A review of the literature on wellbeing and modifiable dementia risk factors.

Wellbeing-defined broadly as experiencing one's life as enjoyable and fulfilling-has been associated with lower risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The mechanisms underlying this association are largely unknown. However, prior research and theory suggest that wellbeing impacts health behaviors and biological systems that are relevant to cognitive and brain health. Several of these factors have also been identified by the 2020 Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care as modifiable dementia risk factors. In the current review, we summarize and evaluate the evidence for associations between wellbeing and each of the 12 Lancet Commission risk factors. We found relatively consistent evidence for associations between higher wellbeing and lower levels of most of the risk factors: physical inactivity, social isolation, smoking, depression, hypertension, diabetes, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury, and air pollution. By contrast, we found evidence for only modest associations between wellbeing and education and mixed evidence for associations of wellbeing with alcohol use and body weight. Although most of the reviewed evidence was observational, longitudinal and experimental evidence suggests that many of the observed associations are likely bidirectional. These findings suggest that modifiable dementia risk factors may be mediators (i.e., intermediate steps in the causal chain) and/or confounders (i.e., variables that impact both wellbeing and dementia, and thus could induce a spurious association) of the association between wellbeing and dementia. We conclude by discussing next steps to test mediation hypotheses and to account for potential confounding in the relation between wellbeing and dementia.

Perceptions of a good life: Associations with culture, age, wellbeing, and health.

What does a good life look like? The present research investigated individual differences in people's perceptions of the factors that are most important for living a good life using two waves of data in probability samples from the U.S. (MIDUS; N = 4,041) and Japan (MIDJA; N = 381). We examined country- and age-related similarities and differences in perceptions of a good life and associations of perceptions of a good life with experiences of wellbeing and physical health. Some factors were considered important for living a good life in both countries and across age (e.g., positive relationships with family), whereas other factors varied between countries (e.g., U.S. participants were more likely to perceive faith as important) and by age (e.g., younger adults were more likely to perceive having a good job as important). Further, perceptions of a good life were related to experiences of wellbeing and physical health concurrently and prospectively. This research informs our understanding of how people differ from one another in their perceptions of a good life, and how these differences may matter for individuals' experiences of a good life.

Valuing versus having: The contrary roles of valuing and having money and prestige on well-being.

Using data from Midlife in the United States (N=3,767), this study investigates how believing having money or occupational prestige is important for a good life is associated with different aspects of well-being. Actual income was positively associated with sense of purpose, personal growth, self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and life satisfaction, negatively associated with negative affect, and was not associated with autonomy, positive relations with others, or positive affect. Meanwhile, perceiving having enough money or extra money as important for a good life predicted poorer well-being across all nine well-being indicators. Occupational prestige was positively associated with sense of purpose, autonomy, personal growth, self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and life satisfaction, while perceiving having occupational prestige as important was negatively associated with autonomy, personal growth, self-acceptance, positive relations with others, and positively with negative affect. The discussion focuses on how desiring money or prestige can influence well-being beyond having-or not having-those desires.

Purpose in Daily Life: Considering Within-Person Sense of Purpose Variability.

Sense of purpose refers to the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. Though this construct predicts a host of benefits, little is known regarding the extent to which sense of purpose fluctuates within an individual and the affective changes tied to those fluctuations. The current study uses daily diary data to addresses this gap by exploring (1) how much sense of purpose and different components of purpose fluctuate from one day to the next, (2) the extent to which these fluctuations correlate with positive and negative affect, and (3) whether dispositional sense of purpose and age correlate with greater variability. Participants (N = 354) reported on their sense of purpose and positive and negative affect every day for 10 days. Results suggest that approximately 45-61% of the variability in sense of purpose scores occurs between-person depending on how it is assessed. Furthermore, the within-person variability in sense of purpose is more strongly correlated with changes in positive affect relative to negative affect. Finally, higher levels of dispositional sense of purpose and age do not appear to be associated with how much variability an individual experiences in their purposefulness from one day to next. The discussion focuses on what these findings mean for the trait-like nature of sense of purpose, short-term sense of purpose measurement, lifespan development, and intervention efforts.

Nightly Sleep Predicts Next-Morning Expectations for Stress and Positive Experiences.

