Does leisure time moderate or mediate the effect of daily stress on positive affect? An examination using eight-day diary data

Cognitive reserve, cortisol, and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers: A memory clinic study

INTRODUCTION

Cognitive reserve might mitigate the risk of Alzheimer's dementia among memory clinic patients. No study has examined the potential modifying role of stress on this relation.

METHODS

We examined cross-sectional associations of the cognitive reserve index (CRI; education, occupational complexity, physical and leisure activities, and social health) with cognitive performance and AD-related biomarkers among 113 memory clinic patients. The longitudinal association between CRI and cognition over a 3-year follow-up was assessed. We examined whether associations were influenced by perceived stress and five measures of diurnal salivary cortisol.

RESULTS

Higher CRI scores were associated with better cognition. Adjusting for cortisol measures reduced the beneficial association of CRI on cognition. A higher CRI score was associated with better working memory in individuals with higher (favorable) cortisol AM/PM ratio, but not among individuals with low cortisol AM/PM ratio. No association was found between CRI and AD-related biomarkers.

DISCUSSION

Physiological stress reduces the neurocognitive benefits of cognitive reserve among memory clinic patients.

HIGHLIGHTS

Physiological stress may reduce the neurocognitive benefits accrued from cognitively stimulating and enriching life experiences (cognitive reserve [CR]) in memory clinic patients. Cortisol awakening response modified the relation between CR and P-tau181, a marker of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Effective stress management techniques for AD and related dementia prevention are warranted.

Association between psychosocial working conditions and well-being before retirement: a community-based study

Psychosocial working conditions have been linked to mental health outcomes, but their association with well-being is poorly studied. We aimed to investigate the association between psychosocial working conditions and well-being before retirement, and to explore the role of gender and leisure activities in the association. From the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen, 598 community dwellers aged 60-65 years were included in the cross-sectional study. Lifelong occupational history was obtained through an interview. Job demands and job control in the longest-held occupation were graded with job exposure matrices. Psychosocial working conditions were classified into high strain (high demands, low control), low strain (low demands, high control), passive job (low demands, low control), and active job (high demands, high control). Well-being was assessed with the 10-item version of positive and negative affect schedule, and scored using confirmatory factor analysis. Engagement in leisure activities was categorized as low, moderate, and high. Data were analyzed using linear regression. Both high job control and high job demands were dose-dependently associated with higher well-being. Overall, compared to active jobs, passive jobs were associated with lower well-being (β -0.19, 95% CI -0.35 to -0.02, P = 0.028). Passive (β -0.28, 95% CI -0.51 to -0.04, P = 0.020) and high strain (β -0.31, 95% CI -0.52 to -0.10, P = 0.004) jobs were associated with lower well-being in men, but not in women. The association between passive jobs and well-being was attenuated by high leisure activities, while the association between high strain and well-being was magnified by low leisure activities. In conclusion, negative psychosocial working conditions are associated with poor well-being, especially in men. Leisure activities may modulate the association. Our study highlights that promoting favorable working conditions can be a target to improve well-being among employees and active participation in leisure activities is encouraged to cope with work-related stress for better well-being.

Effect of lifestyle interventions to reduce depression, anxiety and stress among married women of reproductive age group: A non-randomised controlled trial in urban slums of Bhubaneswar

BACKGROUND

Women are more prone to develop mental disorders as compared to men and the role of physical activities to reduce its burden by improving self-esteem is appreciable. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of lifestyle interventions to reduce depression, anxiety and stress among women in urban slums.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was a non-randomized controlled trial carried out in two slums of Bhubaneswar in married women of reproductive age group (15 years-49 years) from June 2019 to September 2021 after approval from the institutional ethics committee. A total of 128 married women were recruited, 64 women in each arm. DASS-21 was used for assessing depression, anxiety, and stress of all participants. The lifestyle intervention program was provided to 64 women in the intervention group and educational materials were provided to the control arm. DASS score was assessed again and compared with follow-up scores in both groups. Descriptive statistics were expressed as frequency, mean, median, and standard deviations. Independent t-test and paired t-tests were done where applicable.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in socio-demographic factors and DASS-21 scores in both groups during baseline. Depression, Anxiety, and stress score were significantly lower in the intervention arm than control arm in the follow-up (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference between the pre-intervention and post-intervention levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among the intervention group (P = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Simple community-based physical activities as in our intervention program focusing on the reduction of depression, anxiety, and stress levels in women may prevent the rising problems of common mental disorders.

