Minxia Luo, Eun-Kyeong Kim, Robert Weibel, Mike Martin, Christina Röcke
{"title":"Distance from home and working memory: daily associations varying by neighborhood environments in community-dwelling older adults.","authors":"Minxia Luo, Eun-Kyeong Kim, Robert Weibel, Mike Martin, Christina Röcke","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00841-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00841-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Out-of-home mobility and neighborhood environment have been, respectively, shown to be associated with older adults' cognitive abilities and they may have combined effects. Adopting an ecological perspective to mobility-cognition associations, this study examined daily maximum distance from home in relation to daily working memory performance in community-dwelling older adults and the moderation effect of neighborhood environments. Analyses included data over 947 days from 109 Swiss older adults aged 65 to 89 years. Over two weeks, participants wore a custom-built mobile GPS tracker and completed a smartphone-based numerical memory updating task seven times per day. Daily maximum distance from home was extracted from the GPS data. Neighborhood environments were assessed with the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale at baseline. Multilevel models showed that maximum distance from home was not associated with working memory performance, but there were cross-level moderation effects of neighborhood environments. Daily maximum distance from home was positively (vs. negatively) associated with daily working memory performance in participants who lived in neighborhoods with more (vs. fewer) places for walking and cycling and higher (vs. lower) land use mix-diversity. Out-of-home mobility and neighborhood environment could have combined effects on older adults' cognitive abilities. Neighborhoods with more places for walking and biking or having a higher mixture of land use could enhance a positive association between traveling a far distance from home and working memory performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"17"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11972263/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143789068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parenthood and life satisfaction in older age: examining the moderating role of social norms and economic vulnerability.","authors":"Matthias Pollmann-Schult","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00853-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00853-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research on the relationship between parenthood and life satisfaction has revealed mixed results, with older parents reporting higher life satisfaction than older nonparents in some countries but not in others. This study investigates whether the link between parenthood and life satisfaction among individuals aged 60 years and older systematically varies across countries. Drawing on the theoretical premise that country-specific factors influence both the benefits of parenthood and the psychological costs of childlessness, the study examines the roles of pronatalist norms, filial elder-care norms, and the economic conditions of older individuals in shaping the life satisfaction gap between parents and nonparents. The study analyzes European Social Survey data on 114,513 individuals aged 60 years and older in 32 European countries using multilevel regression models. The results show that the life satisfaction gap between parents and nonparents is positively related to the strength of pronatalist norms and the level of economic vulnerability among older people. In contrast, elder-care norms are not uniformly linked to the magnitude of the life satisfaction gap. However, a particularly large life satisfaction gap was observed in countries with both high levels of economic vulnerability and strong elder-care norms. These findings suggest that the extent to which parenthood affects the life satisfaction of older individuals strongly depends on societal context.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"16"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11971083/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143781539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asmita V Manchha, Ken Tann, Kïrsten A Way, Michael Thai
{"title":"Challenging aged care stigma through communication: discursive responses to stigmatising discourses about aged care work and implications for workers' mental health.","authors":"Asmita V Manchha, Ken Tann, Kïrsten A Way, Michael Thai","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00844-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00844-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Occupational stigma can negatively impact aged care workers' (ACWs) mental health. This mixed-methods study investigates whether ACWs who challenge stigmatising discourses, through communication, experience reduced psychological costs of aged care stigma. We screened 184 ACWs' discursive responses and tested for differences in ACWs' mental health between those who challenge stigma and those who do not. A discourse approach was further employed to examine recurring language patterns in 'challenge' discursive responses. ACWs (n = 95) who discursively challenged stigmatising discourses reported lower internalised occupational stigma and psychological distress than those who did not challenge stigma (n = 89). These workers chose to infuse positive value into negative evaluations about ACWs and aged care work. Overall, findings suggest that ACWs may spontaneously challenge occupational stigma, through their discursive responses, which may proactively protect their mental health. We offer practical implications for challenging stigma, including developing guidelines, training, and language-based interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"14"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11968573/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143774504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fiona S Rupprecht, M Clara P de Paula Couto, Klaus Rothermund, Jana Nikitin
