Depressive symptoms across the retirement transition in men and women: associations with emotion regulation, adjustment difficulties and work centrality.

Background: Retirement is a major life event and factors driving depression in the retirement transition might differ in men and women. The aim was to prospectively study depressive symptoms across the retirement transition in men and women and to test associations with emotion regulation strategies (suppression and reappraisal), adjustment difficulties, and work centrality.

Methods: The sample included 527 individuals from the population-based Health, Aging and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study who were working at baseline and retired during one of the following four annual measurement waves.

Retirement and Sexual Satisfaction.

Background And Objectives: Although interest in sexuality in older age has increased over the last decades, few studies have focused on longitudinal change in sexual satisfaction around retirement age. In the present study, we studied change in sexual satisfaction across retirement in a sample of Swedish older adults with a partner.

Research Design And Methods: Our analyses were based on n = 759 participants (359 male, 400 female) from the longitudinal Health, Aging, and Retirement Transitions in Sweden study.

Autonomy and loneliness - longitudinal within- and between-person associations among Swedish older adults.

Objectives: Loneliness is an important risk factor for mental and physical health over the life span. Little is known about psychosocial predictors and consequences of loneliness apart from social network characteristics. One important factor that may both prevent from, but also be affected by loneliness, is perceived autonomy.

Do neuroticism and conscientiousness interact with health conditions in predicting 4-year changes in self-rated health among Swedish older adults?

Health conditions such as higher disease burden, pain, or lower functional health are associated with poorer self-rated health (SRH) in older age. Poorer SRH, in turn, is a predictor of morbidity and mortality. Personality traits are associated with SRH as well, but little is known about the interaction of personality and health conditions.

Gender differences in resources related to depressive symptoms during the early years of retirement: A Swedish population-based study.

Objectives: To examine levels of depressive symptoms during the early years of retirement in men and women and to investigate potential gender differences in associations with self-reported health, financial insecurity, social network and psychological resources.

Methods: Data was drawn from the first wave in the Health, Aging and Retirement Transitions in Sweden-study (HEARTS) including a total sample of 1148 retirees, aged 60 to 66. Level of depressive symptoms and associations with health, financial insecurity, social network and psychological resources were investigated in regression analyses in the total sample and in bivariate correlation analyses in the subgroup at risk of depression as defined by a cut-off ≥9 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).

The role of personality in retirement adjustment: Longitudinal evidence for the effects on life satisfaction.

Objective: Research on retirement suggests that personality can influence the adjustment process, but the mechanisms involved remain still largely unknown. In the present study, we investigate direct and indirect associations between the Big Five personality traits and life satisfaction over the retirement transition. Indirect effects were evaluated through the role of personality for levels and changes in self-esteem, autonomy, social support, self-rated physical health, self-rated cognitive ability, and financial satisfaction.

Beyond health and economy: resource interactions in retirement adjustment.

The retirement transition is a multidimensional and dynamic process of adjustment to new life circumstances. Research has shown that individual differences in resource capability accounts for a substantial amount of the previously observed heterogeneity in retirement adjustment. The aim of the present study was to investigate interaction effects of self-esteem, autonomy, social support, self-rated physical health, self-rated cognitive ability, and basic financial resources on levels and changes in life satisfaction in the retirement transition.

Increases in Neuroticism May Be an Early Indicator of Dementia: A Coordinated Analysis.

Objectives: Although personality change is typically considered a symptom of dementia, some studies suggest that personality change may be an early indication of dementia. One prospective study found increases in neuroticism preceding dementia diagnosis (Yoneda, T., Rush, J.

Psychological Health in the Retirement Transition: Rationale and First Findings in the HEalth, Ageing and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) Study.

From an aging research and life-course perspective, the transition to retirement marks a significant life-event and provides a unique opportunity to study psychological health and coping during a period of substantial change in everyday life. The aim of the present paper is to: (a) outline the rationale of the HEalth, Ageing and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study, (b) describe the study sample, and (c) to present some initial results from the two first waves regarding the association between retirement status and psychological health. The HEARTS study is designed to annually study psychological health in the years before and following retirement, and to examine change and stability patterns related to the retirement event.

High Prevalence of Stress and Low Prevalence of Alzheimer Disease CSF Biomarkers in a Clinical Sample with Subjective Cognitive Impairment.

Background/aims: Subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) is a trigger for seeking health care in a possible preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD), although the characteristics of SCI need clarification. We investigated the prevalence of psychosocial stress, depressive symptoms and CSF AD biomarkers in SCI and MCI (mild cognitive impairment).

Methods: Memory clinic patients (SCI: n = 90; age: 59.

Trajectories of Personality Traits Preceding Dementia Diagnosis.