A Longitudinal Dyadic Study of Six Leisure Activities in Swedish Couples During the Transition to Parenthood

Parents are not only caregivers to their children; they also have leisure routines that can impact their own well-being. However, little is known about how leisure activities change within the context of a couple during the transition to parenthood. This study uses latent growth curve models and data from the Swedish Pregnancy Panel to examine how often 918 first-time, heterosexual couples participated in six leisure activities from around pregnancy week 19 to one year postpartum. Compared to fathers, mothers less frequently exercised and listened to news, and more frequently read newspapers, spent time for themselves, and spent time with friends. Over time, mothers increased their frequency of praying to God and decreased spending time for themselves and with friends. Fathers decreased frequency of exercise. Within couples, there was a positive correlation between mothers' and fathers' frequency of engaging in leisure activities, although most changes over time were not associated. Our finding that two individuals within a couple may change their leisure activities independently of each other during the transition to parenthood can help healthcare professionals and researchers prepare expectant couples for upcoming changes (or lack thereof) and promote parent well-being. Our findings also highlight the possibility that in contexts with more state support for families, parenthood may not exacerbate gender gaps in leisure.

Music engagement is negatively correlated with depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic via reward-related mechanisms

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected the mental health of millions of people. We assessed which of many leisure activities correlated with positive mental health outputs, with particular attention to music, which has been reported to be important for coping with the psychological burden of the pandemic. Questionnaire data from about 1000 individuals primarily from Italy, Spain, and the United States during May-June 2020 show that people picked music activities (listening to, playing, singing, etc.) most often as the leisure experiences that helped them the most to cope with psychological distress related with the pandemic. During the pandemic, hours of engagement in music and food-related activities were associated with lower depressive symptoms. The negative correlation between music and depression was mediated by individual differences in sensitivity to reward, whereas the correlation between food-related activities and improved mental health outputs was explained by differences in emotion suppression strategies. Our results, while correlational, suggest that engaging in music activities could be related to improved well-being with the underlying mechanism being related to reward, consistent with neuroscience findings. Our data have practical significance in pointing to effective strategies to cope with mental health issues beyond those related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Activity, Activity Personalization, and Well-Being in Nursing Home Residents With and Without Cognitive Impairment: An Integrative Review

OBJECTIVES

Engagement in personally relevant and pleasant activity is a facet of many theories of well-being. This integrated review and narrative synthesis explored the hypothesis that activity participation improves well-being for nursing home residents.

METHODS

Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, Embase, and CINAHL for research published between 2006 and 2018. We included peer-reviewed, English-language studies of nursing-home residents, with interventions focused on activities and on well-being or affect outcomes.

RESULTS

After screening, the search yielded 45 studies: 15 reviews of specific activities and 30 empirical articles. We found consistent support for tailored activity interventions and less consistent support for specific or generic activity interventions with the possible exception of music therapy. Research focused on specific activity types had methodological limitations and confounds with activity preferences.

CONCLUSIONS

Participation in activities may improve well-being in residents of nursing homes. Tailored activities are likely to be superior to those provided indiscriminately to all residents.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Improving quality of life in long-term care should include opportunities to engage in activities; those most effective will be tailored to individuals and no single activity will be effective for everyone.

Daily social interactions related to daily performance on mobile cognitive tests among older adults

The lack of social contact or good social relationships has been linked with cognitive decline and higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. One important but unexamined question is how daily social interactions relate to older adults’ cognitive function in daily life. The present study examined how changes in daily social interactions related to fluctuations in older adults’ performance on mobile cognitive tests from day to day. Using an ecological momentary assessments approach, 312 older adults (aged 70 to 90 years) completed surveys on social interactions and mobile cognitive tests five times a day for 16 consecutive days using smartphones. Multilevel modeling was used for analyses. Results demonstrated that having more daily social interactions, especially more pleasant social interactions, related to better cognitive performance the same day and over the subsequent two days. Cognitive performance, however, did not predict subsequent changes in social interactions across days. At the between-person level, older adults who had more (vs. less) frequent interactions with close partners on average, especially with their friends, had better cognitive performance. Finally, the average levels of social interactions also moderated the within-person associations between daily social interactions and the same-day cognitive performance. In sum, results from this study highlight the importance of having pleasant social interactions and frequent interactions with friends for older adults’ cognitive function in daily life, and have important implications for future behavioral interventions targeting certain features of daily social interactions to reduce risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