OBJECTIVE: Abundant research has linked nightly sleep as an antecedent of daily psychosocial experiences; however, less is known about sleep's influence on daily expectations of these experiences. Therefore, this research examined the day-to-day associations of sleep quality, duration, and efficiency with next-day expectations for stress(ors) and positive experiences, as well as whether these expectations were related to end-of-day reports of physical symptoms. METHODS: In Study 1, U.S. adults ( n = 354; ages 19 to 74) completed twice-daily diaries for 10 weekdays about sleep, expectations for encountering daily stressors and positive events, and physical symptoms. In Study 2, adults in Canada ( n = 246; ages 25 to 87) wore a sleep watch for 14 consecutive days and completed mobile surveys 5×/day about sleep, stressfulness and pleasantness expectations, and physical symptoms. RESULTS: Multilevel models indicated that self-reported sleep quality and duration, but not efficiency, were associated with lower next-day expectations for stressors (Study 1) and stressfulness (Study 2). Self-reported sleep quality (Study 1) and all sleep indices (Study 2) predicted greater next-day expectations for positive events and pleasantness, respectively. For actigraphy-assessed sleep (Study 2), only longer-than-usual actigraphic sleep duration was associated with lower stressfulness expectations, whereas both sleep duration and efficiency were positively linked with daily pleasantness expectations. Only pleasantness expectations (Study 2)-but not daily stressfulness and event expectations (Study 1)-predicted end-of-day physical symptoms. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest the importance of sleep on expectations of next-day stress and positive experiences, of which may have implications for daily physical health.

Examining changes in sense of purpose before, during, and after COVID-19 vaccination.

Multiple studies have focused on the role of psychosocial factors as predictors of COVID-19 vaccination willingness and uptake, with less attention paid to whether vaccination itself could influence wellbeing. The current study evaluated this possibility with respect to sense of purpose, the perception one has goals and a direction in life, building on previous evidence this factor may influence vaccination willingness and decision-making. Across seven waves of monthly data from February to August 2021, participants (n = 2169, mage = 48.0 years) across Canada and the United States reported on their sense of purpose and vaccination status. Using piecewise regression models, results indicated that sense of purpose did not appear to fluctuate in the month prior to, during, or following COVID-19 vaccination. However, across most months of the survey, vaccinated participants did report greater sense of purpose relative to unvaccinated participants. These findings are discussed with respect to whether health behaviors, such as vaccination, should be viewed as behaviors indicative of leading a purposeful life.

Purposeful and purposeless aging: Structural issues for sense of purpose and their implications for predicting life outcomes.

Despite the value of sense of purpose during older adulthood, this construct often declines with age. With some older adults reconsidering the relevance of purpose later in life, the measurement of purpose may suffer from variance issues with age. The current study investigated whether sense of purpose functions similarly across ages and evaluated if the predictive power of purpose on mental, physical, cognitive, and financial outcomes changes when accounting for a less age-affected measurement structure. Utilizing data from two nationwide panel studies (Health and Retirement Study: n = 14,481; Midlife in the United States: n = 4,030), the current study conducted local structural equation modeling and found two factors for the positively and negatively valenced purpose items in the Purpose in Life subscale (Ryff, 1989), deemed the purposeful and purposeless factor. These factors become less associated with each other at higher ages. When reproducing past findings with this two-factor structure, the current study found that the purposeful and purposeless factors predicted these outcomes in the same direction as would be suggested by past research, but the magnitude of these effects differed for some outcomes. The discussion focuses on the implications of what this means for our understanding of sense of purpose across the lifespan. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality traits moderate associations between word recall and subjective memory.

Cognitive gerontology research requires consideration of performance as well as perceptions of performance. While subjective memory is positively associated with memory performance, these correlations typically are modest in magnitude, leading to the need to consider whether certain people may show weaker or stronger linkages between performance and perceptions. The current study leveraged personality (NEO Big Five), memory performance (i.e., word recall), and perceptions of memory ability (i.e., metamemory in adulthood and memory decline) data from the St. Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN) study (n = 774, mean age: 71.52 years). Extraversion and conscientiousness held the most consistent associations with the cognitive variables of interest, as both traits were positively associated with metamemory and word recall, but negatively associated with subjective decline. Moreover, extraversion moderated associations between word recall and both memory capacity and complaints, insofar that objective-subjective associations were weaker for those adults higher in extraversion. These findings highlight the need to understand how personality influences the sources of information employed for subjective cognitive beliefs.

