Coping Styles as Mediators Between Purpose in Life and Cognitive Function: A Longitudinal Study.

This study tests associations between purpose in life and coping, and whether coping mediates the association between purpose and cognitive function. Longitudinal data from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study were used to investigate associations between purpose at MIDUS I and coping at MIDUS II ( = 2386). Emotion-focused and problem-focused coping were tested as mediators between purpose and cognitive function (memory, executive function, global cognition) at MIDUS III.

Meaning in life and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the UK Biobank.

Objective: To determine the association between meaning in life and all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and whether associations vary by depression or sociodemographic factors.

Methods: Participants were UK Biobank cohort members who reported on their meaning in life in the mental health assessment from October 2016 to July 2017 (N = 153,505). All-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality were identified from ICD-10 codes from national death registries through December 2022.

Daily relationship satisfaction and markers of health: Findings from a smartphone-based assessment.

Relationship satisfaction is associated consistently with better physical and mental health. Less is known about these associations in daily life, particularly the association between relationship satisfaction and cognitive health. This study examined the daily, within-person association between relationship satisfaction and subjective health markers, including cognitive health.

Purpose in life and grip strength: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 115,972 participants from 24 countries across four continents.

This research examines the replicability and generalizability of the association between purpose in life and grip strength. An individual-participant meta-analysis of 27 samples (total N=115,972) from 24 countries that spanned four continents (Asia, Europe, North and South America) with self-reported purpose in life and dynamometer-assessed grip strength. Purpose in life was associated with stronger grip strength in every sample and aggregated in a random-effects meta-analysis (meta-analytic estimate=.

The mediational role of hearing acuity in the association between personality and memory: Evidence from the health and retirement study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Objectives: Personality traits (i.e., the enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) are associated with cognition across adulthood.

Purpose in Life and Cognitive Function in the Malaysian Ageing and Retirement Study.

Objectives: Evidence for the association between purpose in life and cognitive health is primarily from North American and European samples. This study evaluates this association in a large sample from Malaysia, an upper-middle-income country in Southeast Asia.

Methods: Participants ( = 5,579) from the Malaysian Ageing and Retirement Study reported on their purpose in life and subjective memory and were administered tasks that measured episodic memory, verbal fluency, and overall cognitive function.

Momentary Associations Between Physical Activity, Affect, and Purpose in Life.

Background: Physical activity is associated with both the hedonic (e.g., affect) and eudaimonic (e.

Perceived Weight Discrimination and General Coping Strategies.

Background: Perceived weight discrimination is associated consistently with worse health outcomes. Coping strategies may be one mechanism of this association. The present research examined the association between perceived weight discrimination and strategies used to cope with general stress (not weight-specific) and whether these strategies accounted for part of the association with markers of health.

Purpose in life and stress: Momentary associations from a micro-longitudinal study.

Purpose in life is an aspect of well-being associated with less subjective stress. The present research sought to expand this literature by testing the association between both dispositional and momentary purpose with stress in daily life using a micro-longitudinal study design. Participants (N = 303) reported their dispositional purpose at baseline and reported their momentary purpose and stress three times a day for 8 days.

Personality and Transition From Mild Cognitive Impairment to Normal Cognition vs Dementia.

Objectives: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a critical stage preceding incident dementia, but not all individuals with MCI progress to dementia and some revert to normal cognition. This study examined whether personality is associated with the probability of transition from MCI to normal cognition or dementia.

Design: Longitudinal observational study.

Personality traits and measures of neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Objectives: Changes in personality and behavioral symptoms are a core clinical criterion for the diagnosis of dementia. This study examines the association between caregiver-rated personality traits and multiple measures of neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Method: Caregivers of individuals with dementia ( = 191) or cancer ( = 137) provided premorbid and concurrent personality trait ratings using the Big Five Inventory-2.

Life Events and Incident Dementia: A Prospective Study of 493,787 Individuals Over 16 Years.