The Influence of Leisure Engagement on Daily Emotional Well-being

Leisure engagement is believed to offer emotional benefits. However, relatively few studies have examined how leisure engagement influences emotional well-being in the context of individuals' everyday lives. The current study examined the associations between leisure engagement and daily emotional well-being, as measured by participants' mean levels of positive affect (PA), PA variability, and PA reactivity to stressors. Using smartphones, participants (n = 176) completed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) 5 times per day for 14 consecutive days. The Pearson correlations indicated that the participants who engaged in leisure more frequently experienced higher mean levels of PA and lower PA variability in daily life compared to those with less frequent leisure engagement. However, multilevel models indicated that individuals' differences in frequency of leisure engagement did not influence their emotional reactivity in response to daily stressors. The findings extend the importance of leisure engagement to consider the dynamics of daily emotional well-being.

Cross-day influences between couple closeness and coparenting support among new parents

The couple and coparenting relationships are demonstrated to be prospectively and bidirectionally associated over months to years during the early parenting years. However, little is known about these associations at the daily level within the first year of parenthood, when coparenting first emerges. The goal of the current study was to examine the association between couples' daily feelings of relationship closeness and coparenting support in first-time parents and determine directionality of these effects using a dyadic daily diary design. At 10 months postpartum, heterosexual couples (N = 141 dyads) completed daily diaries for 8 consecutive days. An autoregressive cross-lagged model was incorporated within an Actor Partner Interdependence Modeling framework to examine at the daily level: (a) within-person cross-day associations between relationship closeness and coparenting support, (b) cross-partner cross-day associations within relationship closeness and coparenting support, (c) cross-partner cross-day associations between relationship closeness and coparenting support, and (d) gender differences in these associations. Results revealed a prospective, within person bidirectional link between daily relationship closeness and perceived coparenting support for both mothers and fathers. Additionally, an indirect effect from mothers' experiences of coparenting support to fathers' relationship closeness through fathers' experiences of coparenting support was found at the daily level. Findings highlight the interdependent nature of the couple and coparenting relationship at the daily level during the first year of parenthood and suggest that mothers' feeling supported by their coparenting partners may facilitate a "virtuous cycle" between coparenting support and relationship closeness early in the coparenting relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of leisure coping on depressive symptoms among individuals with depression: examination of potential confounding effects of physical activity and extraversion

Clinically significant depression has been consistently identified as a phenomenon directly linked to stress and stress coping. Leisure behavior as purposeful coping strategy (i.e. leisure coping) has been advanced as a potential approach to address depression; however, the leisure coping effect on depressive symptoms has not examined with two potential confounders: physical activity and extraversion. Physical activity's anti-depressant effect is widely known, and there is also a link between extraversion and lower depressive symptoms. The current study examined whether leisure coping has a significant effect on depressive symptoms among individuals with depression when physical activity and extraversion were taken into account. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with respondents recruited from depression support group meetings, an online depression research portal, a state-wide research registry, and an outpatient psychiatric service provider. The analyses included a total of 152 adults (61.8% female) with self-reported depression who were age 18-75. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to identify the strengths of association between leisure coping and depressive symptoms after accounting for covariates (demographics and perceived stress) and potential confounders (physical activity and extraversion). After a statistical control for physical activity and extraversion, leisure coping was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms (β = -.300, p < .01). Physical activity was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms in the model with leisure coping, but it became non-significant in the model with extraversion. The results suggested that leisure coping contributes to lower depressive symptoms independent from physical activity and extraversion. Introverts may be disadvantaged to take advantage of physical activity, but leisure coping might be one strategy to influence depressive symptoms. Further investigations should seek to verify this relationship as well as explore leisure coping as an intervention for depression.

