Joy M. Jacobs-Lawson

Goal clarity and financial planning activities as determinants of retirement savings contributions.

Retirement counselors, financial service professionals, and retirement intervention specialists routinely emphasize the importance of developing clear goals for the future; however, few empirical studies have focused on the benefits of retirement goal setting. In the present study, the extent to which goal clarity and financial planning activities predict retirement savings practices was examined among 100 working adults. Path analysis techniques were used to test two competing models, both of which were designed to predict savings contributions. Findings provide support for the model in which retirement goal clarity is a significant predictor of planning practices, and planning, in turn, predicts savings tendencies. Two demographic variables—income and age—were also revealed to be important elements of the model, with income accounting for roughly half of the explained variance in savings contributions. The results of this study have implications for the development of age-based models of planning, as well as implications for retirement counselors and financial planners who advise workers on long-term saving strategies.

AN EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF RETIREMENT PLANNING INTERVENTION SEMINARS

The need for effective financial planning interventions has recently increased, as members of the baby boom generation near retirement. In the present study, the efficacy of three different retirement seminars was evaluated one year following intervention. The retirement seminars focused on either (1) information about financial planning and investing, (2) financial goal-setting exercises, or (3)acombination of financial information and goal-setting exercises. Post-intervention goal clarity and planning and savings practices were compared across the three groups, as well as to individuals in a control condition who received a memory improvement seminar. Intervention had the strongest impact on those in the combined (information and goals) condition, and a moderate influence on the behavior of those who attended the information-only seminar. These findings suggest that the influence of information-based seminars (the most common form of motivational intervention) can be enhanced by the addition of a supplemental goal-setting module.

Gender Differences in Factors that Influence Time Spent Planning for Retirement

ABSTRACT Retirement research has shown that planning activities are influenced by a variety of demographic and psychological variables. However, few investigations have focused on how demographic and psychological factors influence the time and effort men and women allocate to retirement preparation. In the present study, 184 individuals completed a survey designed to assess future time perspective (FTP), worry about retirement, age, and income level. Hierarchical regression techniques were used to examine how these variables influenced the amount of time men and women spent planning for and thinking about retirement. Results revealed that women spent less time thinking about retirement than men, and gender was differentially related to the factors predictive of this activity. From an applied perspective, these findings suggest that separate retirement intervention programs are warranted that meet the unique needs of working men and women.

Gender differences in psychosocial responses to lung cancer.

BACKGROUND Although biologically based sex differences in the smoking patterns, epidemiology, biomedical markers, and survival rates associated with lung cancer are well documented, examinations of psychosocial gender differences are scarce. OBJECTIVE This cross-sectional study examined gender differences in psychosocial factors that are important in the medical management of lung cancer. METHODS A convenience sample of patients who were attending a multidisciplinary lung cancer treatment center (Markey Cancer Center, Lexington, Kentucky) were invited to complete a psychosocial needs assessment. Eligibility criteria included primary diagnosis of lung cancer, age > or =18 years, and being cognitively intact. Measures focused on psychosocial resources, treatment decision-making, social consequences of treatments, and treatment outcomes. Data were collected between the fall of 2005 and the summer of 2006. RESULTS A total of 47 women and 53 men (mean [SD] age, 62.81 [12.01] years; 95% white) completed the needs assessment. Gender was not found to be associated with demographic characteristics, time until diagnosis, treatment, or survival rate. Smoking histories differed significantly in the proportion of women and men who smoked or were former smokers (P = 0.01) as well as the age when they began to smoke (P = 0.02). There were no significant gender differences in social support networks, general coping, information needs, treatment decision satisfaction, functional health, life satisfaction, financial impact, or service needs. However, significant gender differences did indicate that women favored spiritual practices (P = 0.02) and religious coping (P = 0.04), and were more likely to endorse having a life mission (P = 0.03) and being part of a divine plan (P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Previous research has found that religiousness and spirituality improved depressive symptoms and may ease end-of-life despair. In the present study of patients with lung cancer, gender differences in religiousness and spirituality suggest that this may be especially true for women, and that interventions should be directed toward their religious practices and coping.

Diabetes Self-care among a Multiethnic Sample of Older Adults

Type 2 diabetes constitutes a leading and increasing cause of morbidity and mortality among older adults, particularly African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and rural dwellers. To understand diabetes self-care, an essential determinant of diabetic and overall health outcomes, 80 middle aged and older adults from these four disproportionately affected racial/ethnic/residential groups engaged in in-depth interviews, focusing on approaches to and explanations for diabetes self-care. Certain self-care activities (medication-taking, diet, foot care) were performed regularly while others (blood glucose monitoring, exercise) were practiced less frequently. Despite research suggestions to the contrary, only one in four elders used unconventional diabetes therapies, and only one-third listed someone other than a health care provider as a primary information source. Few self-care differences emerged according to race/ethnicity/residence, perhaps because of the influential and common circumstance of low income. Thematic analyses suggest that inadequate resources, perceived efficacy of medication, great respect for biomedical authority, and lack of familiarity with and concerns about unconventional therapies are influential in establishing these patterns of self-care. We discuss the similarity of self-care practices and perspectives irrespective of race/ethnicity/residence and the predominance of biomedical acceptability.

Older adults’ perceptions of mentally ill older adults

Objectives: Many mentally ill older adults are stigmatized, which reduces quality of life and discourages help-seeking. This studys goal was to identify factors associated with stigma. Methods: Community-dwelling older adults (N = 101) were asked to indicate their attitudes toward and reactions to three hypothetical older women with depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia. Results: The results suggest that schizophrenic persons are viewed as most dangerous and dependent, while anxious persons are seen as most responsible for their illness. Age, gender, and educational level of participants were associated with desired social distance and differing perceptions of the hypothetical persons. Conclusion: These findings can be used to improve educational efforts that seek to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness in older adults.

Influences of Age and Training on Script Development

This investigation provides a test of the developmental script hypothesis proposed by Hershey, Walsh, Read, and Chulef (1990). It is hypothesized that in complex problem solving situations, increases in task-specific experience lead to an increase in information selection and search consistency. Specific goals of the present study were to examine how age and domain-specific knowledge acquired through training influence search processes. Fifty-seven participants, aged 16-80, individually solved a series of six financial investment problems. For virtually all individuals, the selection of a set of common task information increased over consecutive trials. Furthermore, over the six trial sequence a majority of individuals developed a consistent search pattern. The only participants who failed to display sequential processing consistency were untrained older adults. The discussion focuses on how age-related differences in processing resources, prior experience, and knowledge of the task may have been responsible for the observed effects.

Developmental Differences in the Quality of Life: A Classroom Teaching Exercise

In this exercise, students examine their perceptions of normative developmental patterns in a number of major life domains across the adult life span. During the exercise individuals (a) identify significant dimensions of adult development, (b) discuss at what age each life dimension reaches its peak and at what age each is at its worst, and (c) calculate the average quality of life during each decade of adulthood based on the perceived developmental trajectories for each dimension. The activity helps to debunk the myth that a single stage of life represents ones prime, cultivating instead the notion that individuals reach their prime in different life domains at different points in the life course. Students judged the exercise to be interesting and of value in helping to structure their perceptions of adult development.