Daily events are important for age differences in mean and duration for negative affect but not positive affect

A cross-sectional survey on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological well-being and quality of life in people with spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has disrupted lives worldwide, affecting individuals from all walks of life. Individuals who have a spinal cord injury (SCI) are also affected by this phenomenon. This survey compares the quality of life (QOL), depression, and anxiety of SCI patients before and during COVID-19 in Wuhan City, China.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey utilized an online questionnaire to assess the QOL, levels of anxiety, and depression among 189 SCI patients admitted to Wuhan Tongji Hospital during pandemic from November 2020 to April 2021. Data before COVID-19 outbreak from November to December 2019 was retrieved from hospital records with the same assessment previously performed in-person or during a follow up visit. However, some participants were excluded for various reasons, such as declining to participate, not being admitted to a rehabilitation program due to the pandemic, or being under 18 years old. The World Health Organization's (WHO) QOL-Brief Version (BREF) and disability (DIS) modules, which focus on disability-related QOL, were used to assess the participants' QOL.

RESULTS

SCI patients had lower QOL scores during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic times. Mean scores on the 12-item DIS module significantly differed before and during the COVID-19 period. Participants showed higher adherence to self-isolation and quarantine measures for high-risk encounters (64.94%), but lower compliance with home disinfection and proper rest practices (23.38%).

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental effect on the QOL of SCI patients in China, highlighting the urgent requirement for telehealth-based rehabilitation to mitigate its impact. It is crucial to provide essential.

Cultural Differences in Daily Coupling of Subjective Views of Aging and Negative Affect

OBJECTIVES

The established link between subjective views of aging (VoA) and well-being shows variations across different cultures. Although VoA show daily fluctuations, little is known about cultural differences in such fluctuations and the daily coupling of VoA and well-being. We compared Israeli Arabs to Israeli Jews in the daily coupling of VoA and negative affect (NA).

METHODS

Community-dwelling older adults (N = 76, Mage = 66.71) completed measures of subjective age, subjective accelerated aging, ageist attitudes, and NA over 14 consecutive days.

RESULTS

Respondents reported higher daily NA when they felt older, reported to be aging faster, or had more ageist attitudes. The daily coupling between subjective age/subjective accelerated aging and NA was stronger among Israeli Arabs compared to Israeli Jews. There was no such interaction with ageist attitudes.

DISCUSSION

It is important to adopt a cultural perspective when investigating daily fluctuations in VoA and their correlates. In applied contexts, this might help to identify cultural groups that are particularly sensitive to the effects of VoA.

Looking back, forging ahead: Fifteen years of Strength and Vulnerability Integration (SAVI)

Strength and Vulnerability Integration (SAVI) describes age-related patterns of emotional well-being. Since its initial publication, studies have tested the model, supporting its original tenets and also identifying areas needing refinement. The current review provides an updated description of SAVI, describing how age differences in well-being vary based on the proximity to acute stressors and the proposed underlying mechanisms. SAVI also addresses questions regarding why we sometimes observe increases in distress among older adults over time. In this description, we clarify predictions of SAVI, as well as suggest places where more research is needed.

Affective reactivity to daily stressors and immune cell gene expression in the MIDUS study

Affective reactivity to stress is a person-level measurement of how well an individual copes with daily stressors. A common method of measuring affective reactivity entails the estimation of within-person differences of either positive or negative affect on days with and without stressors present. Individuals more reactive to common stressors, as evidenced by affective reactivity measurements, have been shown to have increased levels of circulating pro-inflammatory markers. While affective reactivity has previously been associated with inflammatory markers, the upstream mechanistic links underlying these associations are unknown. Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Refresher study (N = 195; 52% female; 84% white), we quantified daily stress processes over 10 days and determined individuals' positive and negative affective reactivities to stressors. We then examined affective reactivity association with peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) gene expression of the immune-related conserved transcriptional response to adversity. Results indicated that individuals with a greater decrease in positive affect to daily stressors exhibited heightened PBMC JUNB expression after Bonferroni corrections (p-adjusted < 0.05). JUNB encodes a protein that acts as a transcription factor which regulates many aspects of the immune response, including inflammation and cell proliferation. Due to its critical role in the activation of macrophages and maintenance of CD4+ T-cells during inflammation, JUNB may serve as a potential upstream mechanistic target for future studies of the connection between affective reactivity and inflammatory processes. Overall, our findings provide evidence that affective reactivity to stress is associated with levels of immune cell gene expression.