Time use of parents raising children with severe or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

BACKGROUND

Raising children with severe or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) is expected to put extreme pressure on parental time use patterns. The aim of this study was to examine the total time use of mothers and fathers raising children with PIMD and compare it with the time use of parents of typically developing children.

METHOD

Twenty-seven fathers and 30 mothers raising children with PIMD completed a time use diary on a mobile phone or tablet app, as did 66 fathers and 109 mothers of typically developing children. Independent t-tests and Mann-Whitney tests were performed to compare mean time use.

RESULTS

There are no differences in the time use of parents of children with PIMD on contracted time (paid work and educational activities) and necessary time (personal care, eating and drinking and sleeping) when compared with parents of typically developing children. There are significant differences between the parents of children with PIMD and the parents of typically developing children in terms of committed time (time for domestic work and the care and supervision of their children) and free time. The mothers of children with PIMD spend significantly less time on domestic work and more time on care and supervision than mothers of typically developing children.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that the parents of children with PIMD have to spend a significant amount of time on care tasks and have on average 1.5 h less free time per day than parents of typically developing children. This is a striking difference, because leisure time can substantially contribute to well-being. Therefore, it is important not only to consider a child with PIMD's support needs but also to identify what parents need to continue their children's daily care and supervision.

The relationship between personality types and leisure time activities amongst Casino employees’ workplace expectations

Orientation: Associations between a person’s character strengths, happiness and well-being can be explained with the overlap that they have with personality. Casino employees’ working hours were and are increasing, which means that their leisure time is decreasing concomitantly, with only 20 hours per week being used in pursuit of leisure activities.Research purpose: The primary purpose of this research was to investigate 1502 casino employees’ personality types and the relationship it has on their leisure life and overall happiness.Motivation for the study: The importance of leisure participation and time to take part in leisure activities, and the effect it has on casino employees’ happiness in the workplace, warrants further investigation. If human resources managers and general management want happier casino employees in the workplace, they should focus on their personality types and make more leisure activities available to them; which will result in a happier workforce.Research design, approach and method: The target population consisted of 3032 casino employees, who received the questionnaires and were given the opportunity to complete the questionnaires anonymously. An availability sampling technique was used, based on the number of casino employees who were willing and available to complete the questionnaires.Main findings and practical/managerial implications: In terms of the structural equation modelling, it was found that the positive personalities such as extraversion and openness to experience correlated well with leisure life and happiness. In this study, the standardised regression weights showed that if an individual has a negative personality, he or she will not necessarily be unhappy. A positive relationship was found between positive personality traits such as cooperativeness and agreeableness and leisure life and happiness. Considering mediation effects, leisure preference was the greatest partial mediator between happiness and personalities.Contribution: Human resource managers of casino establishments can use these results to determine the type of personality of casino employees that will experience a good leisure life and happiness in relation to the workplace, contributing to positive psychology and human resource literature. Keywords: Casino employees; employee benefits; feelings toward the company; happiness; human resource management

Leisure, functional disability and depression among older Chinese living in residential care homes

OBJECTIVES

Previous research has rarely examined the intervening and buffering effects of leisure on the relationship between age-related stress and health among institutionalized elders, especially in the Chinese context. This study thus examines the extent to which participation in leisure activities mediates and moderates the impact of functional disability on depression among older adults living in residential care homes in China.

METHOD

A total of 1429 participants (858 men) aged over 60 living in residential care homes, of which 46.1% experienced depression using a cut-off score ≥ 5 on the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, were selected from a national survey across China by using the probability proportional to size sampling method.

RESULTS

The findings showed that depression was positively predicted by functional disability and negatively predicted by participation in leisure activities. The results of the mediation analysis showed that participation in leisure activities partially mediated the relationship between functional disability and depression. Functional disability predicted depression both directly and indirectly through its negative influence on participation in leisure activities. Participation in leisure activities also significantly buffered the relationship between functional disability and depression such that the impact of functional disability was weaker for those who participated in leisure activities more frequently.

CONCLUSION

These results provide support for the mediating and moderating roles of leisure in the stress-health relationship among institutionalized elders. To enhance residents' psychological health, residential care homes are recommended to organize more leisure activities.