Applying an Allportian Trait Perspective to Sense of Purpose.

Sense of purpose captures the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. While this construct has illustrated its ability to robustly predict desirable outcomes-ranging from happiness to mortality-the nature of this construct remains unclear. I begin by describing different definitions and measures from the purpose literature. From there, I review the debates suggesting that it should be classified as a component of identity development, a facet of well-being, or even a virtue. In the current paper, I argue that sense of purpose could be best served when qualified as a trait, building from the eight components of defining a trait from Allport's (1931) paper: "What is a trait of personality?". Using this classic piece as a framework, I integrate empirical and theoretical work on purpose and personality to dive into whether sense of purpose is a trait. I conclude by discussing the challenges and implications of bolstering sense of purpose if it is best classified as a trait.

Well-Being as a Protective Factor Against Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research.

OBJECTIVES: Treatments that target the biological causes of dementia remain limited, making prevention critically important. Well-being-defined broadly as living in accordance with one's potential and experiencing one's life as enjoyable and satisfying-is a promising avenue for prevention. It can be targeted by large-scale, noninvasive interventions and has been linked with better cognitive health and lower dementia risk. In the current review, we begin by summarizing empirical evidence linking well-being to cognitive functioning, cognitive decline, dementia diagnosis, and dementia-related neuropathology. Then, we highlight 3 key areas for future research. METHODS: We searched the literature on wellbeing, cognitive decline, and dementia, focusing on prospective and longitidinal evidence. RESULTS: The research reviewed here provides consistent evidence for associations of well-being with cognitive decline, dementia risk, and cognitive resilience to neuropathology. However, several open questions remain regarding (1) causality and mechanism(s), (2) specificity versus generalizability of associations, and (3) timing. DISCUSSION: To inform potential intervention efforts, the field must address complex open questions about whether, how, when, and for whom well-being influences dementia risk. The majority of existing research on well-being and cognitive health is correlational, and few studies have tested potential mechanisms that may explain those associations. Further, relatively little is known about the generalizability of associations across different aspects of well-being and for different sociocultural groups. Finally, we do not yet understand when in the life span and on what timescale well-being might influence cognitive health. We discuss challenges and opportunities for addressing each of these open questions, including concrete recommendations for research designs and use of open science practices.

Older Adults Place Greater Importance Than Younger Adults on a Purposeful Retirement.

Objective: Regarding retirement, some but not all people decline in sense of purpose, and retirees may view maintaining a sense of purpose as nonessential. These findings suggest individual differences both in the importance placed on being purposeful during retirement in general and the discrepancy for purpose importance prior to and during retirement. Method: This study surveyed U.S. adults (n = 2009, Mage = 48.51) asking them about how they viewed having a purpose in two life stages: before and during retirement, as well as personality and demographic questions. Results: Findings suggest that, overall, people believe it is important to have a purpose and direction during retirement. This tendency was greater among older adults, and those higher on conscientiousness or lower on neuroticism. However, working status did not play a role in the perceived importance of purpose during the retirement period. Moreover, age differentiated who perceives during-retirement purpose as more important than prior-to-retirement purpose. Conclusion: The current findings add to our understanding of when individuals expect to be purposeful and counter the claims that older adults may place less importance on being purposeful. Instead, these findings point to the need for continuing work on how to help older adults maintain or find a purpose in life following retirement.

Starting school with purpose: Self-regulatory strategies of first-semester university students.

Purposefulness may facilitate self-regulation; however, little is known about the self-regulatory strategies that are implemented by purposeful individuals. Given the multiple regulatory challenges students face in their social and academic lives, a central aim of the current work was to consider how purposefulness and self-regulation are linked during the first semester of university. This 13-week-long study was conducted with first-semester college students (N = 256) in the United States of America to examine whether weekly fluctuations in purposefulness may be connected to the use of traditionally adaptive (problem-solving) and maladaptive (rumination and experiential avoidance) self-regulation strategies. Consistent with our hypothesis, at the within- and between-person level, higher purposefulness was associated with greater use of problem-solving, lower rumination, and lower experiential avoidance at the weekly level. The findings imply purposefulness is an important individual difference that may explain better or worse self-regulatory abilities.