When daily emotions spill into life satisfaction: Age differences in emotion globalizing

Although the objective conditions of people's lives are fairly stable from day to day, daily life can feel like an emotional rollercoaster. For some people, life satisfaction hitches a ride on the emotional rollercoaster (i.e., momentary emotions spill over into broader evaluations of life). The extent to which positive and negative emotions spill over into life satisfaction is referred to as positive and negative emotion globalizing. Initial evidence suggests that emotion globalizing varies between individuals and is linked to a maladaptive psychological profile. Integrating a lifespan perspective, this is the first study to identify and describe age differences in emotion globalizing using data from two adult community samples (Study 1: N = 133 women, age range = 23-78; Study 2: N = 137, age range = 18-95). Further, we tested key boundary conditions of emotion globalizing by examining two types of emotions (i.e., current or after most stressful event of the day) and two types of satisfaction (i.e., overall life satisfaction [life satisfaction] or current day satisfaction [day satisfaction]). Specifically, we investigated how younger and older adults differed in the associations of current emotions with life satisfaction (i.e., emotion globalizing; Study 1), stressor-related emotions with life satisfaction (i.e., stressor-related emotion globalizing; Study 1), and stressor-related emotions with day satisfaction (Study 2). Results revealed that older (compared to younger) adults exhibited less negative (but not positive) emotion globalizing and stressor-related emotion globalizing. We found no age differences in the association between stressor-related emotions and day satisfaction. These findings extend insights into emotion globalizing and inform theories of emotional aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Events-Affect-Personality: A Daily Diary Investigation of the Mediating Effects of Affect on the Events-Personality Relationship

Our 10-day diary investigation anchored in dynamic personality theories, such as Whole Trait Theory examined (a) whether within-person variability in two broad personality traits Extraversion and Neuroticism is consistently predicted by daily events, (b) whether positive and negative affect, respectively partly mediate this relationship and (c) the lagged relationships between events, and next day variations in affect and personality. Results revealed that personality exhibited significant within-person variability, that positive and negative affect partly mediate the relationship between events and personality, affect accounting for up to 60% of the effects of events on personality. Additionally, we identified that event-affect congruency was accountable for larger effects compared to event-affect non-congruency.

Considerations for Advancing the Conceptualization of Well-being

In this commentary, we raise several points regarding Park and colleagues' emotional well-being framework. First, we question whether the term emotional well-being is appropriate and whether a new framework is necessary, and we argue that the field may be better served through other efforts, such as clarifying the distinctions between different well-being constructs and providing guidance on best practices for measurement and intervention. In addition, we note that by placing well-being on the opposite end of the spectrum from despair and depression, Park and colleagues have overlooked the influences of stress, distress, and life challenges on shaping positive aspects of well-being, and vice versa. Furthermore, we challenge the conceptualization of well-being as encompassing how positive an individual feels generally and about life overall. In its current form, this definition of well-being is overly static and trait-like, whereas a process-oriented conceptualization would more closely align with how well-being unfolds in real-life contexts and would be more suitable for identifying mechanistic targets for intervention. Finally, we raise the concern that the process for developing this definition of well-being did not actively involve input from diverse communities that have historically been disserved and underrepresented in research, practice, and policy. The cultural differences in constituents of well-being as well as evidence demonstrating that key positive psychological constructs (e.g., positive affect, sense of control) are less health-protective in racial/ethnic minorities than in whites necessitate greater integration of perspectives from underrepresented communities to build a more inclusive and accurate understanding of well-being.

Daily stressor forecasting and anticipatory coping: Within-Person processes in age differences in positive emotional reactivity

Objectives: Whereas previous work has almost exclusively focused on negative emotional reactivity to daily stressors, we focus on positive emotional reactivity - changes in positive emotions in response to a stressor. We examine daily forecasting and anticipatory coping for next-day home-related stressors within the temporal space before stressors to examine positive emotional reactivity in younger and older adults.Methods: We recruited 107 younger (M age = 19.44, range 18-36) and 116 older (M age = 64.71, range 60-90) participants who completed a nine day daily online diary for 1,627 total days. Participants reported demographics on Day 1 and then stressor forecasts, anticipatory coping, stressor exposure, and positive affect on Days 2-9.Results: Older adults had more positive affect when using outcome fantasy for next-day home stressors compared to younger adults, but forecasting a home stressor was associated with a stronger increase in positive affect for younger adults compared to older adults.Conclusion: These results reveal complex and dynamic links that exist in age differences in stressor forecasting, anticipatory coping, and their association with positive affect. The context of daily stressors is important to understand the nuances of matching stressor forecasts and anticipatory coping for positive emotional well-being in younger and older adults.

