Publications by authors named "Eric S Kim"

Accumulating studies have documented strong associations between a higher sense of control and improved health and well-being outcomes. However, less is known about the determinants of increased sense of control. Our analysis used data from 13,771 older adults in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)-a diverse, longitudinal, and national study of adults aged >50 in the United States.

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  • The study investigates how positive emotions affect physical activity over a 25-year period, using data from 3,352 participants.
  • Traditional and marginal structural models were employed to analyze the relationship, accounting for possible reverse causation.
  • Results indicate that while there was no immediate link between positive affect and physical activity, higher positive affect was associated with a slower decline in activity levels over time, suggesting that enhancing positive emotions could help maintain physical activity in midlife.
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Does higher perceived neighborhood social cohesion in adolescence lead to better health and well-being 10-12 years later? We evaluated this question using data from a large, prospective, and nationally representative sample of US adolescents (Add Health; N = 10,963), and an outcome-wide approach. Across 38 outcomes, perceived neighborhood social cohesion was associated with some: mental health outcomes (i.e.

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  • Supporting healthy aging is a key public health goal in the US, and the study explores the relationship between gratitude and mortality in older adults, indicating gratitude may positively influence health and well-being.
  • The research involved 49,275 older female nurses from the Nurses' Health Study and utilized various health and lifestyle factors to assess how gratitude, measured by a validated questionnaire, impacts mortality rates.
  • Results showed that higher levels of gratitude were linked to a lower risk of death, with those in the highest gratitude group having a 9% reduced risk of all-cause mortality compared to those with lower levels of gratitude.
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Background: Several intergovernmental organizations, including the World Health Organization and United Nations, are urging countries to use well-being indicators for policymaking. This trend, coupled with increasing recognition that positive affect is beneficial for health/well-being, opens new avenues for intervening on positive affect to improve outcomes. However, it remains unclear if positive affect in adolescence shapes health/well-being in adulthood.

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  • * Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, researchers found that changes in physical activity, mental health, and social connections led to lower levels of loneliness four years later.
  • * Findings suggest that subjective health and social perceptions are more influential on loneliness compared to objective health measures, highlighting areas for potential intervention.
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Background: Community belonging, an important constituent of subjective well-being, is an important target for improving population health. Ageing involves transitioning across different social conditions thus, community belonging on health may vary across the life course. Using a nationally representative cohort, this study estimates the life stage-specific impact of community belonging on premature mortality.

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The detrimental effects of loneliness and social isolation on health and well-being outcomes are well documented. In response, governments, corporations, and community-based organizations have begun leveraging tools to create interventions and policies aimed at reducing loneliness and social isolation at scale. However, these efforts are frequently hampered by a key knowledge gap: when attempting to improve specific health and well-being outcomes, decision-makers are often unsure whether to target loneliness, social isolation, or both.

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Background: While informal helping has been linked to a reduced risk of mortality, it remains unclear if this association persists across different levels of key social structural moderators.

Purpose: To examine whether the longitudinal association between informal helping and all-cause mortality differs by specific social structural moderators (including age, gender, race/ethnicity, wealth, income, and education) in a large, prospective, national, and diverse sample of older U.S.

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Background: Growing evidence suggests that informal helping (unpaid volunteering not coordinated by an organization or institution) is associated with improved health and well-being outcomes. However, studies have not investigated whether changes in informal helping are associated with subsequent health and well-being.

Methods: This study evaluated if changes in informal helping (between t;2006/2008 and t;2010/2012) were associated with 35 indicators of physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health and well-being (at t;2014/2016) using data from 12,998 participants in the Health and Retirement study - a national cohort of US adults aged > 50.

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  • Psychological ill-being is increasing in the U.S., with 1 in 5 Americans experiencing mental disorders annually, and overall psychological well-being has declined.
  • The link between poor psychological health and chronic diseases indicates that focusing on improving mental well-being can also enhance physical health.
  • Positive Psychological Interventions (PPIs) are a promising method to boost well-being, but substantial knowledge gaps remain in developing effective, scalable strategies for widespread impact.
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Psychological well-being, characterized by feelings, cognitions, and strategies that are associated with positive functioning (including hedonic and eudaimonic well-being), has been linked with better physical health and greater longevity. Importantly, psychological well-being can be strengthened with interventions, providing a strategy for improving population health. But are the effects of well-being interventions meaningful, durable, and scalable enough to improve health at a population-level? To assess this possibility, a cross-disciplinary group of scholars convened to review current knowledge and develop a research agenda.

