Daniela Jopp

Health and Well–Being in the Young Old and Oldest Old

Most individuals experience a decline in health status during old age. Paradoxically, there are proposals that older adults nevertheless maintain a positive sense of well–being, an indicator of successful aging. Data from the Berlin Aging Study (BASE: Baltes & Mayer, 1999), a locally representative sample of men and women aged 70 to 100+ (N= 516, M= 85 years), suggest that cumulative health–related chronic life strains set a constraint on the potential of oldest old individuals to experience the positive side of life. The young old in BASE reported significantly higher positive SWB than did the oldest old. Chronic illness and functional impairments (e.g., vision, hearing, mobility, strength) limit well–being especially in very old age.

Adaptation in very old age : Exploring the role of resources, beliefs, and attitudes for centenarians' happiness

When individuals reach very old age, accumulating negative conditions represent a serious challenge to their capacity to adapt and are likely to reduce the quality of life. By examining happiness and its determinants in centenarians, this study investigated the proposal that psychological resilience may come to an end in extremely old age. Data from the population-based Heidelberg Centenarian Study indicated high levels of happiness. Basic resources (i.e., job training, cognition, health, social network, extraversion) explained a substantial proportion of variance in happiness, but some resource effects were mediated through self-referent beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy) and attitudes toward life (e.g., optimistic outlook). Results challenge the view that psychological resilience reaches a critical limit or that the self-regulatory adaptation system loses its efficiency in very advanced age.

Improvement/Maintenance and Reorientation as Central Features of Coping with Major Life Change and Loss: Contributions of Three Life-Span Theories

This article focuses on the common and unique contributions of three major life-span theories in addressing improvement/maintenance and reorientation, which represent central processes of coping with major life change and loss. For this purpose, we review and compare the dual-process model of assimilative and accommodative coping, the model of selection, optimization, and compensation, and the life-span theory of control. Although these theories share many basic assumptions about developmental regulation, each theory also has unique elements and offers varying degrees of refinement regarding particular aspects. To facilitate research on improvement/maintenance and reorientation guided by these theories, we identify conceptual overlap as well as delineate differential features with respect to key definitions, predictions, and related empirical evidence. We conclude with recommendations and suggestions for future research.

Assessing Adult Leisure Activities: An Extension of a Self-Report Activity Questionnaire

Everyday leisure activities in adulthood and old age have been investigated with respect to constructs such as successful aging, an engaged lifestyle, and prevention of age-related cognitive decline. They also relate to mental health and have clinical value, as they can inform diagnosis and interventions. In the present study, the authors enhanced the content validity of the Victoria Longitudinal Study activity questionnaire by adding items on physical and social activities and validated a shortened version of the questionnaire. The proposed leisure activity model included 11 activity categories: 3 types of social activities (i.e., activities with close social partners, group-centered public activity, religious activities), physical activities, developmental activities, experiential activities, crafts, game playing, TV watching, travel, and technology use. Confirmatory factor analyses validated the proposed factor structure in 2 independent samples. A higher order model with a general activity factor fitted the activity factor correlations with relatively little loss of fit. Convergent and discriminant validity for the activity scales were supported by patterns of their correlations with education, health, depression, cognition, and personality. In sum, the scores derived from of the augmented Victoria Longitudinal Study activity questionnaire demonstrate good reliability, and validity evidence supports their use as measures of leisure activities in young, middle-aged, and older individuals.

Activities, Self-Referent Memory Beliefs, and Cognitive Performance: Evidence for Direct and Mediated Relations

In this study, the authors investigated the role of activities and self-referent memory beliefs for cognitive performance in a life-span sample. A factor analysis identified 8 activity factors, including Developmental Activities, Experiential Activities, Social Activities, Physical Activities, Technology Use, Watching Television, Games, and Crafts. A second-order general activity factor was significantly related to a general factor of cognitive function as defined by ability tests. Structural regression models suggested that prediction of cognition by activity level was partially mediated by memory beliefs, controlling for age, education, health, and depressive affect. Models adding paths from general and specific activities to aspects of crystallized intelligence suggested additional unique predictive effects for some activities. In alternative models, nonsignificant effects of beliefs on activities were detected when cognition predicted both variables, consistent with the hypothesis that beliefs derive from monitoring cognition and have no influence on activity patterns.

Does believing in “use it or lose it” relate to self-rated memory control, strategy use and recall?

After an oral free recall task, participants were interviewed about their memory. Despite reporting similar levels of perceived personal control over memory, older and young adults differed in the means in which they believed memory could be controlled. Older adults cited health and wellness practices and exercising memory, consistent with a “use it or lose it” belief system, more often than young adults who were more likely to mention metacognition and flexible strategy use as means of memory control. Young adults reported using more effective relational strategies during study for a free recall test. Use of relational strategies predicted recall in both age groups, but did not materially affect age differences in performance. Metacognitive beliefs, including implicit theories about aging and memory decline, memory self-concept, and perceived control over memory functioning, did not systematically correlate with strategy use or recall.