The impact of COVID-19 on community integration, quality of life, depression and anxiety in people with chronic spinal cord injury

CONTEXT/OBJECTIVE

Compare community integration, quality of life, anxiety and depression of people with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) living in the community before the outbreak of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) and during it.

DESIGN

Prospective observational cohort study.

SETTING

In-person follow-up visits (before COVID-19 outbreak) to a rehabilitation hospital in Spain and on-line during COVID-19.

PARTICIPANTS

Community dwelling adults (≥ 18 years) with chronic SCI.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) and World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) were compared using the Wilcoxon ranked test or paired t-test when appropriate.

RESULTS

One hundred and seventy five people with SCI assessed on-line between June 2020 and November 2020 were compared to their own assessments before COVID-19. Participants reported significantly decreased Social Integration during COVID-19 compared to pre-pandemic scores (P = 0.037), with a small effect size (d = -0.15). Depression (measured using HADS) was significantly higher than before COVID-19 (P < 0.001) with a moderate effect size (d = -0.29). No significant differences were found in any of the 4 WHOQOL-BREF dimensions (Physical, Psychological, Social and Environmental).Nevertheless, when all participants were stratified in two groups according to their age at on-line assessment, the younger group (19-54 years, N = 85) scored lower during COVID-19 than before, in WHOQOL-BREF Physical (P = 0.004), (d = -0.30) and Psychological dimensions (P = 0.007) (d = -0.29). The older group (55-88 years, N = 0) reported no significant differences in any dimension.

CONCLUSIONS

COVID-19 impacted HADS' depression and CIQ's social integration. Participants younger than 55 years were impacted in WHOQOL-BREF's physical and psychological dimensions, meanwhile participants older than 55, were not.

The mixed benefits of a stressor-free life

Research documents the pernicious effects of daily stressors on well-being, but often ignored in these studies are people reporting no stressors. The current study compared adults who reported no daily stressors with adults who reported at least one stressor across 8 consecutive days on measures of well-being. Of the 2,804 respondents (age range = 25-75 years, M = 53.46) from the Midlife in the United State Survey daily diary study, 10% reported experiencing no stressors across 8 days. Those reporting no stressors were generally older, male, unmarried, and were less likely to work, provide or receive emotional support, or experience positive daily events. They reported greater daily affective well-being and fewer chronic health conditions but had lower levels of cognitive functioning. Findings suggest that daily stressors may serve as a proxy to engagement in social activities, where a lower level of engagement is related to better physical and emotional well-being but lower levels of cognitive functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

COVID-19 worries and mental health: the moderating effect of age

BACKGROUND

Older age (60+ years) increases the risk of contracting and dying from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which might suggest worse mental health for those in this age range during the pandemic. Indeed, greater worry about COVID-19 is associated with poorer mental health. However, older age is generally associated with better emotional well-being, despite increased likelihood of negative events (e.g. death of a spouse) with age. This study examined whether age moderated the relation between COVID-19 worries and mental health.

METHODS

A national sample of U.S. adults (N = 848; aged 18-85 years) completed an online survey from March 30 to April 5, 2020. The survey assessed anxiety, depression, general concern about COVID-19, perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19, social distancing, self-quarantining, current mood, health, and demographics.

RESULTS

Older age was associated with better mental health (i.e. lower levels of anxiety and depression). Greater perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19 was related to higher anxiety. However, this effect was moderated by age. At younger ages (18-49 years), the positive association between perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19 and anxiety was significant, but the association was not significant at older ages (50+ years).

CONCLUSION

Older age may buffer against the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. More research is necessary to understand the potential protective nature of age during the pandemic, as well as the recovery period.

Linking Amygdala Persistence to Real-World Emotional Experience and Psychological Well-Being

Neural dynamics in response to affective stimuli are linked to momentary emotional experiences. The amygdala, in particular, is involved in subjective emotional experience and assigning value to neutral stimuli. Because amygdala activity persistence following aversive events varies across individuals, some may evaluate subsequent neutral stimuli more negatively than others. This may lead to more frequent and long-lasting momentary emotional experiences, which may also be linked to self-evaluative measures of psychological well-being (PWB). Despite extant links between daily affect and PWB, few studies have directly explored the links between amygdala persistence, daily affective experience, and PWB. To that end, we examined data from 52 human adults (67% female) in the Midlife in the United States study who completed measures of PWB, daily affect, and functional MRI (fMRI). During fMRI, participants viewed affective images followed by a neutral facial expression, permitting quantification of individual differences in the similarity of amygdala representations of affective stimuli and neutral facial expressions that follow. Using representational similarity analysis, neural persistence following aversive stimuli was operationalized as similarity between the amygdala activation patterns while encoding negative images and the neutral facial expressions shown afterward. Individuals demonstrating less persistent activation patterns in the left amygdala to aversive stimuli reported more positive and less negative affect in daily life. Further, daily positive affect served as an indirect link between left amygdala persistence and PWB. These results clarify important connections between individual differences in brain function, daily experiences of affect, and well-being.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT At the intersection of affective neuroscience and psychology, researchers have aimed to understand how individual differences in the neural processing of affective events map onto to real-world emotional experiences and evaluations of well-being. Using a longitudinal dataset from 52 adults in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, we provide an integrative model of affective functioning: less amygdala persistence following negative images predicts greater positive affect (PA) in daily life, which in turn predicts greater psychological well-being (PWB) seven years later. Thus, day-to-day experiences of PA comprise a promising intermediate step that links individual differences in neural dynamics to complex judgements of PWB.

