Measuring Psychological Resilience in Aging: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the measurement properties of 2 emerging psychological resilience (PR) measures constructed for use in large national data sources and to test their reliability across social axes including race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Research Design and Methods: Using 2006/2008 data, the Simplified Resilience Score and the Add Health Resilience Scale were tested using overall and multigroup measurement models in a structural equation modeling framework. Results: Both PR measures perform well as reliable, 1-factor latent constructs capturing adaptive capacity at various life stages. Both measures showed measurement consistency across social axes, with specific differences in item measurement across some racial/ethnic groups. Discussion and Implications: The results indicate these measures represent high quality, consistent measures of PR in nationally representative aging and health data. The availability of reliable, valid measures of PR enables consistent evaluation of resilience in health and aging processes.

History of childhood mistreatment and the psychological health consequences of COVID-19 for older adults.

OBJECTIVES: We examine the associations between childhood mistreatment (emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional neglect) and older adults' changes in depressive symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2018-June 2020). METHODS: Using a community-based sample of older adults in North Florida (N = 581), we used ordinary least-squares regression to estimate associations between childhood mistreatments and depressive symptoms in June 2020, controlling for baseline symptoms and demographic characteristics. Additional models tested whether emotion regulation and social support attenuated associations between childhood mistreatments and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Older adults exposed to emotional neglect in childhood saw a greater increase in depressive symptoms than those who did not experience childhood mistreatment. Those reporting childhood physical abuse had higher baseline depressive symptoms, but they did not increase during the pandemic. These associations remained stable after controlling for emotion regulation and social support, coping resources thought to contribute to linkages between childhood mistreatment and psychological health in adulthood. CONCLUSION: Childhood mistreatment might inform the psychological consequences of major stressors in later life. Thus, early life interventions for children experiencing mistreatment could be especially important for long-term psychological health outcomes and responses to major stressful events. Identifying older people with histories of childhood mistreatment could also help clinicians gauge patients' risk of psychological decline during times such as the COVID-19 pandemic and tailor psychological health interventions.

Social isolation and achievement of students with learning disabilities.

Students with learning disabilities (LDs) experience heightened levels of social isolation, but researchers have not fully explored its various dimensions at school or determined which aspects contribute to educational gaps associated with LDs. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that middle and high school students with LDs are more likely to experience most types of isolation. Student with LDs have fewer friends, their friends are less educationally ambitious, they feel more detached and disliked at school, and they are more likely to avoid friendships, though surprisingly not more likely to be actively rejected. Mediation analyses indicate that the aspect of social isolation that contributes most to the LD-gap in high school graduation is one's number of school friends and their educational expectations. Perceptions of social isolation are also consequential, and together these account for nearly one-quarter of the LD-gap in high school graduation, net of past grades.