The Utility of a Positive Body Image Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults Who Perceive Death to Be Near and Fear It

Older and fearing new technologies? The relationship between older adults' technophobia and subjective age

OBJECTIVE

This article aimed to identify different technophobia subgroups of older adults and examine the associations between these distinct subgroups and the subjective age.

METHODS

A sample of 728 retired older adults over the age of 55 was recruited in China. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify technophobia subgroups using three indicators: techno-anxiety, techno-paranoia and privacy concerns. Analysis of Variance was applied to determine whether a relationship exists between the identified technophobic subgroups and subjective ages (Feel-age, Look-age, Do-age and Interests-age).

RESULT

Four technophobia types were identified: 'low-technophobia' (24.59%), 'high-privacy concerns' (26.48%), 'medium-technophobia' (28.38%), and 'high-technophobia' (20.55%). Privacy concerns play a major role in the profiles of older adults who belong to the profiles of 'high-privacy concerns' and 'high-technophobia' (47.03%). A series of ANOVAs showed that older adults in the 'low-technophobia' were more likely to be younger subjective ages of the feel-age and interest-age.

CONCLUSION

The majority of Chinese older adults do not suffer from high levels of technophobia, but do concerns about privacy issues. It also pointed out the younger subjective age might have a protective effect on older adults with technophobia. Future technophobia interventions should better focus on breaking the age stereotype of technology on older adults.

Existential ageing and dying: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

After significant early interest in aging and dying, recent empirical studies have been few and theoretically fragmented.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of this review were to map what is empirically known about the intersections between existential aging (a sense of passing years that evoke a sense of nearness-to-death) and dying identity and to describe the available evidence.

METHOD

Articles were reviewed employing PRISMA guidelines. Seven data bases were searched resulted in 165 records. Of these 165 records a final selection of 24 studies that met the criteria were examined.

RESULTS

Evidence from the review found that the formation of the identity of dying alongside existential aging was associated with personal changes related to self/gerotranscendence, self-concerns about the inevitability of death (mortality salience), self-concerns about the prospect of death (death anxiety), attitudes toward the older self as a moderator of attitudes to death (aging attitudes), or simply anticipating the death of self (the future). Collectively, these studies found that death and dying were threats or challenges to life as an increasingly aging identity and that this seems to require compensation or accommodation.

CONCLUSION

These studies confirm the importance of nearness-to-death on identity formation and psychological change in older populations. However, most of the studies were quantitative and tested for pre-existing ideas and concepts. There is a need for more qualitative studies to search for wider or parallel meanings about identity change in the face of aging and death, more longitudinal designs, and greater attention to mixed methods approaches, especially for populations for whom talk or writing may be restrictive.

Subjective Age and Late-Life Functional Status: Mediating and Moderating Effects

OBJECTIVES

The present study examined the longitudinal relationships between subjective age (SA) and future functional status in later life, via depressive symptoms. Additionally, we assessed the role of subjective nearness to death (SNtD) as a potential moderator within these pathways.

METHODS

Older adults (average age 81.14 at T1) were interviewed once a year for three consecutive years (N=224 at T1, N=178 at T2, and N=164 at T3), Participants reported their SA, SNtD, depressive symptoms, and functional status. Additionally, grip strength was employed as an objective measure of functional status.

RESULTS

Data analysis revealed distinct pathways leading from T1 SA to T3 functional status through T2 depressive symptoms. Moreover, T1 SNtD was found to significantly moderate most of these indirect pathways, so that the mediation model of T1 SA-T2 depressive symptoms-T3 functional status was mostly significant among those who felt closer to death.

DISCUSSION

The findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanism through which SA predicts long-term functioning sequelae by underscoring the indirect effect of depressive symptoms. They further indicate the importance of gauging the effects of SNtD on these longitudinal relationships. Present results may further contribute to establishing an integrative model for predicting long-term functional outcomes based on older adults' earlier subjective views of aging.

Ageism and Psychological Distress in Older Adults: The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem and Body Image

Ageist attitudes have been associated with negative physical consequences and psychological distress among older adults. Although holding a positive self-image and body image contributes to well-being among older adults, their combined effect on the consequences of ageism has not been examined. Accordingly, the current study examines the moderating role of both variables on the connection between ageism and psychological distress among older adults. Data were collected from 383 older adults (age range = 60-90; M = 71.44; SD = 6.62), who filled out scales assessing ageism, self-esteem, body image, and psychological distress. Psychological distress was associated with reduced self-esteem and body image. In line with the moderation hypothesis, the ageism-distress link remained significant only for individuals with low levels of both self-esteem and body image. The discussion highlights the relevance of both self-esteem and body image as important personal resources which may buffer the connection between ageism and psychological distress among older adults.

