Do early midlife work characteristics predict 20-year change in control beliefs?

Previous research showed the importance of control beliefs for many life outcomes. The present study examines associations between subjectively perceived work environment and objectively measured work activities at the beginning of midlife as a central developmental phase in the context of work, with control beliefs across the subsequent 20 years. We analyzed four-wave longitudinal data from N = 374 participants (born 1950-1952; Mage baseline = 44 years, SD = 1; 44% women) from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development and Aging within a structural equation modeling framework. Over 20 years and overall, internal control beliefs were stable, while external control beliefs decreased. Individuals who reported higher task variety and better social integration at work at baseline also reported higher levels of control beliefs for positive life outcomes. In addition, higher social integration at work at baseline was related to lower levels of external control beliefs. Work characteristics at baseline were not associated with individual differences in change in control beliefs across the 20-year observational interval. In summary, our findings suggest that work experiences at the prime of job-related development around the midst of the fifth decade of life do not play a major role in subsequent control beliefs development across 20 years. However, investigations measuring control beliefs as well as work characteristics continuously over a long period of time are necessary to shed light on reciprocal influences between work and personality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Differences in self-perceptions of aging across the adult lifespan: The sample case of awareness of age-related gains and losses.

Rooted in the premises of lifespan developmental theory, the concept of awareness of age-related change (AARC) posits that growing older comes with both experiences of gains and losses across different behavioral domains. However, little is known about how age-related change is perceived across the entire adult lifespan, provided that respective measures can be validly compared. Further, few studies have adopted an approach that examines gains and losses simultaneously to study a potential shift in the ratio of perceived age-related gains and losses from adolescence to advanced old age. Using cross-sectional data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study tested the measurement invariance of the 10-item AARC short form and examined age differences in the awareness of age-related changes across 1,612 participants aged 16-93 years. First, partial measurement invariance of the AARC-Gains and AARC-Losses scales was established, allowing for valid group comparisons across young adulthood, midlife, and old age. Second, results indicated that people experience more AARC-Gains than AARC-Losses throughout the adult lifespan. However, older adults exhibited an increasingly less favorable gains-to-losses ratio, primarily driven by more loss experiences. Gain experiences were mostly stable across age groups. Third, differences in levels of AARC were related to individuals' background characteristics relevant at the respective time of life, such as education (early adulthood), employment (midlife), and social resources (old age). These results highlight the utility of considering a broad age range when examining the nature and correlates of age differences in perceived age-related gains and losses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Long-term aging trajectories of the accumulation of disease burden as predictors of daily affect dynamics and stressor reactivity.

Multiple-timescale studies provide new opportunities to examine how developmental processes that evolve at different cadences are intertwined. Developmental theories of emotion regulation suggest that the long-term, slowly evolving age-related accumulation of disease burden should shape short-term, faster evolving (daily) affective experiences. To empirically examine this proposition, we combined data from 123 old adults (65-69 years, 47% women) and 32 very old adults (85-88 years, 59% women) who provided 20 + year within-person longitudinal data on physician-rated morbidity and subsequently also completed repeated daily-life assessments of stress and affect six times a day over 7 consecutive days as they were going about their daily-life routines. Results from models that simultaneously articulate growth and intraindividual variability processes (in a dynamic structural equation modeling framework) revealed that individual differences in long-term aging trajectories of the accumulation of disease burden were indeed predictive of differences in three facets of affective dynamics that manifest in everyday life. In particular-over and above mean levels of disease burden-older adults whose disease burden had increased more over the past 20 years had higher base level of negative affect in their daily lives, more emotional reactivity to the experience of daily stressors, and more moment-to-moment fluctuations in negative affect that was unrelated to stressors (affective systemic noise). We highlight that developmental processes evolving over vastly different timescales are intertwined, and speculate how new knowledge about those relations can inform developmental theories of emotion regulation and daily-life functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Levels of awareness of age-related gains and losses throughout adulthood and their developmental correlates.

