Representations of self across the life span.

This research extends a cognitive-developmental approach to examining age differences in self-representation from adolescence to mature adulthood and later life. The authors suggest that mature adults move from representations of self that are relatively poorly differentiated from others or social conventions to ones that involve emphasis on process, context, and individuality. Participants (n men?=?73, n women?=?76), ranging in age from 11 to 85 years, provided spontaneous accounts of their self-representations and responded to measures assessing cognitive and emotional functioning and broad dimensions of personality. On average, self-representation scores peaked in middle-aged adults and were lowest in the preadolescent and older adult age groups. Level of self-representation was related to cognitive and personality variables, but there was some evidence that the pattern of correlates shifted from younger (ages 15–45) to older (ages 46–85) age segments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

More or less "me" in past, present, and future: Perceived lifetime personality during adulthood.

This article examines whether adults perceive different levels of their own personality traits at different target ages, and what the differences are. Using abbreviated versions of assessments of the 5-factor model of personality (NEO-FFI, P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1989) and of well-being (C. D. Ryff, 1989), 398 heterogeneous participants (age 26–64) described their own personality (a) in the present, (b) when they were 20–25 years old, (c) when they will be 65–70 years old, and (d) in the ideal. Participants' responses across the 3 target ages indicated moderate change across adulthood and more variability than is typically observed in longitudinal studies of adult personality development. Anticipated late adulthood personality contained more losses than gains, although all target ages showed some gains. Participants' perceptions were characterized by early adulthood exploration, middle adulthood productivity, and later adulthood comfortableness. Additionally, older adults reported slightly lower ideals but in other ways responded very similarly to younger and middle-aged adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experienced and remembered emotional intensity in older adults.

After Ross Perot's abrupt withdrawal from the presidential race in July of 1992, supporters (n?=?227) rated their initial emotional reactions and described their coping strategies. After the elections in November of 1992, supporters (n?=?147) recalled their initial emotional reactions. In contrast to claims that subjective emotional intensity decreases with age, older adults (71–84 years, M?=?75) initially reported feeling just as sad, angry, and hopeful as middle-aged (46–70 years, M?=?60) and younger adults (22–45 years, M?=?37). Older adults were more likely than middle-aged and younger adults to disengage from thwarted political goals, however. For those who maintained their original goal, memory for the intensity of past feelings of sadness decreased with age. These findings suggest that age differences in response to survey questions about emotional intensity may reflect changes in memory for past emotions, and changes in coping strategies, rather than the intensity of the older adults' emotional experience as it occurred. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk and resilience factors in coping with daily stress in adulthood: The role of age, self-concept incoherence, and personal control.

This study observed young, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 239; Mage = 49.6 years; range = 18–89 years) for 30 consecutive days to examine the association between daily stress and negative affect, taking into account potential risk (i.e., self-concept incoherence) and resilience (i.e., age, perceived personal control) factors. Results indicated that younger individuals and individuals with a more incoherent self-concept showed higher average negative affect across the study. As well, individuals reported higher negative affect on days that they experienced more stress than usual and on days that they reported less control than usual. These main effects were qualified by significant interactions. In particular, the association between daily stress and negative affect was stronger on days on which adults reported low control compared with days on which they reported high control (i.e., perceptions of control buffered stress). Reactivity to daily stress did not differ for individuals of different ages or for individuals with different levels of self-concept incoherence. Although all individuals reported higher negative affect on days on which they reported less control than usual, this association was more pronounced among younger adults. The current study helps to elucidate the role of risk and resilience factors when adults are faced with daily stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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 (aged 30–59 yrs) children of Elderhostel attenders (n?=?231), and young adult (aged 18–29 yrs) Ss 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 Ss and further characterization of the dimensions in terms of their functions for self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Binding and strategic selection in working memory: A lifespan dissociation.