Individual-Level Trajectories of Religiosity during Adolescence and Their Implications for Purpose.

Cohort-comparison studies suggest that adolescent religiosity has been declining over recent decades; however, work is needed on individual differences in patterns of change in religiosity throughout adolescence. The current study seeks to evaluate religiosity trends for adolescents as they transition from 6th to 12th grade, using seven annual waves of data, and whether these patterns of change were associated with later sense of purpose. Participants (n = 824; 50.7% female; 85.1% Caucasian) completed annual measures of religiosity from 6th to 12th grade, and a measure of sense of purpose at age 21 as part of the Oregon Youth Substance Use Project. Findings from latent growth models suggest both a mean-level decline in religiosity as well as individual differences in patterns of change across time. Furthermore, the intercept and change in religiosity throughout adolescence positively predicted sense of purpose at age 21. Results are discussed with respect to how individual differences occur in religiosity, and what that means for purpose development throughout adolescence.

Correlated Change Between Personality Traits and Perceived Social Support in Old Age.

This study investigated correlated change between the Big Five personality traits and perceived social support in old age. Two data waves with an 8-year span from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Adult Development (ILSE) were utilized. The longitudinal sample for this study consisted of 491 older adults (aged 64-68 years at T1). Four different aspects of perceived availability of social support were assessed (emotional support, practical support, social integration, and social strain). The Big Five personality traits were assessed with the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Results show significant latent concurrent correlations and correlated changes between personality traits and social support. Notably, correlated change with social support types differed depending on the Big Five traits being evaluated, with changes in extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness being the traits most associated with changes in social support types, and openness being least associated. Results are discussed through a life span development lens in light of past research.

Sense of purpose as a potential buffer between mental health and subjective cognitive decline.

OBJECTIVES: Purposeful adults may experience greater cognitive resilience because sense of purpose may help buffer against the effects of depressive symptoms and loneliness. We also evaluated whether these associations differed by race. DESIGN: This study uses a wave of self-report data from the SPAN study of psychosocial aging. SETTING: Participants come from a representative sample of older adults in St. Louis. PARTICIPANTS: Participants (N = 595) ages range from 65 to 78 (Mage = 71.46), with 18.3% of participants identifying as Black/African-American. MEASURES: Sense of purpose was assessed with the Life Engagement Test, depressive symptoms with the Beck Depression Inventory-II, loneliness with the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and subjective cognitive decline with the AD-8. RESULTS: Correlational analyses supported predictions that sense of purpose was negatively related to subjective cognitive decline, whereas depressive symptoms and loneliness were positively related (|r|s > .30, ps < .001). For loneliness, but not depression, this association was moderated by sense of purpose (b = -0.43, p < .001). A relatively high sense of purpose attenuated associations between loneliness and subjective cognitive decline. A three-way race × purpose × loneliness interaction (b = -0.25, p = .021) revealed that the buffering effects of sense of purpose on subjective cognitive decline were stronger for Black adults. DISCUSSION: This study provided partial support for the buffering hypothesis, showing that sense of purpose may help mitigate the cognitive decrements associated with loneliness. Future research needs to consider how purpose-promoting programs may support healthy cognitive aging, particularly among Black older adults and those who experience greater social isolation.

Being active for a purpose: Evaluating the bi-directional associations between monthly purpose and physical activity.

BACKGROUND: Sense of purpose is a salient predictor of health outcomes, at least partially because individuals with a higher sense of purpose appear to engage in healthier lifestyle behaviors. Yet, little work has considered the role that greater physical activity may play in allowing individuals to maintain or develop a higher sense of purpose. METHODS: Using five waves of monthly data (total n = 2337), the current study investigates the bi-directional association between sense of purpose and monthly reports of average time spent per day in moderate and vigorous physical activity utilizing Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel models. RESULTS: Findings suggested differences based on physical activity intensity. For moderate physical activity, concurrent within-person associations revealed that during months when sense of purpose was higher relative to a person's usual level, they also spent more time than usual engaging in moderate physical activity. Bi-directional cross-lagged effects indicated that higher sense of purpose predicted more next-month moderate physical activity, and vice versa. Only between-person associations were evident for vigorous physical activity, such that people with a higher sense of purpose on average spent more time in vigorous physical activity on average. The discussion focuses on the methodological advances of the current study, as well as implications for future research.