Views of aging predict key developmental outcomes. Less is known, however, about the consequences of constellations of domain-specific perceived gains and losses across the full adult lifespan. First, we explored levels of awareness of age-related gains (AARC-gains) and losses (AARC-losses) in five behavioral domains across adulthood. Second, we identified the number and types of profiles of AARC-gains and AARC-losses in young adulthood, midlife, young-old age, and old-old age. Third, we investigated whether the identified profiles differed in their associations with developmental correlates. Data came from the 2018 German Socio-Economic Panel Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS), comprising 403 young, 721 middle-aged, 260 young-old and 228 old-old individuals. We assessed AARC, physical and mental functioning, information processing speed, social relations, lifestyle, and engagement. At the sample level, AARC-losses were higher in old age, whereas AARC-gains did not differ across adulthood. Latent profile analyses revealed two distinguishable constellations of AARC-gains and AARC-losses that characterize young adulthood and old-old age, whereas four and three gains-to-losses constellations are needed to characterize midlife and young-old age, respectively. In middle, young-old, and old-old age, profiles with more AARC-losses were associated with poorer scores on all developmental correlates. Overall, study results suggest that age-related experiences are most diversified in midlife and young-old age. Asking individuals about their negative age-related experiences may help identify those individuals who are doing less well in important developmental correlates. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Bidirectional Links of Daily Sleep Quality and Duration With Pain and Self-rated Health in Older Adults' Daily Lives.

BACKGROUND: Sleep and health perceptions, such as self-ratings of pain and health are closely linked. However, the temporal ordering of such associations is not well understood, and it remains unclear whether sleep quality and sleep duration show similar or differential associations with health perceptions. METHODS: We used ecological momentary assessment data from 123 young-old (66-69 years, 47% women) and 47 old-old adults (84-90 years, 60% women). Across 7 consecutive days, participants reported their sleep quality and sleep duration each morning and rated their momentary pain and health 6 times per day. We applied dynamic structural equation models to examine bidirectional links of morning reports of sleep quality and duration with daily levels of self-rated pain and health. RESULTS: In line with the hypotheses, results showed that when participants reported better sleep quality than what is typical for them, they reported less pain and better self-rated health on the day that followed. Longer sleep duration was not linked with subsequent pain or self-rated health. On days when people rated their health as better than usual, they reported better sleep quality but not longer sleep duration the following night. These associations were not moderated by age, gender, or chronic pain. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that in old age, sleep quality is more relevant for health perceptions than sleep duration. Associations between sleep quality and self-rated health seem to be bidirectional; daily pain was linked to prior but not subsequent sleep quality.

Awareness of age-related change in the context of major life events.

Although gains and losses are an integral part of human development, the experience of change and readjustment that often comes with major life events may be particularly influential for an individual's subjective aging experience and awareness of age-related change (AARC). Thus, this study focused on the role of life events in the domains of family and health for an individual's awareness of age-related gains and losses. Specifically, we differentiated between the experience of specific life events (e.g., entering a new romantic relationship; hospital stay) and the cumulative experience of multiple life events. Furthermore, we differentiated between life events experienced at an expected time in life and life events experienced relatively early or relatively late compared to established social norms. Data came from the Innovation Sample of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP-IS) and consisted of 1,612 participants aged 16 to 93 years (M = 54.1; SD = 18.2). Life events were assessed annually and retrospectively for the last 2 years. Propensity score matching provided evidence for an association of specific family life events and a higher awareness of age-related gains, as well as specific health life events and a higher awareness of age-related losses. Results furthermore indicated that the cumulative experience of family life events was associated with a higher awareness of age-related gains. Conversely, the cumulative experience of health events was associated with higher awareness of both age-related losses and age-related gains. Moreover, it was not only life events happening at an expected age, but also those happening relatively early and particularly those happening late in life, which were associated with AARC. In summary, life events and the change they may bring seem to be reflected in individuals' awareness of age-related losses and awareness of age-related gains.

Good night-good day? Bidirectional links of daily sleep quality with negative affect and stress reactivity in old age.

Bidirectional links between sleep quality and emotional experiences are complex and not yet well understood-especially in old age when substantial changes occur in sleep and emotional experiences. Because previous research rarely considered the role of stressors, we examine if older adults' sleep quality is directly associated with subsequent negative affect (NA) or more indirectly via affective reactivity to stressors. Specifically, we investigate whether and how older adults' sleep quality predicts negative affect and affective reactivity to stress on the following day, and vice versa. For seven consecutive days, 325 older adults (61-90 years, 49% women) reported their sleep quality each morning as well as momentary negative affect and stressful events multiple times a day. Results from multilevel structural equation models showed that after nights of lower sleep quality, older adults reported more negative affect, but not higher affective reactivity to stressors. In turn, after days with increased affective reactivity but not more negative affect, participants reported worse sleep quality. We discuss whether older adults are able to regulate the effects of low sleep quality, but have difficulties downregulating stress and its effects on sleep. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Momentary subjective age is associated with perceived and physiological stress in the daily lives of old and very old adults.