Working memory (WM) shows a gradual increase during childhood, followed by accelerating decline from adulthood to old age. To examine these lifespan differences more closely, we asked 34 children (10–12 years), 40 younger adults (20–25 years), and 39 older adults (70–75 years) to perform a color change detection task. Load levels and encoding durations were varied for displays including targets only (Experiment 1) or targets plus distracters (Experiment 2, investigating a subsample of Experiment 1). WM performance was lower in older adults and children than in younger adults. Longer presentation times were associated with better performance in all age groups, presumably reflecting increasing effects of strategic selection mechanisms on WM performance. Children outperformed older adults when encoding times were short, and distracter effects were larger in children and older adults than in younger adults. We conclude that strategic selection in WM develops more slowly during childhood than basic binding operations, presumably reflecting the delay in maturation of frontal versus medio-temporal brain networks. In old age, both sets of mechanisms decline, reflecting senescent change in both networks. We discuss similarities to episodic memory development and address open questions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of expertise and task factors on age differences in pilot communication.

The influence of expertise and task factors on age differences in a simulated pilot–Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication task was examined. Young, middle-aged, and older pilots and nonpilots listened to ATC messages that described a route through an airspace, during which they referred to a chart of this airspace. Participants read back each message and then answered a probe question about the route. It was found that pilots read back messages more accurately than nonpilots, and younger participants were more accurate than older participants. Age differences were not reduced for pilots. Pilots and younger participants also answered probes more accurately, suggesting that they were better able to interpret the ATC messages in terms of the chart in order to create a situation model of the flight. The findings suggest that expertise benefits occur for adults of all ages. High levels of flying experience among older pilots (as compared with younger pilots) helped to buffer age-related declines in cognitive resources, thus providing evidence for the mediating effects of experience on age differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion and aging: Experience, expression, and control.

Age differences in emotional experience, expression, and control were investigated in 4 studies. A community sample of 127 African Americans and European Americans (ages 19–96 years) was used in Study 1; a community sample of 82 Chinese Americans and European Americans (ages 20–85 years) was used in Study 2; a community sample of 49 Norwegians drawn from 2 age groups (ages 20–35 years and 70+ years) was used in Study 3; and a sample of 1,080 American nuns (ages 24–101 years) was used in Study 4. Across studies, a consistent pattern of age differences emerged. Compared with younger participants, older participants reported fewer negative emotional experiences and greater emotional control. Findings regarding emotional expressivity were less consistent, but when there were age differences, participants reported lesser expressivity. Results are interpreted in terms of increasingly competent emotion regulation across the life span. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of problem gamblers 56 years of age or older: A statewide study of casino self-excluders.

Gambling among older adults appears to be increasing, though little is known about the characteristics of older adult problem gamblers. The purpose of this study was to compare older adults to younger and middle-aged adults in a cohort of problem gamblers participating in a state-administered casino self-exclusion program. Self-reported problem gamblers (N = 1,601) who voluntary banned themselves from Missouri casinos from 2001 to 2003 were categorized by age as younger adults (ages 21 to 35; n = 490), middle-aged adults (ages 36 to 55; n = 950), and older adults (ages 56 to 79; n = 161), and were compared with respect to demographic variables, gambling participation, and reasons for self-exclusion. Older adult self-excluders typically began gambling in midlife, experienced gambling problems around age 60, reported preferences for nonstrategic forms of gambling, and identified fear of suicide as the primary reason for self-excluding. Implications for intervention, prevention and treatment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and management team performance.

180 male managers participated as age-homogeneous 4-person teams in a validated all-day decision-making simulation. 15 teams consisted of 28–35 yr old participants (young), 15 teams were in the 45–55 yrs age range (middle-aged), and 15 teams consisted of 65–75 yr old (older) persons. More than 40 objective performance measures (loading on 12–25 factors) were calculated on the basis of team decision making, planning, and other indicators. Performance by young and middle-aged teams was generally similar. Older teams made fewer decisions and were less strategic and less responsive to incoming information. Their overview of the task was less broad; action diversity and information search was reduced. However, older teams used opportunities and handled a simulated emergency as effectively as their younger and middle-aged counterparts. Alternative explanations for the obtained differences are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partner preferences across the life span: Online dating by older adults.