{"title":"Maintaining a young self-concept: Feeling young or shifting age thresholds?","authors":"Fiona S Rupprecht, M Clara P de Paula Couto, Klaus Rothermund, Jana Nikitin","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00851-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00851-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the face of prevailing negative views on old age, aging individuals try to maintain the self-concept of a young person. They may do so by feeling younger than they are or by shifting the threshold of old age. According to the dual-process theory of developmental regulation, the former represents an assimilative coping process, whereas the latter represents an accommodative coping process. In the present work, we investigated the usage of those two processes across various life domains (e.g., family, work, and leisure). We hypothesized that individuals try to maintain a young self-concept particularly in those domains they view as important for themselves. We furthermore expected older adults to rely more strongly on shifting the threshold of old age in personally important domains (= accommodative response) and younger adults to rely more strongly on feeling young in personally important domains (= assimilative response). We investigated these hypotheses in a cross-sectional sample of 768 individuals aged 30 to 80 years. Analyses were conducted in a multilevel framework with the life domains nested within individuals. Our hypotheses were confirmed. Participants protected a young self-concept selectively in domains that were important to them. Younger adults felt particularly young in self-relevant domains, whereas older adults selectively chose higher old age thresholds in self-relevant domains. Both processes may allow individuals to protect their self-concept and to dissociate themselves from the stigmatized identity of an old person. Results also shed light on the idealization of being young in our society.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"15"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11968622/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143781512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rachel Wu, Tania M Rodriguez, Bethany P Tavenner, Isadora Farias Lopes de Queiroz, Walter Boot, Jeanine Parisi, Michelle Carlson, Martin Lövdén, Margaret E Beier, Alan Gow
{"title":"Optimizing cognitive interventions to improve real-world function for healthy older adults.","authors":"Rachel Wu, Tania M Rodriguez, Bethany P Tavenner, Isadora Farias Lopes de Queiroz, Walter Boot, Jeanine Parisi, Michelle Carlson, Martin Lövdén, Margaret E Beier, Alan Gow","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00852-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00852-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Healthy aging requires acquiring new functional skills for adaptation in a dynamic environment. Cognitive interventions with older adults have largely focused on improving broad cognitive abilities, aiming for transfer to functional effects. By contrast, interventions focusing directly on acquiring new functional skills can address current real-world issues, including the need for reskilling and reducing the digital divide, especially for underserved communities. In doing so, we may better understand how aspects of age-related learning and cognitive and functional decline may be due to suboptimal learning circumstances rather than senescence. In this opinion paper, we highlight key aspects for designing long-lasting, real-world interventions to improve functional skills, and potentially transfer to cognitive effects, for older adults. This approach could help build more inclusive theories of cognitive aging, while progressing the field toward developing more effective and useful interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"13"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11930899/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143694085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lee Smith, Guillermo F López Sánchez, Jae Il Shin, Hans Oh, Karel Kostev, Mark A Tully, Yvonne Barnett, Laurie T Butler, Nicola Veronese, Pinar Soysal, Louis Jacob, Ai Koyanagi
{"title":"The association between physical multimorbidity and fall-related injury among adults aged ≥ 50 years from low- and middle-income countries.","authors":"Lee Smith, Guillermo F López Sánchez, Jae Il Shin, Hans Oh, Karel Kostev, Mark A Tully, Yvonne Barnett, Laurie T Butler, Nicola Veronese, Pinar Soysal, Louis Jacob, Ai Koyanagi","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00848-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00848-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Studies from high-income countries have shown that multimorbidity is associated with increased fall risk among older adults. However, studies specifically on this topic from low- and middle-income counties (LMICs) are lacking. Thus, we aimed to assess this association among adults aged ≥ 50 years from six LMICs.Cross-sectional, community-based data from the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) were analyzed. Eleven chronic physical conditions were assessed. The presence of past 12-month fall-related injury was ascertained through self-reported information. Multivariable logistic regression and mediation analysis was conducted to assess the association between multimorbidity and fall-related injury.Data on 34,129 adults aged ≥ 50 years [mean (SD) age 62.4 (16.0) years; males 48.0%] were analyzed. Overall, compared to having no chronic conditions, having 2, 3, and ≥ 4 chronic conditions were significantly associated with 1.67 (95%CI = 1.21-2.30), 2.64 (95%CI = 1.89-3.68), and 3.67 (95%CI = 2.42-5.57) times higher odds for fall-related injury. The association between multimorbidity (i.e., ≥ 2 chronic conditions) and fall-related injury was mainly explained by pain/discomfort (mediated% 39.7%), mobility (34.1%), sleep/energy (24.2%), and cognition (13.0%).Older adults with multimorbidity in LMICs are at increased odds for fall-related injury. Targeting the identified potential mediators among those with multimorbidity may reduce fall risk in this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"12"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11923311/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143664963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sonja Radoš, Maria K Pavlova, Klaus Rothermund, Rainer K Silbereisen
{"title":"Household members' positive personality traits and age stereotypes do not predict perceived expectations for active aging.","authors":"Sonja Radoš, Maria K Pavlova, Klaus Rothermund, Rainer K Silbereisen","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00850-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00850-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The household represents a proximal social context whose members can convey various expectations to each other, including expectations for active aging. We used a nationally representative sample (N = 2007, aged 16-94 years) to investigate the household predictors of perceived expectations for active aging (PEAA, i.e., \"activation demands\" targeting individuals as older adults) in three domains: physical health, mental health, and social engagement. We considered household members' dispositional optimism, conscientiousness, age stereotypes, and the life goal of civic engagement. A set of preregistered multiple regression analyses indicated that, irrespective of age, household members' life goal of civic engagement had a positive effect on individual PEAA in the social engagement domain, which disappeared upon controlling for the respective individual life goal. In middle-aged and older adults, household members' conscientiousness unexpectedly had a significantly negative effect on individual PEAA in the physical health domain. Neither household members' dispositional optimism nor their domain-specific age stereotypes had significant associations with individual PEAA. Our findings suggest that household members' mindsets and attitudes play a limited role in predicting PEAA of individuals from the same household.