Expanding the Role Repertoire While Aging: A Drama Therapy Model

Drama therapy has been found to improve various facets of mental health while aging. It provides opportunities for personal growth and creative expression and enhances group relationships. Drama therapy is a widely acknowledged way to explore the life stories in late life. However, only a handful of studies have empirically explored the value of drama therapy for the aging population. This conceptual analysis was designed to address this need by developing a new integrative model of drama therapy. The analysis is based on the review of the results of four studies that explored the integration of life-review and playback theater as a drama therapy approach for older adults. The therapeutic process focused on the exploration of life-crossroads stories, a short unique technique which enables the participants to craft a harmonious view of their life stories in a short-term dramatic creative group process. Combining the four results yielded a multidimensional model which points to three potential transformative routes: the evolution of the life story, the evolution of improvised dramatic expression, and the expansion of social engagement. The transformative routes are described through the lens of role theory in drama therapy.

Brain Activation during Thoughts of One's Own Death and Its Linear and Curvilinear Correlations with Fear of Death in Elderly Individuals: An fMRI Study

Facing one's own death and managing the fear of death are important existential issues, particularly in older populations. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated brain responses to death-related stimuli, none has examined whether this brain activation was specific to one's own death or how it was related to dispositional fear of death. In this study, during fMRI, 34 elderly participants (aged, 60-72 years) were presented with either death-related or death-unrelated negative words and asked to evaluate the relevance of these words to the "self" or the "other." The results showed that only the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was selectively activated during self-relevant judgments of death-related words. Regression analyses of the effect of fear of death on brain activation during death-related thoughts identified a significant negative linear correlation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and an inverted-U-shaped correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) only during self-relevant judgments. Our results suggest potential involvement of the SMA in the existential aspect of thoughts of death. The distinct fear-of-death-dependent responses in the SMG and PCC may reflect fear-associated distancing of the physical self and the processing of death-related thoughts as a self-relevant future agenda, respectively.

An examination of the factor structure and preliminary assessment of the psychometric properties of a Hebrew translation of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2)

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely-used, 10-item measure of a core facet of positive body image. To extend its use internationally, we examined the factor structure and conducted a preliminary assessment of the psychometric properties of a novel Hebrew translation of the BAS-2. A sample of 613 Israeli adults (362 women, 251 men; age M = 29.52, SD = 9.47) completed the BAS-2 alongside demographic items and previously-validated measures of life satisfaction, self-esteem, self-compassion, and body investment. Exploratory factor analyses with a semi-random split-half subsample (n = 377) indicated that BAS-2 scores reduced to a single dimension with all 10 items. This factor structure was equivalent across women and men. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a second split-half subsample (n = 235) showed the 1-dimensional factor structure had adequate fit following one modification and multi-group CFA showed that the model was invariant across sex. Men had significantly higher BAS-2 scores than women, but the effect size was small (d = 0.22). Evidence of construct validity was demonstrated through positive associations with indices of life satisfaction, self-esteem, self-compassion, and body investment. The availability of a validated BAS-2 Hebrew translation should advance future research of body appreciation in Israel.

Influence of the fear of death on body image evaluation

Background: Research on the consequences of fear of death often consists of classical investigations within the sphere of social psychology. However, the aspect of body image regarding this issue remains largely unexplored. Aim of the study: The goal of the conducted experiment was to examine the mechanisms reducing the fear of death. The respondents had two options to choose from: (1) increasing self-esteem in terms of physical attractiveness, or (2) lowering the rating of the body image presented in the photographs. Material and methods: The study was conducted using the following tests: (1) the Memory Test, developed by Łukaszewski and Buczny; (2) the Body-Esteem Scale (BE S), developed by Franzoi and Shields; (3) the UMACL Mood Adjective Checklist, developed by Mathews, Chamberlain, and Jones; and (4) the Body Shape Attractiveness Questionnaire. In this report, we present results of an analysis of 221 respondents (108 women and 113 men). Results: Death-related thoughts influence the perception of female body attractiveness. Respondents with awareness of mortality salience rated the attractiveness of body shape as lower than respondents from the control group. Conclusions: The present experiment confirmed the influence of fear of death on the evaluation of cultural and biological standards of female physical attractiveness, as well as, the hesitation of participants’ self-esteem and mood related to sex. The lack of critical evaluation of others and a positive self-evaluation effectively protects an individual against mood deterioration, and these effects were observed among men. However, these mechanisms do not apply to women, since women reacted critically to both body shapes in the photographs and their own bodies.