Stereotypes of older adults as withdrawn or asexual fail to recognize that romantic relationships in later life are increasingly common. The authors analyzed 600 Internet personal ads from 4 age groups: 20–34, 40–54, 60–74, and 75+ years. Predictions from evolutionary theory held true in later life, when reproduction is no longer a concern. Across the life span, men sought physical attractiveness and offered status-related information more than women; women were more selective than men and sought status more than men. With age, men desired women increasingly younger than themselves, whereas women desired older men until ages 75 and over, when they sought men younger than themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of age on blood alcohol levels and ethanol-associated immunosuppression in a murine model of ethanol consumption

Several study findings indicate that with ethanol ingestion a number of changes occur in the immune system. We studied the effects of ethanol consumption on mice at various ages. We used a murine model in which young (age 6-8 weeks), middle-aged (age 12 months), and old (age 24 months) male C57Bl/6 mice were pair-fed either a Leiber-DeCarli liquid diet containing 7% (v/v) ethanol or an isocaloric control diet. Consumption of ethanol diet for 8 days resulted in high blood alcohol levels in young and old mice; low levels were observed in middle-aged mice. Middle-aged mice consumed more ethanol than did either young or old mice and had the lowest percent body weight loss of all three age groups. Proliferation of spleen lymphocytes to T-cell stimuli (concanavalin A and alloantigens) in both young and old mice fed ethanol was diminished. T-cell function was unchanged in middle-aged mice consuming an ethanol diet when compared with that observed in age-matched mice pair-fed control diet. No effect of ethanol on proliferation to lipopolysaccharide was noted in any group. Proliferative response of T cells to soluble anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody was also decreased in middle-aged and old pair-fed control mice when compared with young control mice. The proliferative response to soluble anti-CD3 in all three age groups of mice fed ethanol, however, was not significantly affected by ethanol consumption.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Moral and social reasoning and perspective taking in later life: A longitudinal study.

In this study 27 older adults (ages 64–80) and 23 middle-aged adults (ages 35–54) were tested for moral stage, integrative complexity of social reasoning, and perspective-taking levels twice over a 4 year period. Moral reasoning stage levels did not change over time for either age group. Older adults, but not the middle-aged, showed a significant decline over time in level of moral perspective taking. Complexity of reasoning about several interpersonal social issues declined modestly in both age groups. More social-cognitive support, a higher education level, and better self-reported health were all found to be protective factors in forestalling declines in mature adults' sociocognitive reasoning, consistent with other research on cognitive measures in later life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress and "storm and stress" in early adolescence: The relationship of negative events with dysphoric affect.

The theory that adolescence is universally a time of emotional turmoil has been disproved, yet research indicates higher rates of negative affect among adolescents than preadolescents. This study evaluates the relationship of distressed affect in early adolescence to the experience of stressful life events. 483 5th–9th graders provided experience sampling reports on their daily emotional states; data on recent major events in the child's life were obtained from the child and a parent. Findings indicate that older students in this age range encountered more negative events than younger ones, including more peer, school, and family events, and that experience of multiple negative events had a stronger association with daily negative affect among the older students. These findings suggest that the higher rates of daily distress experienced in adolescence may be partly attributable to the greater number of negative life events encountered by some youths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and emotional response to the Northridge earthquake: A longitudinal analysis.

Cross-sectional studies have found older adults to have lower levels of emotional distress after natural disasters. The maturation hypothesis suggests that older adults are less reactive to stress events, whereas the inoculation hypothesis argues that prior experience with disaster is protective. One hundred and sixty-six adults aged 30 to 102 were interviewed regarding the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Longitudinal data were available on depressed mood before and after the earthquake. The maturation hypothesis was generally not supported. The young–old were least depressed; however, this age difference was present prior to the earthquake. The old–old showed lowest levels of earthquake-specific rumination, but age did not buffer the relationship between damage exposure and rumination. The inoculation hypothesis was supported for depressed mood. Prior earthquake experience was related to lower postearthquake depression scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of stroke features and disability in daily life in patients with ischemic stroke aged 55 to 70 and 71 to 85 years