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"11"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11923321/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143664959","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do publicly funded community physical activity programs for middle-aged and older adults in Ireland work?","authors":"Enrique García Bengoechea, Catherine B Woods","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00847-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00847-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To strengthen practice-based evidence, pragmatic, yet rigorous, evaluation of real-world programs is necessary. This study sought to add to the evidence for the effectiveness of physical activity programs for middle-aged and older adults offered by publicly funded local sports partnerships (LSPs) in Ireland. We analysed data from 468 individuals aged 50 + years, who took part in the Move for Life cluster randomised feasibility trial. Outcomes were accelerometer-based moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), light intensity physical activity (LiPA), standing time, and sedentary time; self-reported compliance with physical activity guidelines, body composition, physical function, and mental well-being. LSP programs included Women on Wheels/Bike for Life, Go for Life Games, Get Ireland Walking, and Men on the Move. We used a difference-in-differences approach to estimate program effects. We found evidence of positive program effects on accelerometer-derived MVPA (Women on Wheels/Bike for Life, Get Ireland Walking), LiPA (Go for Life Games), and sedentary time (Women on Wheels/Bike for Life, Go for Life Games) (p < .05), plus evidence of positive effects on self-reported physical activity for all LSP programs (p < .05). We did not find evidence of program effects on body composition. Outcomes related to physical function were mixed. Men on the Move was the only program where mental well-being scores increased significantly relative to the control group. Despite sample size limitations, the results support the effectiveness of LSP programs over a 6-month period, notably in terms of energy expenditure outcomes, while identifying areas for improvement regarding outcomes related to body composition, physical function and, particularly, mental well-being.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"10"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11920450/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143658161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effect of loneliness on depressive symptoms in the 65+ European population: a longitudinal observational study using SHARE data.","authors":"Daniëlle Heleen Smit, Johan Rehnberg, Stefan Fors","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00846-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00846-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Loneliness has consistently been found to be associated with an increased probability of depressive symptoms among older adults. Yet, the relationship is complex, and it remains unclear whether loneliness is a cause of depressive symptomatology. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible causal effect of loneliness on subsequent depressive symptoms among older adults (65+) in Europe. We analyzed two waves of observational data (2015-2017) from the Study of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (n = 6808) and attempted to identify a causal effect of loneliness on depressive symptomatology by accounting for confounding by potential unmeasured factors using an endogenous treatment-effect model. The results showed a substantial positive association between loneliness in 2015 and depressive symptoms in 2017 in the sample. However, there was no support for the hypothesis that loneliness in 2015 was a cause of depressive symptoms in 2017. Additionally, there was no evidence of unmeasured factors confounding the relationship. Thus, loneliness may not be a cause of depressive symptoms among older adults in the short term. These findings suggest that there might be other reasons why lonely individuals are at an increased risk of depressive symptoms. Therefore, a shift in focus when aiming to reduce depressive symptoms among lonely older adults may be warranted.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"9"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11904008/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143617589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Qiuyi Kong, Nicholas Currie, Kangning Du, John A Hunter, Ted Ruffman
{"title":"Older adults know when they have been left out but they respond rationally.","authors":"Qiuyi Kong, Nicholas Currie, Kangning Du, John A Hunter, Ted Ruffman","doi":"10.1007/s10433-025-00845-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10433-025-00845-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous research reveals that older adults have relatively intact well-being when excluded by others as compared to young adults. This observation can be attributed to two plausible explanations: Either older adults are unaware of their exclusion, thereby shielding their well-being from its impact, or they recognize the exclusion but respond to it rationally. We carried out two studies to compare young and older adults' awareness of and response to exclusion, and explored its potential mechanisms by assessing the explanatory roles of loneliness, general cognition, and rejection sensitivity. Study 1 measured young and older adults' loneliness, awareness of exclusion, and needs satisfaction after playing the Cyberball game, and Study 2 further examined other potential correlates including processing speed, working memory, and rejection sensitivity. Over the two studies, older adults were not worse at recognizing exclusion, and sometimes better than young adults. Older adults' awareness of exclusion predicted their responses to exclusion, whereas the same link was absent in younger adults. Despite older adults' relatively good performance, there were individual differences in recognizing exclusion; older adults with better general cognition and lower rejection sensitivity were particularly adept. In sum, older adults can be as aware of exclusion as young adults, but rather than reacting in an emotional way that is detached from reality, older adults are more likely to respond to it rationally based on the severity of exclusion they have perceived.</p>","PeriodicalId":47766,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Ageing","volume":"22 1","pages":"8"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11865385/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143504834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}