Catherine Hervé

Coping with negative life events in old age: The role of tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment

Objective: This study examines the relationships between negative life events and tenacious goal pursuit (TGP) and flexible goal adjustment (FGA), two fundamental modes of self-regulation suggested by Brandtstädter, and their effects on mental health. Methods: TGP/FGA, negative life events and depression were assessed in 670 elderly people living in the community. Hierarchical regressions were carried out to examine the effects of the two self-regulation modes and negative life events on depression. Results: Findings demonstrate the role of TGP and FGA in coping with negative life events. While both FGA and TGP were related to depression, FGA was found to have beneficial effects for the participants who had encountered negative life events. With age, people become less tenacious, but no conclusive relationship was found between flexibility and age. Discussion: Our findings support the importance of both modes of coping for the mental health of older adults. In particular, the ability to adjust goals was shown to be critical as a way of preventing the development of depressive symptoms following negative life events.

The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). Assessment of eating behaviour in an aging French population

The aim of the study was to develop a French version of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) in order to provide a self-report measure for French people in the field of gerontology. A short version of the DEBQ was administered to 262 participants aged 65years and older. Single and multigroup confirmatory analyses were carried out. The fit measures for the three-factor model and the factorial invariance models with respect to age, sex and BMI status were satisfactory. Three subscales of DEBQ had satisfactory internal consistency. Regarding age, the results showed significant differences in emotional eating and restrained eating. Concerning sex, women had higher mean scores for emotional eating and restrained eating than men. Finally, the overweight older people had higher scores for emotional eating than the normal-weight participants. The short version of DEBQ should provide a useful measure for researchers and clinicians who are interested in exploring eating behaviours among the elderly.

Does flexible goal adjustment predict life satisfaction in older adults? A six-year longitudinal study

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between flexible goal adjustment and life satisfaction (as an enduring component of subjective well-being) using six-year longitudinal data from a sample of older adults.Methods: The study included 704 participants aged 63–97 years assessed four times over a six-year period. Simultaneous and lagged models were specified and estimated using structural equation modeling.Results: Both simultaneous and lagged coefficients indicated that a high score on flexible goal adjustment significantly predicted subsequent levels of life satisfaction.Conclusion: In line with successful aging theory, our findings support the view that the ability to adjust personal goals flexibly is a central resource when unattainable goals are encountered and it contributes to well-being in old age.

Aging, Functional Learning, and Inhibition.

Background/Study Context: The study compared the learning performance of younger and older adults in situations differing in the number of cues that could be relied on for predicting the value of a criterion. Two hypotheses were tested: one based on the assumption that the greater the inhibition effort needed in the task, the greater the difference between younger and older participants, and the other based on the fact that the context in which inhibition occurs plays a role, and consequently that the level of difficulty of the four learning conditions can be better predicted from the number of possible sets of valid cues. Methods: A total of 240 adults (18–90 years old) had to learn to predict the amount of drink delivered by a drink dispenser on the basis of four cues (the height of four vertical bars). The participants were randomly distributed between four experimental conditions, one valid cue, two valid cues, three valid cues, and all valid cues. The measures that were calculated for each participant under each condition included the squared mean differences between judgment and criterion as an index of performance, and cue utilizations as a test of both the learning of the strength of direct linear relationships and of inhibition. Results: The results validated the hypothesis that the level of difficulty of the four learning conditions can be better predicted from the number of possible sets of valid cues. In all conditions and in each age group, cue utilizations were direct in the first block with no feedback. Older adults discounted the nonpertinent cues as well as younger adults, whereas participants aged over 76 only succeeded under the least demanding conditions. The presence of nonpertinent cues affected the learning of direct cues, even among the younger participants. Conclusion: This study shows that older adults’ ability to detect (and use) valid cues in an environment that contains both valid and invalid cues is relatively well preserved. It also shows that the mere presence of invalid cues can affect the learning of direct cues, which constitutes a new result in functional learning. Future research conducted in cognitive aging should examine the role of invalid cues in functional learning.

Bien-être à la retraite selon le genre et l’âge : lien avec la perception du travail ancien

Resume L’article porte sur les liens qui existent entre la satisfaction du travail ancien et la satisfaction de vie actuelle chez des retraite(e)s. Les aspects de l’ancien travail percus retrospectivement comme plaisants sont egalement interroges. L’ensemble des donnees est traite en distinguant les hommes et les femmes, ainsi que l’âge des participants. L’echantillon de notre etude est de 396 personnes (182 hommes et 214 femmes âges de 75,67 ans en moyenne). Les resultats principaux montrent a) que la satisfaction vis-a-vis de l’ancien travail est un predicteur de la satisfaction de vie a la retraite ; b) que la force de cette prediction varie selon la tranche d’âge, plus faible notamment chez les plus jeunes retraites ; c) une grande similarite entre les hommes et les femmes, quel que soit leur âge. Nous discutons des liens observes.

Événements de vie négatifs support social et santé mentale des âgés

Les objectifs de l’etude sont d’examiner 1) l’impact des evenements negatifs sur la sante mentale des âges, 2) le role moderateur du support social et 3) l’impact de l’âge sur ces facteurs. Nous avons evalue les evenements de vie negatifs, le support social et la depression de 703 personnes âgees. Une analyse de regression indique que l’impact des evenements negatifs et du support social sur la depression varie en fonction de l’âge des individus. Le role moderateur du support social est mis en evidence chez les plus jeunes. Face a des evenements negatifs ceux qui sont tres satisfaits de leur support social sont moins depressifs. En revanche, chez les tres âges, la satisfaction ou non du soutien social ne modifie pas l’impact negatif des evenements de vie sur la depression. L’hypothese selon laquelle les plus de 80 ans n’utilisent pas de facon efficace leur reseau social est soulevee et pose la question de la capacite adaptative des tres âges.