Subjective age, that is the age people feel in relation to their chronological age, can vary on a day-to-day and even momentary basis. Previous long-term and daily-diary studies have shown that elevated stress covaries with older subjective age. However, it is an open question whether such links can also be observed at the momentary level within a given day and go beyond self-reports of stress. Moving ahead, we investigated how two indicators of stress (self-reported: perceived stress; physiological: salivary cortisol) are associated with the age people feel on a momentary basis. We examined data from 118 older (Mage = 66.67 years) and 36 very old adults (Mage = 85.92 years) who reported their momentary subjective age and perceived stress and also provided saliva samples up to seven times a day over seven consecutive days. Dynamic structural equation models showed that both higher momentary perceived stress and higher cortisol levels preceding the measurement predicted an older momentary subjective age. In contrast, subjective age at the previous measurement did not predict subsequent stress. These effects were moderated by participant age group and grip strength, albeit not consistently. Our results corroborate and extend earlier findings that both self-reported and physiological stress are important explanatory variables for people's subjective age variation even on relatively short time scales and shed light on differential time-ordered dynamics between stress and subjective age in daily life. Findings also inform theoretical models of subjective age that highlight the importance of contextual, momentary influences on how old people feel and help better understand how biological and psychological processes are intertwined in later life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Between-person and within-person associations of sleep and working-memory in the everyday lives of old and very old adults: initial level, learning, and variability.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sleep duration affects various aspects of cognitive performance, such as working-memory and learning, among children and adults. However, it remains open, whether similar or even stronger associations exist in old and very old age when changes in sleep and cognitive decrements are common. METHODS: Using repeated daily-life assessments from a sample of 121 young-old (66-69 years old) and 39 old-old adults (84-90 years old), we assessed links between sleep duration and different aspects of working-memory (initial level, practice-related learning, and residualized variability) between and within persons. Participants reported their sleep durations every morning and performed a numerical working-memory updating task six times a day for seven consecutive days. RESULTS: Both people who slept longer and those who slept shorter than the sample average showed lower initial performance levels, but a stronger increase of WM over time (i.e. larger learning effects), relative to people with average sleep. Sleep duration did not predict performance variability. Within-person associations were found for people sleeping relatively little on average: For them, working-memory performance was lower on days with shorter than average sleep, yet higher on days with longer than average sleep. Except for lower initial levels of working-memory in old-old adults, no differences between young-old and old-old adults were observed. CONCLUSION: We conclude that sufficient sleep remains important for working-memory performance in older adults and that it is relevant to include different aspects of working-memory performance, because effects differed for initial performance and learning.

Emotional reactivity to daily stressors: Does stressor pile-up within a day matter for young-old and very old adults?

Over the past decade, many studies have reported individual differences in negative emotional reactions to daily stressful events. However, whether and how individual and age-related differences in emotional reactivity also depend on the temporal characteristics of stressors has received little attention. In this project, we focused on the temporal characteristics of stressor occurrence and examined the pile-up of stressors within a day-referring to multiple stressors encountered within a relatively narrow time window. To do so, we used data from 123 young-old (66-69 years, 47% women) and 47 very old adults (84-90 years, 60% women). Participants reported their momentary feelings and exposure to stressors six times a day over 7 consecutive days in their everyday life. Emotional reactivity to stressor pile-up over the day followed an exponential decay trajectory, with higher stressor burden in close proximity to the stressor occurrence. The exact shape of the decay trajectory differed among participants. Most importantly, both stressor pile-up and ongoing stress predicted greater emotional reactivity. We also found interaction effects of stressor pile-up and current stressor occurrence in that increases in negative affect under ongoing stress were stronger when stressors had piled-up before. No evidence was found for increased vulnerability to stressor pile-up in very old adults; rather, the impact of preceding stressors attenuated faster for individuals in this age group. The findings highlight the utility of comprehensively studying how stressor characteristics such as their pile-up within short time periods shape emotional reactivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Positive and negative affect are associated with salivary cortisol in the everyday life of older adults: A quantitative synthesis of four aging studies.

