Marina Schmitt

Marital Interaction in Middle and Old Age: A Predictor of Marital Satisfaction?.

Many studies point out the importance of marital satisfaction for well-being. However, although being married is still the norm in middle and old age, research on the determinants of marital satisfaction has neglected long-term marriages. While research on short-term marriages mainly focuses on partner fit (e.g., in personality traits and socio-economic status), marital interactions should be more important for marital satisfaction in long-term marriages. In this article we examine the role of both stable, dispositional factors and of marital interaction in predicting marital satisfaction in long-term marriages in middle and old age. With data from 588 married women and men in middle and old age who participated in the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE), we examined age and gender differences in the role of socio-economic status, personality, and marital interaction as predictors of marital satisfaction. Results showed a) that socio-economic factors and personality played a minor role in predicting marital satisfaction, and b) that a high quality of dyadic interaction was particularly important for the marital satisfaction of women. The implications of these findings for future research and interventions on marital interaction in middle and old age are discussed.

Oral health-related quality of life is linked with subjective well-being and depression in early old age

Although a body of research has targeted predictors of well-being and depression in old age, the consideration of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) as a predictor of these major psychosocial endpoints has been rare in the previous literature. The objective of this study was to test whether OHRQoL is associated with well-being and depression, after controlling for relevant confounders; also, the mediating role of subjective health, a major predictor of both well-being and depression, has been explored. OHRQoL was measured by two commonly used assessment instruments, the geriatric oral health assessment index (GOHAI) and oral health impact profile (OHIP); well-being was assessed by the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGCMS) and depression by the self-rating depression scale (SDS). We used a subsample of 197 participants from the older cohort (1930–1932) of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development. Regression models and structural equations modeling (SEM) were used for the test for study variable relationships. Both GOHAI and OHIP revealed significant associations to both PGCMS and SDS at the bivariate level. In regression analyses considering gender, household situation, subjective health, and both OHRQoL indicators, only OHIP remained a significant predictor of well-being and depression. In addition, supportive evidence for a mediating role of subjective health regarding the linkage between OHRQoL and an overall latent construct of well-being was found in the SEM analysis. In conclusion, OHRQoL is significantly linked with well-being and depression in old age, while subjective health is able to mediate the relationship. The generally underrated role of OHRQoL with respect to well-being and depression in late adulthood deserves more attention.

Is the emergence of functional ability decline in early old age related to change in speed of cognitive processing and also to change in personality

Objective: To test whether the onset of functional ability decline in early old age is related to change in speed of cognitive processing and personality characteristics. Method: Among 500 randomly sampled participants, the 230 cases that did not show impairment in functional ability were selected. Mean age at Time 1 was 62.4 years. For this subsample, the emergence of functional ability decline was tracked across a 12-year observation period. Results: The emergence of functional ability decline was related to change in speed of cognitive processing. Decline in functional ability was also related to increased neuroticism and external control, whereas this was not the case regarding extraversion and internal control. Discussion: Cognitive processing speed was shown to be a predictor of functional disability decline; in addition, the results provided initial evidence that functional ability decline in the early aging phase could be accompanied by changes in personality, particularly neuroticism and external control.

The contribution of adult personality and recalled parent–child relations to friendships in middle and old age

In this study we examined personality traits, in particular openness to experience and agreeableness, and–in an exploratory step – recalled parent–child relations as antecedents of friendship involvement in adulthood. Data from 392 middle-aged (43–46 years) and 345 older participants (61–64 years) in the first wave of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE) support the hypothesis that openness contributes to friendship involvement in middle age, while agreeableness contributes to friendship involvement in old age. Further, structural equation models showed that the relation between recalled mother–child relationship and friendship involvement in older adults was mediated by agreeableness. Recalled father–child relationship was directly associated with friendships in both age groups, independent of personality traits.

Psychogerontologische Konzepte des „Alter(n)s“

Gerontologie war lange Zeit stark von medizinischen bzw. biologischen Forschungsarbeiten dominiert. Trotz erster verhaltenswissenschaftlicher Erforschung des Alterns, zunachst vor allem des kognitiven Alterns in den 1920er Jahren, ist die Alternspsychologie erst seit den 1950er Jahren zu einer im interdisziplinaren Kanon der Gerontologie voll anerkannten Disziplin geworden (Wahl 2004). Heute ist vollig unstrittig, dass Altern als Veranderung nicht nur in korperlich-biologischen, sondern auch in psychischen Bereichen begriffen werden muss (Wahl et al. 2008). Psychisches Altern ist ferner stets im Kontext anderer Systeme zu sehen, beispielsweise der Ebene hirnorganischer Alternsveranderungen, aber ebenso auch auf der Ebene gesellschaftlicher Einflusse und Pragungen des Alterns (Kruse/Wahl 2007). So ist die Fokussierung von psychischen Alternsprozessen besonders durch ihre „Scharnierfunktion“ zwischen biologischem Altersgeschehen und gesellschaftlich-politischen und damit auch historischen Uberformungen des Alters gekennzeichnet.

Wohnen als Entwicklungskontext: Objektive Wohnbedingungen, Wohnzufriedenheit und Formen der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Wohnen in Ost- und Westdeutschland

Wohnen gilt als „physischer, sozialer und psychologischer Austauschprozess zwischen dem Menschen und seiner Umwelt“ (Flade 1987, S. 16). Im mittleren Erwachsenenalter ist neben dem Familienwohnen vor allem die Arbeitsumwelt bestimmend fur den Lebensalltag. Mit zunehmendem Alter wird dann, auch bedingt durch den Ubergang in die nachberufliche Phase, der unmittelbare Wohnbereich zum zentralen Lebensort (Saup 1993; Wahl 1992).