Barry Radler

Who Participates? Accounting for Longitudinal Retention in the MIDUS National Study of Health and Well-Being

Objectives: This article uses data from MIDUS (Midlife in the United States), a national study of Americans (N = 7,108), to investigate factors that predict longitudinal retention. With its extensive age range (25-75 at Time 1) and long-term design (9- to 10-year survey interval), MIDUS is useful for investigating common sociodemographic and health predictors of continuing participation. Method: The authors conducted logistic regression analyses of baseline sociodemographic and health variables predicting retention. Select interaction terms examined the interplay between targeted variables. Results: Consistent with prior research, higher retention rates were found among Whites, females, and married individuals as well as those with better health and more education. Interaction analyses further clarified that (a) health status better predicted retention among older compared to younger respondents and among women compared to men, (b) marital status better predicted retention among Whites compared to non-Whites and among women compared to men, and (c) economic status better predicted retention among those with poorer functional health status. Discussion: The authors’ analyses clarify that longitudinal retention varied depending on respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics and their health status. The unique contribution of this article is that factors predicting nonparticipation can be offset by, or compensated for, other factors.

Cultural Perspectives on Aging and Well-Being: A Comparison of Japan and the United States

This study investigated age differences in multiple aspects of psychological well-being among midlife and older adults in Japan (N = 482) and the United States (N = 3,032) to test the hypothesis that older Japanese adults would rate aspects of their well-being (personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others) more highly that older U.S. adults. Partial support was found: older adults in Japan showed higher scores on personal growth compared to midlife adults, whereas the opposite age pattern was found in the United States. However, purpose in life showed lower scores for older adults in both cultural contexts. Interpersonal well-being, as hypothesized, was rated significantly higher, relative to the overall well-being, among Japanese compared to U.S. respondents, but only among younger adults. Women in both cultures showed higher interpersonal well-being, but also greater negative affect compared with men. Suggestions for future inquiries to advance understanding of aging and well-being in distinct cultural contexts are detailed.

Sustained Striatal Activity Predicts Eudaimonic Well-Being and Cortisol Output:

Eudaimonic well-being—a sense of purpose, meaning, and engagement with life—is protective against psychopathology and predicts physical health, including lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Although it has been suggested that the ability to engage the neural circuitry of reward may promote well-being and mediate the relationship between well-being and health, this hypothesis has remained untested. To test this hypothesis, we had participants view positive, neutral, and negative images while fMRI data were collected. Individuals with sustained activity in the striatum and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to positive stimuli over the course of the scan session reported greater well-being and had lower cortisol output. This suggests that sustained engagement of reward circuitry in response to positive events underlies well-being and adaptive regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

If College Students Are Appointment Television Viewers ...

Whether television viewers are selective or passive has generally drawn its findings from two non-overlapping research traditions. Research showing little audience selectivity in aggregite audiences may stem from how the aggregate is defined-an idea pursued here with an examination ofcollege student viewing. Results from a week of viewing show evidence of both structural and individual determination of selection. These results suggest additional qualifications on use of student samples for communication research.

Persistent psychological well-being predicts improved self-rated health over 9–10 years: Longitudinal evidence from MIDUS

Psychological well-being has been linked with better health, but mostly with cross-sectional evidence. Using MIDUS, a national sample of US adults (N = 4963), longitudinal profiles of well-being were used to predict cross-time change in self-reported health over 9–10 years. Well-being was largely stable, although adults differed in whether they had persistently high versus persistently low or moderate levels of well-being. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, those with persistently high well-being reported better health (subjective health, chronic conditions, symptoms, and functional impairment) across time compared to those with persistently low well-being. Furthermore, persistently high well-being was protective of improved health especially among the educationally disadvantaged. The findings underscore the importance of intervention and educational programs designed to promote well-being for greater segments of society.

The influence of individual communication media on public confidence in democratic institutions

This investigation examines the influence of seven communication modalities on public perceptions of confidence in four democratic institutions. The study reasoned that the media serve as a source of secondary socialization: that depictions of democratic institutions such as the office of the Presidency, Congress, news media, and public schools by individual communication modalities cultivate perceptions of those institutions in people who rely more on these modalities. To test this position, the study employed an extensive content analysis of the quantity and tone of all references by the seven communication modalities to the democratic institutions noted above in conjunction with a survey of the publics use of modalities and their confidence in specific institutions. The pattern of results revealed a persistent pattern of negativity on the part of network television news (toward the President and Congress), other television news (toward Congress and the news media), television entertainment talk shows ...

What Holds Attention to Television? Strategic Inertia of Looks at Content Boundaries

Looks at television that cross content boundaries (both between and within programming) provide an opportunity to examine the causes of attentional inertia—that looks at television become very much more stable after the first few seconds. Previous research left unresolved whether this inertia is due to expectations or biologic processes (strategic vs. nonstrategic processes), and this study allows direct comparisons. The strength of the inertial relationship varied considerably for different kinds of program boundaries, and also for within-program boundaries, with the latter varying as well by the genre in which they were contained. Taken together, the results provided no evidence for nonstrategic, biological processes causing attentional inertia. Instead, several genre-specific explanations based on expectations and cognitive demands are proposed.

Exploring the utility of the stages of change model to promote natural shorelines

Abstract Increased residential development around lakeshores in the Upper Midwest is associated with reduced wildlife habitat, lower biodiversity, and degraded water quality. Subsequently, it is important to identify strategies that encourage property owners to adopt more natural shorelines. One potential framework for understanding property owners’ attitudes and intent toward adopting natural shorelines is the Stages of Change Model (SCM). The model suggests people will be differentially ready to adopt a new behavior based on their respective knowledge, beliefs, and motivations and will move through a progression of stages before adopting a new practice. The specific stages include precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and relapse. The purpose of this study was to examine whether stages specified by the SCM may be useful in identifying lakeshore property owners’ attitudes and intent toward adopting more natural shorelines. Surveys were mailed to 212 property owners on 2 lakes in northwest Wisconsin; 165 were returned for a 78% response rate. Sixteen measures representing the 6 stages of change were created building on scales previously used in health-related behavior change research. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the scales were correlated strongly with, and reliable measures of, 5 underlying factors representing the different stages of change. Results provide preliminary support that the SCM may represent a useful framework for understanding property owners’ propensities toward adopting more natural shorelines. The authors suggest additional research will improve the external reliability of the SCM as adopted in an environmental context.

Comparing Two Direct Mail Strategies to Sell Native Plants in a Campaign to Promote Natural Lake Shorelines

Increased residential development around lakeshores is associated with reduced wildlife habitat, lower biodiversity, and degraded water quality. One way to improve degraded lakeshores is riparian buffers. To accomplish this goal, one approach used by stakeholder groups focused on protecting lakes is to subsidize the costs of restoring native plants that lakeshore property owners can reestablish in more highly developed areas of their lakeshore property. Little research has explored how to increase participation in these programs. Two different coupons were mailed out randomly to subscribers of a county lakes and rivers association located in northwest Wisconsin. The message strategy tested builds on the “zero-price effect,” which posits that when faced with a choice between two product options, one of which is free, people respond more readily to the free offer as if the zero price not only implies a low cost of buying a product but also increases its perceived valuation simply in its being characterized as free. Households received a coupon that read “Free pack or

Persistently high psychological well-being predicts better HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels: findings from the midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS) longitudinal study

5 off” with the “free pack” as the visually dominant element or a coupon that read “