Background: Several retrospective studies using informant report have shown that individuals with dementia demonstrate considerable personality change. Two prospective studies, also using informant report, have shown that individuals who develop dementia show some personality changes prior to diagnosis. The current study is the first to assess personality trait change prior to dementia diagnosis using self-report measures from longitudinal data.

Differential Impact of Neurofilament Light Subunit on Cognition and Functional Outcome in Memory Clinic Patients with and without Vascular Burden.

The neurofilament light (NF-L) subunit is mainly expressed in large-caliber myelinated axons, and elevated concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are correlated with damage to white matter and subcortical regions. Because the correlation between NF-L and cognition and functional impairment is largely unknown, we investigated associations in patients (n = 622) with (n = 199) and without (n = 423) vascular burden in subjective cognitive impairment (SCI, n = 168), mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 261), and dementia (n = 193). Patients were staged according to disease severity and the presence/absence of cerebrovascular disease.

Personality Change in the Oldest-Old: Is It a Matter of Compromised Health and Functioning?

The present longitudinal study investigates continuity and change in the personality dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism among the oldest-old. Overall disease load, self-rated health, functional capacity, impaired vision and hearing, self-reported cognitive impairment, and measured cognitive status were tested for their role as potentially relevant late-life predictors of personality change. The sample consists of 408 individuals aged 80-98 in the Swedish OCTO-Twin Study who completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory at four measurement occasions during a 6-year period.

Living with stable MCI: experiences among 17 individuals evaluated at a memory clinic.

Objectives: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a state of mildly impaired cognitive functioning but with an intact capability of performing basic daily activities. Few studies have targeted personal narratives from persons living with MCI, the major focus in this study is directed to methods for better predictions of the likelihood for conversion to dementia. This study directly explores experiences among individuals who have lived with MCI over seven years without converting to dementia.

Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers mirror rate of cognitive decline.

The ability to predict future decline in cognitive systems using the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers 42 amino acid form of amyloid-β (Aβ42) and total tau (T-tau) is not fully understood. In a clinical sample ranging from cognitively healthy to dementia (n = 326), linear regression models were performed in order to investigate the ability of CSF biomarkers to predict cognitive decline in all cognitive domains from baseline to 2-year follow-up. Gender, age, and years of education were included as covariates.

Factorial validity and invariance of the Life Satisfaction Index in older people across groups and time: addressing the heterogeneity of age, functional ability, and depression.

In the last decades, extensive research efforts have been directed at exploring life satisfaction in old age, and the Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA) scale, developed by Neugarten et al. in the 1960s, is one of the most commonly used instruments. However, studies have focused on predicting and comparing changes in people's life satisfaction without testing if the LSIA instrument is equally valid for different subgroups of people.

Amyloid-β₄₂ is associated with cognitive impairment in healthy elderly and subjective cognitive impairment.

The aim of this study was to predict cognitive performance on the basis of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers total tau (T-tau) and amyloid-β₄₂ (Aβ₄₂) in controls and patients at various impairment levels. Previous studies have found an association of CSF T-tau levels with cognitive symptoms, but it has been difficult to relate Aβ to cognition, and it has thus been hypothesized that Aβ reaches a plateau level prior to cognitive symptoms. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was subjected to factor analysis to yield aggregated cognitive domains.

Personality and personal control make a difference for life satisfaction in the oldest-old: findings in a longitudinal population-based study of individuals 80 and older.

This study investigates life satisfaction in relation to impending death among the oldest-old using overall disease load, self-rated health, and personality as interacting covariates of level and change. We used data from a sample of 370 healthy individuals who completed the Life Satisfaction Index-Z at four measurement occasions during a 6-year period in the Swedish OCTO-Twin study of individuals aged 80 and older. Growth curve analyses showed a linear decrease in life satisfaction as individuals approached death.

"As long as I'm in good health". The relationship between medical diagnoses and life satisfaction in the oldest-old.

Background And Aims: Life satisfaction in the elderly has usually been found to be closely related to self-rated health, and less to diagnoses and more objective measures of health status. However, few studies have examined the relative importance of various specific diagnoses in population-based samples.

Methods: In this study, we investigate the relationship between life satisfaction and medical diagnoses in a non-demented sample of 392 participants aged 80 and older.

What matters, and what matters most, for change in life satisfaction in the oldest-old? A study over 6 years among individuals 80+.

Objectives: The study investigates whether markers of life satisfaction identified in a cross-sectional study-quality of social network, self-rated health, depressive symptoms, locus of control and widowhood, in addition to financial satisfaction and the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism-predict change in life satisfaction (LSI-Z) across four measurement occasions during a 6-year period in individuals aged 80+.

Method: Data were drawn from the Swedish OCTO-Twin-study of individuals aged 80 and older.

Results: Growth curve analysis showed a relatively consistent significant linear decline in life satisfaction, but certain markers predicted change in life satisfaction.