Assimilative and accommodative coping in older adults with and without sensory impairment: four-year change and prospective relations with affective well-being

Objectives: Sensory impaired older adults may be particularly dependent on coping strategies such as assimilation (or tenacious goal pursuit [TGP]) and accommodation (or flexible goal adjustment [FGA]) to secure high levels of well-being. We investigated if late-life changes in these coping strategies and prospective associations of TGP and FGA with affective well-being vary according to sensory impairment status. Method: Our study sample consisted of 387 adults aged 72-95 years (M = 82.50 years, SD =4.71 years) who were either visually impaired (VI; n = 121), hearing impaired (HI; n = 116), or sensory unimpaired (UI; n = 150). One hundred sixty-eight individuals were reassessed after approximately 4 years. Results: Both VI and HI revealed a decrease in TGP, whereas TGP remained stable in UI. For FGA, a significant increase in HI was observed, whereas a significant decline emerged in UI. Controlling for age, gender, and cognitive abilities, higher TGP at baseline was significantly associated with higher negative affect 4 years later in VI. Moreover, the positive association between baseline FGA and subsequent positive affect was stronger in HI than in UI older adults. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that older adults with sensory impairments reveal trajectories of assimilative and accommodative coping and associations of TGP and FGA with affective well-being that are different from sensory unimpaired individuals.

A new approach for investigation of person-environment interaction effects in research involving health outcomes

Recurrent use of the Housing Enabler instrument has highlighted methodological challenges of broader scientific interest, namely interactions between personal functional capacity (P) and exposures to features (here potential barriers) in the built housing environment (E). This study aimed to propose and illustrate an analytic approach, separating P × E interaction effects (here accessibility problems) from main effects of P and E, in studies where P and P × E are strongly interrelated. Four datasets representing different populations of older people in the context of housing were used. The datasets (N = 1910) comprised data on P, E and P × E interactions as well as health-related variables. A two-step analytic procedure was performed: (1) a measure of environmental barriers net of functional capacity was obtained from residuals of linear regression analysis between P (independent) and P × E (dependent); (2) logistic regression analyses with self-rated general health and I-ADL, respectively, as dependent variables to explore interaction effects using the P × E residuals from the previous step. The association between P and P × E was similar across the four datasets (r ≥ 0.80,  p < 0.001). In the logistic regression analyses, including P, both categorized and continuous P × E residuals were clearly associated with self-rated general health (p < 0.001 and p = 0.026), whereas the associations with I-ADL were less consistent (p = 0.275 and p = 0.002, respectively). The new two-step—instead of single-step—analytic approach proposed for investigating P × E interaction effects in studies involving health outcomes emerged as promising. The new approach has the potential of increasing the possibilities to adequately represent theoretical concepts and assumptions and rigorously test their effects.

Four-year reciprocal relationships between personality and functional ability in older adults with and without sensory impairment: focus on neuroticism and agreeableness

OBJECTIVES

Personality traits have been found to influence health and functional ability (FA) via multiple pathways. However, personality traits may also change in reaction to constraints in FA, particularly in more vulnerable individuals with high risk of decline in independent functioning in daily life (e.g. older adults with sensory impairment). Therefore, conceptually anchored in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF model), this study investigated reciprocal relationships between personality, focusing on neuroticism and agreeableness, and indicators of FA (i.e. activities of daily living and subjective autonomy) as well as the potentially moderating role of sensory impairment status.

METHOD

The study sample consisted of 387 older adults (mean age at T1: M = 82.50 years, SD = 4.71 years) who were either sensory impaired (SI; i.e. visually or hearing impaired) or sensory unimpaired (UI). A total of 168 individuals were reassessed four years later.

RESULTS

Depending on sensory status, personality acted both as predictor and as outcome of FA. Neuroticism was more strongly related with later FA outcomes in SI than in UI individuals. FA variables, in turn, were significant predictors of later neuroticism in UI older adults only and of later agreeableness in SI individuals only.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that the late-life personality-FA interplay needs to be considered bidirectional, and the direction of associations varies systematically as a function of sensory impairment status.