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study compared stroke features and poststroke disability in two age groups of patients with ischemic stroke: younger (55 to 70 years) and older (71 to 85 years). Stroke has an impact on daily living in many areas, but whether risk factors, stroke features, and poststroke disability differ between young and old patients with stroke is not so well established. METHODS: A cohort of 486 ischemic stroke patients aged 55 to 85 years admitted consecutively to the Helsinki University Central Hospital (Finland) between December 1, 1993, and March 31, 1995, were examined 3 months after the index stroke. Structured medical, neurological, and radiological (MRI or CT) examinations, mental status, and emotional examination and interview of a close informant were done. Prestroke and poststroke activities of daily living were assessed with five scales: the Index of ADL, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, Functional Activities Questionnaire, Blessed Functional Activities Scale, and Barthel Index. RESULTS: History of cardiac failure (P < .001), atrial fibrillation (P < .001), and cardioembolic stroke (P = .011) was more frequent in the older age group, whereas stroke due to large-artery atherosclerosis (P = .048) was more common in the younger age group. The older patients more often had major dominant stroke syndrome (P = .018). Comparison of activities of daily living before and after stroke showed that the older age group deteriorated significantly more than the younger age group after adjustment for sex, education, and living conditions (Barthel Index, P = .005; other scales, P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: The stroke patients in young and old age groups had different risk profiles and stroke features. The older stroke patients were more dependent and disabled beforehand, and after stroke they were relatively even more dependent than the patients in the younger age group. Because older patients already constitute the majority of stroke victims, the importance of early active diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and guidance is stressed.     

Rationing organs using psychosocial and lifestyle criteria

The decrease in responsiveness of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system is marked over the first months of life. Seventy-eight healthy infants (44 girls), 7 to 15 weeks old, were given a laboratory mock physical examination. Salivary cortisol samples were collected pre- and postexamination and at home. Behavioral state during the examination and home sleep/wake activity were measured. Subjects younger than 11 weeks showed an increase in pre- to postexamination cortisol, while older subjects did not. Further, there was no decrease in behavioral distress to the examination with age. Infants who showed an early- morning peak (EMP) in home cortisol levels were significantly older and were likely to be those who slept through the night. However, the presence of an EMP was not associated with a lack of cortisol response to the examination. The decrease in cortisol responsiveness witnessed around the age of 3 months is presumably due to other processes associated with age, and not with the expression of the day-night rhythm in basal cortisol.     

Age differences in anxious responding: Older and calmer, unless the trigger is physical.

The current study examines how the aging relevance of anxiety triggers, particularly those tied to physical threat, influences the expression of anxiety in older and younger adults. It was expected that older adults would exhibit less anxiety than younger adults in response to nonphysical triggers but that this age-related difference would diminish when faced with physical triggers. Anxiety responses were measured in older (N = 49, ages 60–85) and younger (N = 49, ages 17–34) adults in response to (a) physical and social anxiety provocations, and (b) a threat interpretation measure. Consistent with hypotheses, results for the anxiety provocations indicated less anxiety among older (vs. younger) adults on a range of anxiety measures (affective, cognitive, physiological) when triggers did not concern physical health, but this age difference diminished when physical health was threatened. Older adults actually reported more threat interpretations than younger adults to physical threat scenarios. Findings are discussed in terms of the aging relevance of anxiety triggers and theoretical accounts of age-related changes in emotional processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memorizing while walking: Increase in dual-task costs from young adulthood to old age.

The dual task of memorizing word lists while walking was predicted to become more difficult with age because balance and gait are in greater need of "attentional resources." Forty-seven young (ages 20–30 years), 45 middle-aged (40–50), and 48 old (60–70) adults were trained to criterion in a mnemonic technique and instructed to walk quickly and accurately on 2 narrow tracks of different path complexity. Then, participants encoded the word lists while sitting, standing, or walking on either track; likewise, speed and accuracy of walking performance were assessed with and without concurrent memory encoding. Dual-task costs increased with age in both domains; relative to young adults, the effect size of the overall increase was 0.98 standard deviation units for middle-aged and 1.47 standard deviation units for old adults. It is argued that sensory and motor aspects of behavior are increasingly in need of cognitive control with advancing age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College-educated women's personality development in adulthood: Perceptions and age differences.

Adulthood encompasses a large time span and includes a series of psychosocial challenges (E. H. Erikson, 1950). Five aspects of personality (identity certainty, confident power, concern with aging, generativity, and personal distress) were assessed in a cross-sectional study of college-educated women who at the time of data collection were young adults (age: M = 26 years), middle-aged adults (age: M = 46 years), or older adults (age: M = 66 years). Respondents rated each personality domain for how true it was of them at the time, and they then rated the other 2 ages either retrospectively or prospectively. Results are discussed with attention to the ways in which women's adult development may have been shaped by experiences particular to both gender and birth cohort, and to how these women fit with E. H. Erikson's theory of adult development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)