Robert O. Hansson

Assessing the social components of retirement anxiety.

In 4 studies involving 308 men and 384 women aged 25-76, a reliable instrument, the Social Components of Retirement Anxiety Scale (SCRAS), was developed to assess retirement anxiety. The 23-item SCRAS measures 4 factors:Social Integration and Identity, Social Adjustment/Hardiness, Anticipated Social Exclusion, and Lost Friendships. The scale strongly predicts fear of retirement and negative attitudes toward retirement. However, it seems not to be measuring simply a generalized emotional state, exhibiting only minimal correlations with more general measures of anxiety and depression. Elevated scores were observed particularly in persons for whom major social transitions are quite difficult--for example, those who were shy, lonely, had fewer instrumental or communal traits, or expected to have little personal control over their lives after retirement.

Loneliness and Adjustment to Old Age.

Among two samples of older adults, loneliness (measured by the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale) was related to poor psychological adjustment, generally, and to dissatisfaction with family and social relationships. It was also related, however, to fears, expectations, and personality characteristics likely to inhibit the restoration of personal support networks after a stressful life event such as widowhood. Finally, loneliness was associated with maladaptive behavior patterns such as failure to: a) plan for old age, b) engage in rehearsal for widowhood, c) engage in social comparison, or d) learn about available community health and social services.

Successful Aging Criteria for Aging Well in the Workplace

Career theory, to date, has provided several frameworks for understanding how employees develop during their careers. However, these frameworks have not yet directly examined the criteria older workers use to evaluate their success in aging in the workplace. In the present study, the authors develop an inventory of tentative criteria for successful aging in the workplace. Two hundred and one working adults complete a self-report survey indicating the personal importance of each criterion. Factor analyses indicate five theoretically important domains for successful aging in the workplace: (a) adaptability and health, (b) positive relationships, (c) occupational growth, (d) personal security, and (e) continued focus and achievement of personal goals. Analyses indicate that only occupational growth is negatively related to age. Further evidence supporting the relevance of these criteria is also presented.

Bereavement in later life: Coping, adaptation, and developmental influences.

Late life is a time when loss becomes more frequent. Grief experiences accumulate as many older people grapple with diminishing adaptive reserves, changes in cognitive and emotional functioning, patterns of social integration, loneliness, and financial risk. In these years, bereavement poses an array of difficult issues for coping, assessment, and intervention. In what is certain to become a landmark volume, Hansson and Stroebe present a critical review of the literature and dominant theories in the field of bereavement and examine how protective and problematic developmental processes affect the experience of bereavement in late life. They argue for a new, more fine-grained understanding of how the processes of aging and bereavement interact to influence life outcomes, adaptive potential, coping capacity, and successful aging. Finally, in a series of specific proposals, the authors present a path for future research on the bereavement experiences of older adults.

Troubled Relationships in Later Life: Implications for Support

The personal relationships on which social support depends can become strained, problematic and antagonistic in later life. This paper explores how older support recipients themselves influence that social process, for better or worse. New data are presented regarding the nature and extent of interpersonal betrayal in the social networks of older adults that could destabilize family relationships and their social support functions. Respondents reported having betrayed 14 percent, and having been betrayed by 19 percent of the persons in their immediate support networks. In many cases, the event had occurred much earlier in their life, but had retained its symbolic impact across a lifetime.

Physical attractiveness and judgments of psychopathology.

Summary Two separate experiments tested the hypothesis that naive judges would be more likely to attribute psychological disturbance to unattractive than to attractive target persons. In the first experiment, 58 male and female college students estimated possible disturbance of target persons, some of whom were alleged to have been either (a) confined to a psychiatric hospital or (b) in counseling. In the second experiment (n = 40) half of the sample was warned that attractiveness was unimportant and to use other cues. Results of both experiments supported the expectation that psychological disturbance is more likely to be attributed to unattractive target persons. In addition, the alleged seriousness of the problem, the warning that attractiveness is unimportant, and three subject variables failed to mediate the effect.

Knowledge, Warning, and Stress A Study of Comparative Roles in an Urban Floodplain

A field study investigated the role of knowledge, experience, and warning in medi-ating the stress associated with urban flooding. Among residents of an urban floodplain, knowledge about flooding was associated with less trauma during the last flood and reluctance to support indiscriminate government intervention. Increased prior warning of a flood, however, was related to intensified residual fear and feelings of desperation, to more frequent somatic manifestations of stress, and to greater support for all government intervention programs. Previous flood experience (especially recurring experience) was associated with increased fear, depression, and health-stress outcomes. Commitment to adaptive community intervention programs was related to recency of ones flood experience. Having flood insurance was unrelated to stress measures.

Strategic self development for successful aging at work.

Two studies involving 265 participants were conducted to assess the content and range of strategies used by employees to age successfully in the workplace. Study 1 included 64 individuals ranging in age from 23 to 61. These individuals were asked to list up to five activities they have pursued in five potentially important areas of development. Content analyses on these activities were then conducted for purposes of item development. In the second study, the sample was limited to 201 older workers, defined as employees age 40 and older. Participants completed several scales examining the frequency with which they engaged in activities related to successful aging at work. Factor analyses indicated seven major types of strategies: 1) Relationship Development, 2) Security, 3) Continuous Learning, 4) Stress-Relief, 5) Skill Extension, 6) Career Management, and 7) Conscientiousness. Analyses indicated that each strategy domain was positively related to perceived success. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that Security, Relationship Development, Continuous Learning, and Career Management strategies were predictive of success above and beyond important characteristics of the individual or employing organization. The results also indicated that age moderated the relationship between strategy use and perceived success for two strategy domains. Relationship Development and Skill Extension strategies were less strongly related to perceived success as employees aged. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to theory development, application, and future research.

Disentangling Type A behavior: The roles of ambition, insensitivity, and anxiety

Abstract This study identified stable components of Type A behavior as usually defined, and examined their relationships with more traditional psychological constructs. Overall scores on the most popular Type A measure (a version of the Jenkins Activity Survey) were moderately associated with ambition but largely unrelated to measures of adjustment. An item analysis yielded subcomponents of Drivenness and Involvement. Drivenness was unrelated to ambition, but was positively related to anxiety and negatively related to interpersonal perceptiveness. Involvement was positively related to ambition and to interpersonal competence. It is suggested that the Jenkins Activity Survey measures a heterogeneous mixture of constructive commitment and self-defeating responses that clouds its psychological interpretation.

Physical attractiveness and the attribution of epilepsy.

Summary One hundred college students (50 male and 50 female) identified the one person in a “lineup” whom they thought was an epileptic in a test of the hypothesis that they would be more likely to attribute neurological disorders to unattractive persons. Sixty-nine percent of the Ss selected an unattractive female from the female lineup, and 83 percent selected an unattractive male from the male lineup. This relationship was not affected by the amount of time available in which to make the decision, or by those personal characteristics usually associated with human tolerance (i.e., empathy, self-esteem, previous acquaintance with an epileptic).