJECTIVES

Although patterns of attachment have been linked to patterns of emotional experience, studies in developmentally diverse samples are few and have not yet examined possible gender differences in attachment or their implications for emotional wellbeing. This article describes patterns of attachment in a diverse sample of 616 men and women from middle age and later life, examines the relations between attachment and nine discrete emotions, and tests the thesis that gender moderates these associations.

METHODS

Convenience sampling was used to derive a sample of 616 ethnically diverse men and women from seven ethnic groups.

RESULTS

Multiple regressions controlling for demographics found no gender differences in attachment categorizations although men reported greater dimensional fearful avoidance. Security predicted greater joy and interest whereas dismissingness was associated with lower shame and fear and with greater interest. Both preoccupation and fearful avoidance predicted most negative emotions but were not associated with positive emotions. Finally, gender moderated these associations such that (a) attachment security was more closely related to interest and, marginally, joy, among men; (b) fearful avoidance was more closely related to fear and contempt among men; and (c) preoccupation was associated with greater interest among men, whereas fear and contempt were associated with preoccupation among women only.

CONCLUSION

Interpreted in the context of theories of emotions, the social origins of emotional experience, and the different roles that social relationships have for aging men and women, our data imply that attachment styles may differentially predict male emotions because of their less diverse networks.