Morton H. Kleban

Dimensions of affective experience in three age groups

The dimensions by which adults of differing ages experience emotion were studied by self-administering questionnaires administered to older adults (n = 828) recruited from Elderhostel programs, middle-aged (ages 30-59) children of Elderhostel attenders (n = 231), and young adult (ages 18-29) subjects recruited from college classes or through Elderhostel participants (n = 207). Elders were higher in emotional control, mood stability, and emotional maturity through moderation and leveling of positive affect and lower in surgency, psychophysiological responsiveness, and sensation seeking. These findings are consistent with the hypothesized increase in self-regulatory capacity with age. These cross-sectional differences cannot, however, be distinguished from cohort-related explanations; they require considerable replication across different types of subjects and further characterization of the dimensions in terms of their functions for self-regulation.

Psychometric Characteristics of the Minimum Data Set II: Validity

OBJECTIVE: To determine the validity of the Minimum Data Set (MDS).

Affect and age : cross-sectional comparisons of structure and prevalence

The self-reports of 207 young-adult (ages 18-30), 231 middle-aged (ages 31-59), and 828 older-adult (age 60 and over) Ss were used to study the structure of affect. Affects were represented by terms included in various circumplex arrays of emotions as presented by previous investigators. A set of 46 affects was subjected to exploratory analysis, and a final set of 38 affects was subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. The goodness of fit of each groups factor loadings to the hypothesized factors of positive affect, depression, anxiety-guilt, contentment, hostility, and shyness was not up to the desired .90 level, and some significant differences in factor structure were observed for each age-group comparison. There were few age differences in levels of positive affect. Depression was most frequent among younger Ss and least frequent among older Ss. Younger Ss were most often anxious and shy. Older Ss were most often content and least often hostile.

The relationships among anxiety, depression, and pain in a geriatric institutionalized sample

&NA; This study sought to determine if depression and/or anxiety is uniquely related to pain after controlling for the strong association between anxiety and depression. Both depression and anxiety were assessed in an elderly institutionalized sample using: (1) research‐based diagnoses based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual‐revised 3rd edition (DSM‐IIIR) criteria, and (2) evaluations of ones recent affective states using the Profile of Moods States (POMS). Pain was assessed by pain intensity and number of pain complaints. A series of path models indicated that: (1) both research‐based anxiety and depression share unique variance with pain, and (2) only POMS anxiety is uniquely related to pain. A path model using both measures of anxiety and depression indicated that only the anxiety measures are significantly related to pain. However, POMS anxiety sustained a significantly greater relationship with pain than did research‐based anxiety.

Psychometric Characteristics of the Minimum Data Set I: Confirmatory Factor Analysis

OBJECTIVE: To determine the structure and statistical reliability of the federally mandated Minimum Data Set (MDS).

Affect and quality of life: objective and subjective.

Objectives:The objective of this article is to determine direct and indirect contributions of objective and subjective quality of life (QOL) to positive and negative indicators of mental health. Specifically, the dual-channel hypothesis predicted that objective and subjective social engagement would enhance positive affect (PA) but be unrelated to depression. Methods:Older people from senior centers and several housing environments volunteered to complete a questionnaire or interview about a number of aspects of their everyday lives (N= 602). Objective and subjective were related to one another. Results:Objective activity participation and subjective time use and friend quality were associated with PA. Only time use was related to depression. Discussion:The importance of assessing both amount of behavior (objective) and its quality (subjective) when measuring QOL was demonstrated. Although external engagement bears a closer relationship to PA than to negative, the dual-channel model relating locus of stimulation differentially to PA and depression requires modification.

Valuation of Life A Concept and a Scale

Objectives: The objectivewas to derive and test the psychometric characteristics of a scale to measure Valuation of Life (VOL). Methods: Four samples were used in successive phases of exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability and validity testing, and exploration of response-error effects. Estimates of Years of Desired Life were obtained under a variety of hypothetical quality-of-life (QOL)-compromising conditions of poor health. Results: Confirmed 13-item (Positive VOL) and 6-item (Negative VOL) factors were obtained. A significant relationship betweenVOLand mostYears of Desired Life estimates remained when demographic, health, quality of life, and mental health measures were controlled. Analysis of Negative VOL revealed that some respondents misunderstand the meaning of an agree response to negatively phrased items. Discussion: VOL is a cognitive-affective schema whose function as a mediator and moderator between health and end-of-life decisions deserves further research.

Psychological Well-Being in the Aged Factorial and Conceptual Dimensions

This research concerned the multidimensionality of psychological well-being and some related domains of perceived quality of life. A pool of items used by others to measure a variety of such constructs was administered to four groups of older people ordered in presumptive overall well-being: retirement community, residents of an ordinary neighborhood, congregate housing, and clinically depressed people. Factors were derived by component analysis and adjusted on theoretical grounds. The resulting indices were subjected to a variety of psychometric analyses. The dimensionality of subjective well-being as revealed in these results is discussed in relation to several theoretical notions regarding mental health and aging.

Strength Training, Walking, and Social Activity Improve Sleep in Nursing Home and Assisted Living Residents: Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVES: To compare the effects of physical resistance strength training and walking (E), individualized social activity (SA), and E and SA (ESA) with a usual care control group on total nocturnal sleep time in nursing home and assisted living residents.

Marital Status, Living Arrangements, and the Well-Being of Older People:

Three large probability samples of older people are analyzed in terms of the relationships between marital status and living arrangements, on the one hand, and a variety of indicators of well-being including cognitive functioning, health, time use, family interaction, friend interaction, perceived time use, perceived quality family interaction, perceived quality friend interaction, perceived environment, and objective environmental quality. With other background factors controlled, the major effect of marital status was seen in the favorable situation of the presently married. Effects associated with living arrangements were stronger. Those living alone were healthier but notably lower in all types of subjective well-being. Living with children was associated with lower basic competence and subjective well-being, but being married had generally favorable consequences whether or not other people lived in the household.