Looking beyond zoom fatigue: The relationship between video chatting and appearance satisfaction in men and women.

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a transition to the utilization of video chatting services as the main form of communication for work, family, and friends. However, the repercussions of this change are not fully known, and issues regarding appearance satisfaction are particularly salient. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between video chatting and appearance satisfaction in a sample of men and women. METHOD: The current study utilizes cross-sectional data from 618 participants (Age: M = 33.2; 54.1% women) to evaluate whether average video chat usage predicts appearance satisfaction, and whether this association is dependent upon appearance comparison or self-objectification. RESULTS: Results indicated that individuals who spent more time video chatting reported higher appearance satisfaction. Additionally, appearance comparison and self-objectification were not significant moderators, and the association between video chat usage and appearance satisfaction did not differ based on gender. Usage of the touch-up feature, gallery view, and amount of time spent looking at oneself were associated with appearance comparisons, while adjusting lighting and camera angles and amount of time spent looking at oneself were associated with self-objectification. DISCUSSION: The results may indicate that while overall time spent video chatting may be associated with lower appearance concerns, examination of the usage of specific features on video chatting platforms may be important to assess in the future. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: This study demonstrates that overall time spent video chatting may be associated with lower appearance concerns. The usage, however, of specific features on video chatting platforms, such as touch-up feature, gallery view, and amount of time spent looking at oneself were associated with appearance comparisons. Additionally, adjusting lighting and camera angles, and amount of time spent looking at oneself are associated with self-objectification.

The far reach of personality traits in relationship functioning and COVID-19: Comment on Pietromonaco and Overall (2020).

Pietromonaco and Overall (2020) made an important contribution to the relationship literature when adapting Karney and Bradbury (1995) vulnerability-stress-adaptation model to include the COVID-19 pandemic. While the authors discussed ways in which enduring individual vulnerabilities may play a role in harming romantic relationships during the pandemic, only considering individual differences that may have negative implications for relationship functioning could lead to a limited perspective. The current comment discusses how conscientiousness and agreeableness may promote better relationship functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Considering Financial Assets When Promoting Sense of Purpose in Older Adulthood.

Sense of purpose, a consistent promoter of successful aging across the lifespan, has been shown in previous research to decline during older adulthood. As such, research is needed to understand how to inform policies around promoting a sense of purpose for older adults, and which adults may need more assistance on this front. One potential mechanism for lower purpose in older adulthood could be due to the more limited financial assets many face following retirement. As such, the current study investigated the cross-sectional associations between different kinds of financial assets and sense of purpose among older adults from the 2006 and 2008 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (n = 9,380). Sense of purpose as well as four financial assets were assessed: physical assets, retirement account assets, investment account assets, and debts. Findings indicated that greater physical assets and retirement account assets predicted a higher sense of purpose, while debt and investment account assets did not. Furthermore, there were no moderating effects of different grouping variables, such as retirement status, race, marital status, subjective health, or wave, on the associations between total net worth and sense of purpose. Findings are discussed regarding why net worth matters for all, and why certain assets may be more important than others when promoting a sense of purpose.

Purposeful retirement expectations and their associations with retirement planning.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has demonstrated that retirees tend to report lower levels for sense of purpose compared to working adults. However, it remains unclear whether adults show differences in the extent to which they expect to be purposeful during retirement, and what that may mean for the propensity to plan for retirement. METHOD: The current study examined this question in a cross-sectional sample of 492 adults (Age: M = 39.28, SD = 8.35) prior to retirement. Participants completed an adapted measure to capture expected purposeful engagement during retirement, along with sense of purpose, retirement planning, and the Big Five personality traits. RESULTS: Factor analyses and zero-order correlations suggested that purposeful retirement perceptions are related yet distinct from sense of purpose in general, and adults on average expect a moderately purposeful retirement. Purposeful retirement scores were associated with multiple retirement planning scales, and remained predictive of retirement preparation even when accounting for the Big Five and demographic factors. CONCLUSION: Adults differ in how purposeful they expect to be during their future retirement. Moreover, these differences may be a valuable consideration when understanding how to promote retirement planning.