Objectives: Life events can be stressful and have a detrimental impact on health, but evidence is inconclusive regarding life events and dementia risk. The present study tests whether life events are associated with incident dementia, whether experiencing multiple events has cumulative effects, and whether the associations vary across age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and genetic vulnerability.

Methods: UK Biobank participants (N = 493,787) reported on 6 life events that occurred within the past 2 years: serious illness, injury, assault to yourself or close relative, death of a spouse/partner or close relative, marital separation/divorce, and financial problems.

Balance, Strength, and Risk of Dementia: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Background: Slow gait speed has been consistently associated with an increased risk of dementia. This study examined whether measures of balance and lower limb strength are similarly related to the risk of developing dementia.

Methods: Participants from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 5 658, mean age = 73.

Are social interactions perceived as more meaningful in older adulthood?

Social relationships accompany us throughout adulthood and are among the most important sources of meaning in a person's life. However, little is known about age differences in meaningfulness of social interactions across adulthood. According to socioemotional selectivity theory, as people age, they develop relatively stronger preferences for social relationships that are emotionally meaningful.

German population norms of the preference to solitude scale and its correlates.

Aim: Our first aim was to present norm values for the Preference for Solitude Scale by sex, age, and other sociodemographic groups. Our second aim was to evaluate the correlates of preference for solitude.

Methods: Data were collected in August/September 2023 from a sample of individuals (N = 5000) living in Germany aged 18 to 74 years (ensuring representativeness in terms of sex, age group and federal state for the German general adult population).

Personality traits and polypharmacy: meta-analysis of five samples.

Objective: The present study examined the prospective relationship between personality traits and the risk of polypharmacy.

Methods And Measures: Participants (age range: 16-101 years;  > 15,000) were from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study of Aging (WLS), and the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS). In each sample, personality traits and demographic factors were assessed at baseline.

Sociodemographic predictors of perceived weight discrimination.

Background: Perceived weight discrimination is associated with increased risk for chronic diseases and reduced life expectancy. Nevertheless, little is known about perceived weight discrimination in racial, ethnic, and sexual minority groups or in individuals at the intersections of those groups. The goal of this study was to identify sociodemographic predictors of perceived weight discrimination.

Purpose in life and stress: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 16 samples.

Background: Purpose in life is a psychological resource that has been associated with better regulation of stress. The present research reports a coordinated analysis of the association between purpose in life and subjective stress and evaluates potential sociodemographic and mental health moderators of this association.

Methods: With individual participant data from 16 samples (total =108,391), linear regression examined the association between purpose in life and general subjective feelings of stress, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics.

Prevalence and factors associated with probable depression among the oldest old during the Covid-19 pandemic: evidence from the large, nationally representative 'Old Age in Germany (D80+)' study.

Background: To date, most studies examining the prevalence and determinants of depression among individuals aged 80 and over have used geographically limited samples that are not generalisable to the wider population. Thus, our aim was to identify the prevalence and the factors associated with probable depression among the oldest old in Germany based on nationally representative data.

Methods: Data were taken from the nationally representative 'Old Age in Germany (D80+)' study (n = 8386; November 2020 to April 2021) covering both community-dwelling and institutionalised individuals aged 80 and over.

Personality nuances and risk of dementia: Evidence from two longitudinal studies.

Personality traits are broad constructs composed of nuances, operationalized by personality items, that can provide a more granular understanding of personality associations with health outcomes. This study examined the associations between personality nuances and incident dementia and evaluated whether nuances associations replicate across two samples. Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 11,400) participants were assessed in 2006/2008, and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA, N = 7453) participants were assessed in 2010/2011 on personality and covariates.

Personality traits and the risk of urinary incontinence: Evidence from three longitudinal samples.

Objective: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common condition with a substantial negative impact on older adults' quality of life. This study examines whether individual differences in behavioral, cognitive, and emotional traits assessed by the five major dimensions of personality are related to the risk of concurrent and incident UI.

Methods: Participants were older women and men (N > 26,000) from the Midlife in the United States Survey, the Health and Retirement Study, and the English Longitudinal Study of Aging.