The Paradox of Aging-Related Fears: Fear of Loneliness in Old Age as a Motivator for Loneliness Preventive Activities.

Introduction: Aging is often seen as a challenging process, prompting individuals to form emotional reactions in response to the perceived challenges associated with growing older, manifested as aging-related fears. The present study focuses on the fear of loneliness in old age, a significant concern considering the socioemotional importance of close relationships in later life. Drawing from proactive coping theory, the study explores the association between fear of loneliness and aging preparation.

COVID-19 Worries Predict Aging Preparation: Culture- and Domain-Specific Perspectives.

Objectives: We investigated whether worrying about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) predicts people's engagement in aging preparation. Furthermore, we expected that this association would have culture- (i.e.

COVID-19 and perceiving finitude: Associations with future time perspective, death anxiety, and ideal life expectancy.

The coronavirus pandemic threatens the health, future, and life of individuals and might hence accentuate perceptions of the fragility and finitude of life. We investigated how different perceptions of the pandemic (regarding the virus as a health threat and perceiving social and financial restrictions due to the pandemic) relate to different perceptions of life's finitude (i.e.

Aging-related fears and their associations with ideal life expectancy.

Fears regarding various aspects tend to stimulate individuals to escape or to avoid the sources of the threat. We concluded that fears associated with the future aging process, like the fear of aging-related diseases, the fear of loneliness in old age, and the fear of death, would stimulate patterns of avoidance when it comes to ideal life expectancy. We expected fear of aging-related diseases and fear of loneliness in old age to be related to lower ideal life expectancies.

Daily experiences of subjective age discordance and well-being.

Subjective age discordance (SAD) captures the difference between how old one feels and how old one would ideally like to be. We investigated the presence, strength, and fluctuation of this discordance in daily life as well as its relationship to various indicators of physical and psychological well-being with an 8-day diary study. Participants were 116 older and 107 younger adults who completed daily measures of felt age, ideal age, positive and negative affect, physical symptoms, and stressors.

Perceived personal deadlines for late-life preparation across adulthood.

Throughout adulthood, individuals follow personal timetables of deadlines that shape the course of aging. We examine 6-year-longitudinal data of perceived personal deadlines for starting with late-life preparation across adulthood. Findings are based on a sample of 518 adults between 18 and 88 years of age.

Participation in activities mediates the effect of Internet use on cognitive functioning in old age.

Research indicates that Internet use positively influences cognitive functioning in later life, but we do not know the behavioral pathways that explain this association. This study explored the role of participation in activities as a potential mediator of the relationship between Internet use and cognitive functioning over a 4-year period. We analyzed representative data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE).

For a better me? Or for a better us? Perceived utilities of aging preparatory activities and positive future thinking in Germany, USA and Hong Kong.

Engaging in aging preparatory activities that is perceived to be utile for oneself (e.g., to retain autonomy and independence) and for others (e.

Late-Life Preparedness and Its Correlates: A Behavioral Perspective on Preparation.

Objectives: The present study examined the extent of late-life preparedness and its correlates. In accordance with behavior theories, we postulated that those who have prior experience with caregiving and who perceive such activities as more useful and less risky are more likely to engage in late-life preparatory activities. Because the perceived distance until aging-related life challenges become prevalent may play a role in late-life preparedness, we hypothesized that the effects of the correlates would vary depending on one's subjective remaining life expectation (SRLE).

Personal ideals of aging and longevity: The role of subjective discordances.

Following theoretical models on wishful thinking, we investigated (a) whether personal aging ideals are discordant from self-perceptions of aging, (b) how such aging discordances evolve across adulthood, (c) whether current aging discordances are related to anticipated future aging discordances, and (d) whether aging discordances are related to a lower psychological well-being. We captured subjective age discordance (SAD) as the discrepancy between current perceived age and ideal age, and we captured subjective life-expectancy discordance (SLED) as the discrepancy between perceived life expectancy and ideal life expectancy. For the analyses, we used cross-sectional data from 1,015 individuals ( = 40.

Technology Adaptivity Mediates the Effect of Technology Biography on Internet Use Variability.

Background And Objectives: Increasing numbers of older adults use the internet, but relatively little is known about the range and determinants of different online activities among older internet users. This study explores the interplay between technology-related biographical experiences and subjective technology adaptivity to explain the variability of internet use. Older adults who report having had more biographical experiences with technologies were expected to use a greater range of online activities.

Motivation for Longevity Across the Life Span: An Emerging Issue.

Over the past decades, increases in life expectancy in most modern societies have raised questions about whether and to what extent individuals value possible extensions of their personal lifetime. In this vein, a new field of research emerged that investigates the determinants, concomitants, and consequences of longevity values and personal preferences for an extended lifetime across adulthood. Based on a review of available theoretical and empirical work, we identified 3 mindsets on the challenges and potentials of human longevity common in research as well as personal views: (a) an mindset that builds on ideal principles of an infinite life, aimed at conquering or significantly postponing a biologically determined aging process, (b) a mindset that appraises aging as being primarily based on quality of health, and (c) a mindset that associates longevity and lifetime extension with the experience of grace and meaning.

Social support is associated with technology use in old age.

Background: The use of technological innovations can play a significant role in healthy aging and social participation in old age; however, it is not well understood how social contexts can influence or support older adults' use of technology. This study explored the associations between technology use, perceived technology-related support and actual technology-related social support. It was expected that older adults who perceived having more supportive resources available would be more likely to receive actual support in technology-related issues, which, in turn would explain a greater use of technology in everyday life.