Research on time-fluctuating links between positive affect and cortisol is inconsistent and mostly based on young to middle-aged samples. The current project investigated how moment-to-moment changes in positive and negative affect are associated with moment-to-moment changes in cortisol levels in older adults' daily lives and whether those associations are moderated by differences in health status (as indicated by the number of comorbidities). Affect and cortisol data collected in four separately conducted momentary assessment studies with parallel protocols were pooled to obtain a sample of N=476 individuals aged 56-88 years (Mage=71.9, SD=6.6; 52% female). Participants provided affect reports and collected salivary cortisol 5-7 times a day for a 7-day period and reported the presence of 13 different health conditions. Data were analyzed using multilevel models, with time since waking, daily behaviors associated with cortisol secretion, age, and sex controlled. Feeling more positive affect than usual was associated with lower momentary cortisol. In contrast, feeling more negative affect than usual was associated with higher momentary cortisol. Associations of momentary positive and negative affect with cortisol were weaker among participants in worse as compared to those in better health. Trait positive affectivity was associated with more curvature of waking cortisol profiles and trait negative affectivity was associated with smaller cortisol awakening responses. Findings suggest that HPA axis responses fluctuate with everyday changes in positive and negative affect in older adults, and that higher HPA reactivity may indicate preserved health in this age group.

"I felt so old this morning." Short-term variations in subjective age and the role of trait subjective age: Evidence from the ILSE/EMIL ecological momentary assessment data.

Subjective age, how old people feel compared to their chronological age, is a central indicator of age identity and highly predictive for developmental outcomes. While mostly used as a trait-like concept in previous research, recent studies employing experimental designs and daily assessments suggest that subjective age can vary after experimental manipulations or between days. However, less is known about whether subjective age varies over even shorter time frames such as within moments on a given day, how such short-term variability differs by age and its association with trait subjective age. We examined these questions with data obtained from 123 young-old (Mage = 67.19 years) and 47 old-old adults (Mage = 86.59 years) who reported their momentary subjective age six times a day over 7 consecutive days as they were going about their everyday lives. Participants felt younger on a large majority of occasions, and 25% of the total variability in subjective age could be attributed to within-person variation. Within-person variability in subjective age amounted to an average of about 3 years from one moment to the next and did not differ between age groups. However, those with younger trait subjective ages exhibited larger moment-to-moment variation. Our findings extend the literature on subjective age by showing that how old people feel can vary on a momentary basis and that state and trait components of subjective age are related. Further research should investigate the contextual predictors of variability in subjective age and the links between trait and state concepts and developmental outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Cohort differences in adult-life trajectories of internal and external control beliefs: A tale of more and better maintained internal control and fewer external constraints.

Life Span theory posits that sociohistorical contexts shape individual development. In line with this proposition, cohort differences favoring later-born cohorts have been widely documented for cognition and health. However, little is known about historical change in how key resources of psychosocial functioning such as control beliefs develop in old age. We pooled data from 3 independent samples: Berlin Aging Study (6 waves, N = 414); Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (4 waves, N = 925); and Berlin Aging Study II (4 waves, N = 1,111) to construct overlapping multiyear longitudinal data from ages 61 through 85 years for cohorts born 1905 to 1953 and examine historical changes in within-person trajectories of internal and external control beliefs. Results revealed that earlier-born cohorts exhibit age-related declines in internal control beliefs regarding both desirable and undesirable outcomes, whereas later-born cohorts perceive higher internal control and maintain this advantage into old age. Earlier-born cohorts also experience steep age-related increases in external control beliefs regarding both powerful others and chance, whereas later-born cohorts perceive lower external control and were stable across old age. Education and gender disparities in control beliefs narrowed over historical time. Sociodemographic, physical health, cognitive, and social factors explained some of the differences in control beliefs, and accounted for sizable portions of cohort effects. Our results indicate that current generations of older adults perceive more and better maintained internal control and fewer external constraints. We discuss potential underlying mechanisms and consider conceptual and societal implications of our findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding depressive symptoms in nursing home residents: the role of frequency and enjoyability of different expanded everyday activities relevant to the nursing home setting.

Depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in nursing home (NH) residents. We assume that enjoyability, besides frequency of activities, is an important facet of expanded everyday activities (EEAs; Baltes et al., in: Baltes and Mayer (eds) The Berlin aging study, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2001) and affects residents' depressive symptoms. Furthermore, we assume that associations with depressive symptoms vary for different EEAs, namely contact with co-residents and staff and participation in organized in-home activities. To investigate these associations, longitudinal data from 160 residents (M age = 83.1 years, SD = 9.8 years, 73% female) of two German NHs, assessed across four measurement occasions each 3 months apart, were analyzed. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale-Residential (GDS-12R); the frequency of EEAs and their enjoyabilities were assessed via proxy ratings and interviews, respectively. As data from the completed Long-Term Care in Motion intervention study were used, 49% of the sample also received a physical activity intervention. Generalized linear mixed models were run to test the hypothesized effects as flexibly as possible, accounting for non-normality of the GDS-12R and controlling for residents' intervention status. The results showed that the interaction effect of the enjoyability of contact with co-residents and contact frequency was relevant for residents' depressive symptoms rather than the effect of contact frequency alone. The frequency of staff contact was only marginally associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Further, enjoying participating in organized in-home activities was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. In conclusion, findings support our conceptually driven expectation of differential effects in terms of different EEAs on depressive symptoms.

Affective well-being in the last years of life: The role of health decline.

Adding to recent evidence of terminal decline in affective well-being, this study examined the role of physical health in accounting for time-to-death-related changes in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). We distinguished effects of preterminal health levels predicting levels ("preserved differentiation") and terminal changes ("differential preservation") and of terminal health declines predicting terminal changes ("terminal reactivity") of affective well-being in the terminal period of life. Data were used from the first cohort of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, including 3-yearly measurements from 1992-1993 to 2011-2012 (N = 2310, age = 55-85 at baseline). Measures of PA and NA were derived from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Health measures included self-rated health, self-reported functional limitations, and gait speed. Exponential time-to-death-related trajectories in PA and NA were analyzed with mixed regression models. Results confirmed accelerated time-to-death-related decline of PA and increase of NA. Regarding health effects, the findings support terminal reactivity, in that the amount of end-of-life changes in affective well-being was closely linked to the concurrent terminal changes in health. Preterminal health levels did not predict the amount of terminal changes in affective well-being; however, reaching the final years of life with better levels of functional health appeared to promote longer maintenance of better levels of affective well-being and terminal declines more "compressed" to a shorter period prior to death. The findings point to needs to strengthen individuals' resources to compensate for health losses at the end of their life span. (PsycINFO Database Record

Does a physical activity program in the nursing home impact on depressive symptoms? A generalized linear mixed-model approach.

OBJECTIVES: Physical activity (PA) may counteract depressive symptoms in nursing home (NH) residents considering biological, psychological, and person-environment transactional pathways. Empirical results, however, have remained inconsistent. Addressing potential shortcomings of previous research, we examined the effect of a whole-ecology PA intervention program on NH residents' depressive symptoms using generalized linear mixed-models (GLMMs). METHOD: We used longitudinal data from residents of two German NHs who were included without any pre-selection regarding physical and mental functioning (n = 163, Mage = 83.1, 53-100 years; 72% female) and assessed on four occasions each three months apart. Residents willing to participate received a 12-week PA training program. Afterwards, the training was implemented in weekly activity schedules by NH staff. We ran GLMMs to account for the highly skewed depressive symptoms outcome measure (12-item Geriatric Depression Scale-Residential) by using gamma distribution. RESULTS: Exercising (n = 78) and non-exercising residents (n = 85) showed a comparable level of depressive symptoms at pretest. For exercising residents, depressive symptoms stabilized between pre-, posttest, and at follow-up, whereas an increase was observed for non-exercising residents. The intervention group's stabilization in depressive symptoms was maintained at follow-up, but increased further for non-exercising residents. CONCLUSION: Implementing an innovative PA intervention appears to be a promising approach to prevent the increase of NH residents' depressive symptoms. At the data-analytical level, GLMMs seem to be a promising tool for intervention research at large, because all longitudinally available data points and non-normality of outcome data can be considered.

Pushing the Boundaries: A Physical Activity Intervention Extends Sensor-Assessed Life-Space in Nursing Home Residents.

