Long-Term Impact of Hurricane Sandy Exposure on Positive and Negative Affect: The Role of Perceived Social Support.

Objectives: Natural disasters can have devastating, long-lasting effects on the mental health of older adults. However, few studies have examined associations among disaster exposure and positive and negative affect, and no longitudinal studies have investigated the extent to which predisaster perceived social support affects these associations. These analyses examine the associations among predisaster perceived social support, disaster exposure, and positive and negative affect experienced by community-dwelling older adults 4 years after Hurricane Sandy, controlling for predisaster affect.

Peritraumatic Stress From a Disaster Increases Risk for Onset of Chronic Diseases Among Older Adults.

Background And Objectives: Our understanding of the impact of disaster exposure on the physical health of older adults is largely based on hospital admissions for acute illnesses in the weeks following a disaster. Studies of longer-term outcomes have centered primarily on mental health. Missing have been studies examining whether exposure to disaster increases the risk for the onset of chronic diseases.

Long term impact of Hurricane Sandy on hospital admissions of older adults.

Rationale: In the weeks and months following a disaster, acute illness and injuries requiring hospital admission increase. It is not known whether disaster exposure is associated with increased risk for hospitalization in the years after a disaster.

Objective: We examined the extent to which disaster exposure is associated with hospitalization two years after Hurricane Sandy.

Adverse childhood experiences, adult trauma, and depressive symptom trajectories.

Objectives: Associations among adverse childhood experiences prior to age 18 (ACEs), subjective reports of trauma during Hurricane Sandy, and trajectories of depressive symptoms reported by community-dwelling older people were examined.

Methods: We analyzed 6 waves of data from 5,688 people aged 50-74 recruited in 2006 and followed for 12-years using multilevel mixed effects models.

Results: We found that: (1) people who experienced ACEs had trajectories of depressive symptoms in late life that were higher than people not having these experiences, (2) people experiencing two or more ACEs were more likely to report fear and distress when Hurricane Sandy hit than people experiencing either one or no adverse childhood experiences, and (3) while both ACE exposure and peri-traumatic stress were associated with trajectories having higher levels of depressive symptoms, the risk associated with ACEs (especially multiple ACEs) was greater.

Change in Loneliness Experienced by Older Men and Women Living Alone and With Others at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Building on theory suggesting that loneliness is distinct from living arrangements, social isolation, and perceived social support, we examined change in loneliness for older people at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing 14-years of data with multilevel mixed-effects models, we found higher levels of loneliness among people living alone, people more socially isolated, and people with less perceived support. Gender affected changes in loneliness, controlling for social isolation, perceived support, living arrangements, age, education, income, health, and marital status.

Subjective Successful Aging: Measurement Invariance Across 12 Years.

Background And Objectives: Debates about how to define successful aging have dominated gerontology for over 60 years. Regardless of how successful aging is conceptualized, in order to accurately understand how the construct changes over time and how it differs between people of varying ages, successful aging must be measured with instruments that are valid, reliable, and have measurement invariance. These analyses focus on subjective successful aging and examine the extent to which a reliable, valid, 3-item scale has measurement invariance across 12 years for individuals aged 50-86.

Effects of peri-traumatic stress experienced during Hurricane Sandy on functional limitation trajectories for older men and women.

Background And Methods: Although the short-term effects of disasters on the physical health of mid-life and older people have been documented, little is understood about the long-term effects that disasters have on the physical health of these people. Based on the environmental docility hypothesis and research regarding gender effects on functional limitations and disaster, our analyses examined the effects of peri-traumatic stress experienced during Hurricane Sandy using longitudinal data from 5688 people aged 50 and older collected over six waves (2006-2019).

Results: We found that functional limitations follow three trajectories, with people in each group having a significant linear increase over time and all but the highest functioning people also having a significant quadratic effect, indicating that the linear increase peaked post-Hurricane and then slowed in later waves.

Impact of Upper and Lower Body Functional Ability on Affect in Older Couples.

We explore how upper and lower body functional ability of older adults and their partners relate to affect in later life. Data regarding own and partner's upper and lower body functional abilities were reported by 1767 married/partnered persons aged 57-83. Using multilevel modeling to account for nesting within couples, we examined the impact of a respondent's own functional abilities, their perception of their partner's abilities, and the interaction of respondent's and perceived partner's abilities on respondent's positive and negative affect.

Understanding Attrition and Bolstering Retention in a Longitudinal Panel of Older Adults: ORANJ BOWL.

Background And Objectives: Attrition from longitudinal studies can affect the generalizability of findings especially when studying developmental constructs such as successful aging.

Research Design And Methods: Using data from a 12-year (6-wave) panel of 5,688 older people (aged 50-74 at baseline), we compared people retained in the panel with people lost to follow-up on demographic characteristics and measures of successful aging. After instituting expanded retention strategies at Wave 6 (i.

The Prospective Association of Personality Traits and Successful Aging.

We used data ( = 928) from ORANJ BOWL, a six-wave panel of adults (aged 50-74 at baseline) to address the association between personality and successful aging at two points in time, 8 years apart. Regressions examined the associations between Wave 2 neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and Wave 3 subjective success, functional ability, pain, and chronic conditions. Models tested personality traits independently and then simultaneously, with interactions.

Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms Experienced by Older People: Effects of Time, Hurricane Sandy, and the Great Recession.

Objectives: To examine depressive symptom trajectories as a function of time and exposure to Hurricane Sandy, accounting for the effects of the Great Recession.

Methods: We analyzed 6 waves of data from a 12-year panel using latent class growth models and multinomial logistic regression.

Results: We identified 4 groups of people experiencing different trajectories of depressive symptoms.

Challenges Experienced by Older People During the Initial Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background And Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created unique stressors for older people to manage. Informed by the Stress Process Model and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, we examined the extent to which older people are adhering to physical distancing mandates and the pandemic-related experiences that older people find most challenging.

Research Design And Methods: From May 4 to May 17, 2020, a web-based questionnaire focused on the COVID-19 pandemic was completed by 1,272 people (aged 64 and older) who were part of an ongoing research panel in New Jersey recruited in 2006.

Type of Disaster Exposure Affects Functional Limitations of Older People 6 Years Later.

Background: Natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and hurricanes, are traumatic events that simultaneously affect the lives of many people. Although much is known about the effects that natural disasters have on mental health, little is known about how natural disasters affect physical health. These analyses add to the literature by examining the ways in which four types of disaster exposure (geographic, peri-traumatic stress, personal and property loss, and poststorm hardship) experienced by older people during and after Hurricane Sandy affected functional limitations.

The Effects of Neighborhood Built Environment on Walking for Leisure and for Purpose Among Older People.

Background And Objectives: Characteristics of a neighborhood's built environment affect the walking behavior of older people, yet studies typically rely on small nonrepresentative samples that use either subjective reports or aggregate indicators from administrative sources to represent neighborhood characteristics. Our analyses examine the usefulness of a novel method for observing neighborhoods-virtual observations-and assess the extent to which virtual-based observations predict walking among older adults.

Research Design And Methods: Using Google Street View, we observed the neighborhoods of 2,224 older people and examined how characteristics of the neighborhood built environments are associated with the amount of time older people spend walking for leisure and purpose.

Onset of Multiple Chronic Conditions and Depressive Symptoms: A Life Events Perspective.

Background: While the association between depressive symptoms and chronic illness has been the subject of many studies, little is known about whether depressive symptoms differ as a function of the illnesses people have as they transition to living with multiple chronic conditions.

Methods: Self-reports of five diagnosed chronic conditions (arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and pulmonary disease) and depressive symptoms were provided by 3,396 people participating in three waves of the ORANJ BOWL research panel. Longitudinal multilevel modeling was used to examine the effects that transitioning to having a diagnosis of multiple chronic conditions has on depressive symptoms.

Long-term effects of disaster on depressive symptoms: Type of exposure matters.

Rationale: Natural disasters have the potential to change the lives of older people, yet most studies rely on small convenience samples, few include assessments of people prior to the disaster, and only a handful examine the effects of different types of exposure.

Objective: Our analyses add new knowledge to the literature by examining the ways in which four types of exposure (i.e.

Timing of onset and self-management of multiple chronic conditions: A qualitative examination taking a lifespan perspective.

Objectives: Over two-thirds of older individuals live with multiple chronic conditions, yet chronic diseases are often studied in silos. Taking a lifespan approach to understanding the development of multiple chronic conditions in the older population helps to further elucidate opportunities for targeted interventions that address the complexities of multiple chronic conditions.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 older adults (age 64+) diagnosed with at least two chronic health conditions.

Illness Representations of Multiple Chronic Conditions and Self-Management Behaviors in Older Adults: A Pilot Study.

This article explores the intraindividual variability in illness representations of people with multiple chronic conditions and examines how representations of hypertension and arthritis are associated with self-management. Intraclass correlations determined the proportion of within-person variability in illness representations including Timeline, Consequences, Personal Control, and Timeline-Cyclical for 25 adults aged 64 and older. Within-person consistency across illnesses was present for Timeline and Timeline-Cyclical, but variability across illnesses in Personal Control and Consequences.

Adult Children Living With Aging Parents: The Association Between Income and Parental Affect.

This study examined the moderating effect of parental income on the association between parent-child coresidence and parental affect. Secondary analysis was conducted with data from the ORANJ BOWL panel, a representative sample of adults in New Jersey, aged 50 to 74 years ( N = 5,688). Results indicated that income had a significant moderating effect on the association between the adult child's residential status and parents' positive and negative affect.

Older Adults' Health Care Utilization a Year After Experiencing Fear or Distress from Hurricane Sandy.

Objective: To determine whether self-reports of disaster-related psychological distress predict older adults' health care utilization during the year after Hurricane Sandy, which hit New Jersey on October 29, 2012.

Methods: Respondents were from the ORANJ BOWL Study, a random-digit dialed sample from New Jersey recruited from 2006 to 2008. Medicare hospital, emergency department (ED) and outpatient claims data from 2012 and 2013 were matched to 1607 people age 65 and older in 2012 who responded to follow-up surveys conducted from July 2013 to July 2015 to determine their hurricane-related experiences.