Negative Self-perception of Aging and Mortality in Very Old Chinese Adults: The Mediation Role of Healthy Lifestyle.

Objectives: Previous literature has consistently shown a positive association between negative self-perception of aging and mortality in middle-aged and older adults. However, two questions remain unsolved: (a) whether such association holds among very old people (i.e.

A healthy dose of realism: The role of optimistic and pessimistic expectations when facing a downward spiral in health.

Rationale And Objectives: Whether expectations about future health are adaptive or maladaptive in late life likely depends on the extent to which they conform to or defy a future reality of declining health. Our premise was that, when adults face a downward spiral in health, it can be adaptive to realistically expect poorer future health and maladaptive to unrealistically expect good health.

Method: This 18-year-long study of community-dwelling older Canadians (n = 132, 72-98 years) involved a baseline interview to identify those who anticipated heath would decline (pessimistic expectation) or improve/remain stable (optimistic expectation).

Internet Use and Cognitive Functioning in Late Adulthood: Longitudinal Findings from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE).

Objectives: Research suggests that cognitive functioning is associated with technology use in late life, but longitudinal research in this domain is still sparse. This study explored the reciprocal association between Internet use and cognitive functioning over a 2-year period.

Method: We analyzed representative data across 14 countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE).

Development and Validation of Social Motivation Questionnaire.

Background And Objectives: Information-seeking (IS) and emotion-regulatory (ER) motivation play meaningful roles in age-related changes in social interaction across adulthood. This study aimed to develop and validate the Social Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) to assess these two types of motivation.

Research Design And Methods: Ten items were selected from a pool as the candidate items of SMQ and were administered to 480 German adults (20-91 years old) for validation.

Staff members' ambivalence on caring for patients with multidrug-resistant bacteria at their end of life: A qualitative study.

Aims And Objectives: To explore healthcare professionals' personal experiences, feelings and attitudes about caring for hospitalised patients with multidrug-resistant bacteria in palliative and geriatric care.

Background: Working in end-of-life care involves at times burdening demands that affect not only healthcare professionals personally but also their actions. It is suggested that multidrug-resistant bacteria and their consequences for colonised or infected patients in hospitals are among the challenges for all professionals in end-of-life care.

Multidrug-resistant bacterial microorganisms (MDRO) in end-of-life care: development of recommendations for hospitalized patients using a mixed-methods approach.

Purpose: Palliative care professionals are frequently confronted with patients colonized or infected with MDRO. One major challenge is how to balance necessary isolation measures and social inclusion as one of the main principles of palliative and end-of-life care. To date, MDRO-specific policies and protocols vary widely between institutions.

German Version of the Inventory of Motivations for Hospice Palliative Care Volunteerism: Are There Gender Differences?

The present study examined gender differences in motivations for volunteering for hospice using a German version of the Inventory of Motivations for Hospice Palliative Care Volunteerism (IMHPCV). The IMHPCV was translated into German and back-translated into English following the World Health Organization's guidelines for the translation and adaptation of instruments. In an online survey, 599 female and 127 male hospice volunteers from hospice organizations throughout Germany completed the translated version of the IMHPCV, the Scales of the Attitude Structure of Volunteers as well as questions pertaining to their volunteer experience.

A three-component model of future time perspective across adulthood.

Although extensive findings underscore the relevance of future time perspective (FTP) in the process of aging, the assumption of FTP as a unifactorial construct has been challenged. The present study explores the factorial structure of the FTP scale (Carstensen & Lang, 1996) as one of the most widely used measures (Ntotal = 2,170). Results support that FTP reflects a higher-order construct that consists of 3 interrelated components-Opportunity, Extension, and Constraint.

The Detrimental Consequences of Overestimating Future Health in Late Life.

Objectives: Although forecasting a positive future can be adaptive, it may not be when expectations are unmet. Our study examined whether such inaccurate expectations about future health status (overestimation) were maladaptive for older adults who commonly experience late life declines in physical functioning.

Method: We analyzed data from the nationally representative German Aging Survey (DEAS; 1996-2011; n = 2,539; age range 60-85 years) using multilevel growth models that assessed the influence of inaccurate health expectations on older adults' physical functioning over a 9-year period.

Subjective Technology Adaptivity Predicts Technology Use in Old Age.

Background: To date, not much is known about the psychological and motivational factors underlying technology use in late life. What are the interindividual determinants that lead older adults to invest in using technological innovations despite the age-related physiological changes that impose challenges on behavioral plasticity in everyday life?

Objective: This research explores interindividual differences in subjective technology adaptivity - a general technology-related motivational resource that accounts for technology use in late life. More specifically, we investigate the influence of this factor relative to demographic characteristics, personality traits, and functional limitations in a longitudinal sample of community-dwelling older adults.

Paradoxical Effects of Perceived Control on Survival.

Objectives: Appraising health as controllable is typically thought to be adaptive, but recent evidence suggests the paradoxical possibility that perceived control (PC) can be detrimental. We considered the premise that high PC should have a survival benefit when it is part of an adaptive mindset involving high value (importance) for health, but it might be detrimental when it is part of a mindset comprised of low health value (HV). In addition, we examined whether the survival consequences of PC and HV vary with advancing age.

Parental Involvement with College Students in Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States.

Rates of college attendance have increased throughout the world. This study asked whether students across nations experience high involvement with parents (frequent contact and support) and how satisfied they are with parental involvement. College students from four major Western and Asian economies participated: Germany ( = 458), Hong Kong ( = 276), Korea ( = 257), and the United States ( = 310).