Leveraging Daily Social Experiences to Motivate Healthy Aging

Models of healthy aging highlight the motivating influence of social connections. Social experiences constantly shape our thoughts and behaviors throughout daily life, and these daily processes slowly and consistently influence our health and well-being. In this paper, we discuss research that has moved from cross-sectional laboratory designs emphasizing individual behaviors to more naturalistic within-person paradigms linking daily social experiences to emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being. We mention research gaps that need to be filled to advance our knowledge of the powerful forces of the social environment for motivating healthy aging. We also offer future directions to move this research forward. We conclude with an outlook on how to leverage these powerful forces in novel intervention approaches that are sensitive to the constantly changing nature of the person and the environment.

Associations Between Enjoyable Activities and Uplifting Events: Effects on Momentary Positive Affect in Adulthood

This study examined the effects of participation in enjoyable activities and the experience of uplifting events on individuals' momentary positive affect (PA) and tested for age differences in these effects. 176 adults (ages 25-66) completed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) 5 times per day for 14 days. We found that individuals reported higher levels of PA at times when an uplifting event had occurred compared to times when an uplifting event had not occurred (p < 0.05), and this association was amplified among those who participated less frequently in enjoyable activities (p < 0.05). The moderating effect of participation in enjoyable activities was invariant across the sample's age range. The findings demonstrated that individuals who habitually participated in enjoyable activities experienced higher levels of PA in everyday life. In contrast, individuals who infrequently or never engaged in enjoyable activities depended upon recent uplifting events to experience higher levels of PA.

Effects of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression on daily work-related outcomes: Comparison between younger and older Chinese workers

The existing models of emotion regulation (ER) do not make any specific prediction about the differential effects of the same ER strategy among individuals of different ages. However, such assumption may not be necessarily true, given that older adults emphasise emotional goals greater than their younger counterparts. Using a daily diary approach, this study investigated whether the effects of cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) on daily work-related outcomes would vary by age when individuals were experiencing negative events at work. A total of 141 Chinese managerial employees (M_age  = 42.40, SD = 9.16) completed the diary report for 15 consecutive workdays by recording their daily work experiences. The results of the multilevel analyses showed that age moderated the effects of ES on daily negative emotions, perceived work stress, and job satisfaction. More beneficial effects were observed among older workers than among younger workers. By contrast, the use of CR significantly lowered the levels of negative emotions and perceived work stress for both younger and older workers. These findings revealed the importance of considering the role of age in evaluating the effects of ES on work-related outcomes, which provides important implications for future research and training programs in ER.

Daily Memory Lapses in Adults: Characterization and Influence on Affect

Objective

The current analyses examined the impact of daily memory lapses on daily affect and whether this impact varied across age.

Method

One hundred sixty-six adults (ages 20-79) completed assessments of memory lapses and affect each day for 7 consecutive days. Assessments included retrospective and prospective memory lapses as well as the impact of these lapses (how irritating, interfering, and consequential). Affect was assessed using ratings of daily positive and negative affect.

Results

Participants reported memory lapses on 33.3% of days. Prospective lapses were consistently rated as more consequential. Regardless of age, participants had significantly lower in positive affect and significantly higher in negative affect on days with a prospective lapse. Effects of retrospective lapses depended on age: compared to older adults, younger adults reported lower positive affect on days with a retrospective lapse.

Discussion

Previous work on daily memory lapses has focused on prospective lapses. Although retrospective lapses occurred more frequently in this sample, prospective lapses appeared to have a greater impact on daily experiences regardless of age. By measuring daily memory lapses and affect over consecutive days, we can begin to understand how the experience of forgetting impacts individuals at a micro-level.