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Psychosocial risk factors have been linked with accelerated epigenetic aging, but little is known about whether psychosocial resilience factors (eg, Sense of Purpose in Life) might reduce epigenetic age acceleration. In this study, we tested if older adults who experience high levels of Purpose might show reduced epigenetic age acceleration. We evaluated the relationship between Purpose and epigenetic age acceleration as measured by 13 DNA methylation (DNAm) "epigenetic clocks" assessed in 1 572 older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (mean age 70 years).

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Background: Volunteering is associated with improved health and well-being outcomes, including a reduced risk of mortality. However, the biological mechanisms underlying the association between volunteering and healthy aging and longevity have not been well-established. We evaluated if volunteering was associated with reduced epigenetic age acceleration in older adults.

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We used prospective data (spanning 8 years) from a national sample of older U.S. adults aged > 50 years (the Health and Retirement Study, N = 13,771) to evaluate potential factors that lead to subsequent religious service attendance.

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As our society ages and healthcare costs escalate, researchers and policymakers urgently seek potentially modifiable predictors of reduced healthcare utilization. We aimed to determine whether changes in 62 candidate predictors were associated with reduced frequency, and duration, of overnight hospitalizations. We used data from 11,374 participants in the Health and Retirement Study-a national sample of adults aged >50 in the United States.

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We examined the associations between a sense of purpose and all-cause mortality by gender and race/ethnicity groups. Data were from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative cohort study of U.S.

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Aims: Prior research documents strong associations between an increased sense of in life and improved health and well-being outcomes. However, less is known about candidate antecedents that lead to more purpose among older adults.

Methods: We used data from 13,771 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) - a diverse, national panel study of adults aged >50 in the United States, to evaluate a large number of candidate predictors of purpose.

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  • Higher optimism among older individuals is linked to lower mortality and a reduced risk of chronic diseases, potentially explained by DNA methylation differences.
  • A study with diverse cohorts identified significant differences in DNA methylation patterns related to optimism, revealing specific methylated regions and pathways connected to health issues like cancer and cardiovascular disease.
  • The results suggest that understanding DNA methylation can offer new perspectives on how optimism impacts health and aging.
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While growing evidence documents strong associations between volunteering and improved health and well-being outcomes, less is known about the health and well-being factors that lead to increased volunteering. Using data from 13,771 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)-a diverse, longitudinal, and national sample of older adults in the United States-we evaluated a large range of candidate predictors of volunteering. Specifically, using generalized linear regression models with a lagged exposure-wide approach, we evaluated if changes in 61 predictors spanning physical health, health behaviors, and psychosocial well-being (over a 4-year follow-up between t; 2006/2008 and t; 2010/2012) were associated with volunteer activity four years later (t; 2014/2016).

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Background: A higher sense of purpose in life has been linked with reduced risk of age-related chronic health conditions that share elevated inflammation as a key risk factor (e.g., neurodegenerative diseases, heart disease, and diabetes).

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Background: Having a purpose in life has been linked to improved health and wellbeing; however, it remains unknown whether having ""-a related but broader concept in Japan-is also beneficial for various physical and psychosocial outcomes.

Methods: Using data from a nationwide longitudinal study of Japanese older adults aged ≥65 years, we examined the associations between having in 2013 and a wide range of subsequent outcomes assessed in 2016 across two databases (n = 6,441 and n = 8,041), including dimensions of physical health, health behavior, psychological distress, social wellbeing, subjective wellbeing, and pro-social/altruistic behaviors. We adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics and the outcome values (whenever data were available) in the prior wave (2010).

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Importance: Researchers and policy makers are expanding the focus from risk factors of disease to seek potentially modifiable health factors that enhance people's health and well-being. Understanding if and to what degree aging satisfaction (one's beliefs about their own aging) is associated with a range of health and well-being outcomes aligns with the interests of older adults, researchers, health systems, and politicians.

Objectives: To evaluate associations between changes in aging satisfaction and 35 subsequent health and well-being outcomes.

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