The Importance of Leisure Activities in the Relationship between Physical Health and Well-Being in a Life Span Sample.

Background: Previous studies have examined the relationships between physical health and leisure activities and between leisure activities and well-being, but, to our knowledge, none has examined these relationships simultaneously. Objective: This study investigated the relationships between leisure activities, health and well-being considering the role of age, and whether leisure activities mediate the relationship between physical health and well-being. Methods: Utilizing a cross-sectional database of 259 adults (ages 18-81 years) who completed several questionnaires, linear regression models and mediation models were tested. Results: Regression analyses indicated that physical health was related to leisure activities and leisure activities were related to well-being. When physical health was measured by subjective ratings, age had a stronger relationship with leisure activities. However, when physical health was indicated by health restrictions, physical health had a stronger relationship with leisure activities than did age. Leisure activities were a partial mediator of the relationship between physical health and well-being. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the reduction in leisure activities with age has more to do with physical health limitations than with older age itself. In addition, regardless of age, the benefits of physical health for well-being are due in part to the level of leisure activity participation. These results highlight the importance of leisure activities for successful aging throughout the adult life span. Interventions designed to improve well-being through increasing leisure activity participation should take physical health into consideration, particularly for older adults.

Health and Disease at Age 100.

BACKGROUND Centenarian studies from around the world have shown that reaching age 100 typically involves substantial health issues. The present study adds to the existing knowledge from other countries by describing health conditions in German centenarians. METHODS A total of 112 centenarians or their primary contacts provided information on acute and chronic health conditions and pain in the context of the Second Heidelberg Centenarian Study (mean age = 100.45 years, standard deviation [SD] = 0.47, 89% females). RESULTS Participants showed high comorbidity, with an average of five illnesses (mean = 5.3; SD = 2.20). Health conditions with highest prevalence were sensory (vision, hearing; 94%), mobility (72%) and musculoskeletal conditions (60%). Cardiovascular conditions (57%) and urinary system ailments (55%) were also common. Pain was experienced often by 30% of the participants. Of those reporting any pain, 36% indicated pain exceeding bearable levels. CONCLUSION German centenarians experienced a substantial number of ill nesses, dominated by sensory and mobility conditions. Cardiovascular diseases were the only potentially lethal illnesses with high prevalence. Evidence of unaddressed pain seems alarming, requiring future research. Emerging health profiles indicate that even in very advanced age, quality of life may be improved by enhanced diagnostics and optimal disease management. Mobility limitations may be addressed with preventive efforts.

Zur Wahrnehmung von Ressourcen und ihrer Bedeutung für das Wohlbefinden: Altersassoziierte Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede bei jungen und alten Erwachsenen

Zusammenfassung.Personale Ressourcen stellen wichtige Determinanten der lebenslangen Entwicklung dar. Da der Einsatz der Ressourcen hierbei ein entscheidender Faktor ist, sollte die Einschätzung der Ressourcen sowie der Veränderungen des Ressourcenhaushalts ausschlaggebend für den Entwicklungserfolg sein. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde untersucht, ob sich die Wahrnehmung von Ressourcen (d. h. Kognition, Gesundheit, Netzwerk) zwischen jungen und alten Personen unterscheidet, ob die Wahrnehmung solcher Ressourcen eine Beziehung zum Wohlbefinden aufweist und ob diese Relation bei jungen und alten Personen identisch ist. Junge und alte Personen unterschieden sich nicht hinsichtlich des subjektiven Ressourcenstatus und der den Ressourcen zugeschriebenen Wichtigkeit, allerdings berichteten die Jungen mehr Gewinne und die Alten mehr Verluste. Der Ressourcenstatus erklärte in beiden Altersgruppen den höchsten Varianzanteil des Wohlbefindens. Ressourcenverluste waren nur bei den jungen, nicht aber bei den alten Personen mit dem Wohlbefinden assoziiert. Die Bedeutung der Ressourcenverluste scheint somit über die Lebensspanne zu variieren, was Vorstellungen zur universalen Rolle von Ressourcenverlusten widerspricht. Für zukünftige Studien werden bereichsspezifische Analysen sowie die Untersuchung von protektiven Anpassungsmechanismen vorgeschlagen.Summary.Personal resources represent important determinants of life-long development. Since the use of the resources is a decisive factor, the perception of resources and changes in them is presumably crucial for the developmental success. In the present study, we investigated whether the perception of resources (i. e., cognition, health, social network) differs between young and old individuals, whether the resource perception is related to well-being and whether these relations are identical among young and old adults. Young and old individuals did not differ with respect to subjective resource status and resource importance; however, the young experienced more gains and the old reported more losses. Resource status explained the highest proportion of variance in well-being in both age groups. Resource loss was of relevance to well-being only in the young, but not in the old group. Thus, the significance of resource loss seems to vary across the life span, which puts the notion of a universal role of resource loss into question. For future studies, domain-specific analyses and the investigation of protective mechanism are proposed.