Dispositional optimism and cognitive functioning following traumatic brain injury

Objective: The association of dispositional optimism with health-related factors has been well established in several clinical populations, but little is known about the role of optimism in recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Given the high prevalence of cognitive complaints after TBI, the present study examined the association between optimism and cognitive functioning after TBI. Methods: 171 individuals with complicated mild, moderate or severe TBI completed a series of questionnaires via structured interview and self-report, including a self-report assessment of dispositional optimism, the revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), and an objective assessment of cognition, the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT). Multiple hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between optimism and cognitive functioning. Results: Dispositional optimism was significantly and positively associated with post-TBI cognitive functioning after controlling for the effects of age, race, injury severity, health status, and positive and negative affect. Conclusion: Dispositional optimism may promote higher levels of cognitive functioning in people who sustained a TBI. Research is warranted to examine whether interventions that promote optimism in clinical and social encounters can enhance cognitive recovery in individuals with TBI.

The varying burden of depressive symptoms across adulthood: Results from six NHANES cohorts

BACKGROUND

Depressive symptoms differ from each other in the degree of functional impairment they cause. The incidence of depression varies across the adult lifespan. We examined whether age moderates the impairment caused by depressive symptoms.

METHODS

The study sample (n = 21,056) was adults drawn from six multistage probability samples from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey series (NHANES, years 2005-2016) conducted in the United States using cross-sectional, representative cohorts. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). We used regression models to predict high functional impairment, while controlling for sociodemographic variables and physical disorders.

RESULTS

Age moderated the association between depressive symptoms and functional impairment: middle-aged adults perceived moderate and severe symptoms as more impairing than did others. Older adults reported slightly higher impairment due to mild symptoms. The individual symptoms of low mood, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, and concentration difficulties were more strongly related to high impairment in mid-adulthood as compared to early and late adulthood.

LIMITATIONS

Cross-sectional data allows only between-person comparisons. The PHQ-9 is brief and joins compound symptoms into single items. There was no information available concerning comorbid mental disorders. Co-occurring physical disorders were self-reported.

CONCLUSIONS

Symptoms of depression may imply varying levels of impairment at different ages. The results suggest a need for age adjustments when estimating the functional impact of depression in the general population. Additionally, they show a need for more accurate assessments of depression-related impairment at older ages. Evidence-based programs may generally benefit from symptom- and age-specific findings.

Age differences in everyday stressor-related negative affect: A coordinated analysis

Advancing age is often characterized by preserved or even enhanced emotion regulation, which is thought to manifest in terms of age-related reductions in the within-person association between stressors and negative affect. Existing research from ecological momentary assessment and end-of-day daily diary studies examining such age-related benefits have yielded mixed results, potentially due to differences in samples, design, and measurement of everyday stressors and negative affect. We conducted a coordinated analysis of 5 ecological momentary assessments and 2 end-of-day daily diary studies to examine adult age differences in the within-person association between everyday stressors and negative affect. Reported stressor occurrences are robustly associated with higher negative affect, regardless of study design and sample characteristics. Across studies, interactions between age and everyday stressors predicting negative affect revealed a pattern of age-related decreases in the stressor-negative affect association, but this interaction was only significant for 2 studies. Further, examination of statistical power of the included studies suggests that, despite differences in the number of repeated assessments, power to detect within-person stressor-negative affect associations is quite good. In contrast, despite possessing wider age ranges, observed age differences were relatively small in magnitude, and studies are potentially underpowered to detect age differences in these within-person associations. We discuss the importance of study design, interval of repeated assessments and number of participants for examining age differences in everyday stressors and negative affect, as well as the virtue of coordinated analyses for detecting consistent direction of associations, but inconsistent patterns of statistical significance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Mixed Emotions Across Adulthood: When, Where, and Why?

Psychologists often interpret mixed emotional experiences, defined as experiencing more than one emotion over a given period of time, as indicative of greater emotional complexity and more adaptive functioning. In the present paper, we briefly review studies that have examined these experiences across adulthood. We describe how mixed emotions have been defined in the lifespan literature, and how the various studies examining age differences in this phenomenon have yielded discrepant results. We then discuss future research directions that could clarify the nature of mixed emotions and their utility in adulthood, including the assessment of situational context, understanding when mixed emotions are adaptive in daily life, and determining how cognitive functioning is involved in these experiences.

Aging, Attention and Situation Selection: Older Adults Create Mixed Emotional Environments

Studies of age differences in affective experience tend to report positive age trends. Studies of attentional deployment also tend to find older individuals attending more to positive and less to negative stimuli. However, everyday entertainment choices seem to vary by age more in terms of meaningfulness and value than by valence. Relatively few age differences emerge in the valence of choices made in situation selection tasks, though older adults avoid arousal. Thus, both younger and older adults actively construct mixed emotional environments.