Background and Objectives: To determine whether a multicomponent, individually tailored intervention to promote physical activity (PA) enhances life-space (LS) utilization in nursing home (NH) residents and whether intervention effects can be sustained at follow-up after continuation of the program as part of institutional daily routines. Research Design and Methods: Pre-post-assessed controlled trial in two highly similar NHs with a 3month follow-up in 143 NH residents (intervention group: n = 78; control group: n = 65) and LS as primary outcome. The PA promoting intervention consisted of several components (group sessions; individual exercise; serious games training; competence training for staff) tailored to residents' individual functional capacity. LS was innovatively assessed via an indoor wireless sensor network including three assessment-specific LS parameters: overall LS score (LSSc), time spent away from the private room (TAFR), and the maximally distal zone from private room visited (MaxZ). To exploit the available intervention-control comparative data in the best way possible, a generalized linear mixed model approach was applied. Results: At post-test, intervention participants had a significantly higher overall LSSc, spent more TAFR, and had extended their MaxZ as compared to controls. At follow-up, a significant group difference remained for MaxZ. Discussion and Implications: A PA intervention in the NH setting impacts on LS utilization as measured using sensor-based assessment. The program has proven its practical sustainability when being handed over to NH personnel for continuation in daily practice. Further research is needed to determine whether an increase in LS utilization also impacts on social participation and quality of life.

What Do We Need at the End of Life? Competence, but not Autonomy, Predicts Intraindividual Fluctuations in Subjective Well-Being in Very Old Age.

OBJECTIVES: Self-determination theory (SDT) suggests that fulfillment of the universal psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness is essential for well-being of all humans. However, it is not clear whether this prediction also holds in advanced old age. The present study aims to test SDT for the two less researched needs in advanced old age: the needs for competence and autonomy. METHOD: A total of 111 very old adults (age range at first measurement occasion 87-97 years) were assessed up to 6 times over the course of about 4 years. RESULTS: Competence, but not autonomy, predicted subjective well-being at the within-person level of analysis. At the between-person level, only negative affect was predicted by autonomy and competence, whereas positive affect and life satisfaction were predicted by competence only. DISCUSSION: Results challenge the life-span universality of the needs for competence and autonomy postulated by SDT in very old adults and suggest that the high vulnerability in this life phase may change the importance of these needs for well-being.

A new look at nursing home residents' depressive symptoms: the role of basic versus expanded everyday competence.

BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in nursing home (NH) residents. The relationship between depressive symptoms and everyday competence in terms of basic (BaCo) and expanded everyday competence (ExCo; see Baltes et al., 2001) in the NH setting is, however, not clear. Applying Lewinsohn's depression model, we examined how residents' BaCo and ExCo relate to their depressive symptoms. Furthermore, we investigated the mediating role of perceived control. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from 196 residents (M age = 83.7 years, SD = 9.4 years) of two German NHs were analyzed. Study variables were assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale-Residential (GDS-12R), maximal gait speed (BaCo), proxy ratings of residents' in-home activity participation, and self-initiated social contact done by staff (ExCo). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used and a simulation study was included to determine power and potential estimation bias. RESULTS: At the descriptive level, one quarter of the residents showed symptoms of depression according to the GDS-12R cut-off criterion. Residents' BaCo and ExCo were independently and equally strongly associated with their depressive symptoms in the SEM analysis. These findings were affected neither by cognitive impairment, sex, nor age. Perceived control mediated between BaCo but not ExCo and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Future research needs to follow the connection between residents' everyday competence and their depressive symptoms longitudinally to better understand the underlying mechanisms.

"Still feeling healthy after all these years": The paradox of subjective stability versus objective decline in very old adults' health and functioning across five years.

Indicators of objective functioning, such as everyday competence or sensory and sensorimotor functions, typically show pronounced declines in very old age. However, less is known about how very old adults perceive their abilities across multiple domains of health and functioning and to what extent changes in perceived functioning mirror changes in objective functioning. We compared changes in perceived versus objective health and functioning indicators among very old adults (n = 124; baseline age between 87 and 97 years, M = 90.56 years, SD = 2.92 years) across 11 measurement occasions, spanning approximately 5 years. Functioning was assessed by self-reports (subjective health, subjective movement ability, subjective vision, and number of perceived symptoms) and by objective and mostly performance-based tests (everyday competence, visual acuity, chair stand test, and grip strength). All objective measures exhibited a significant mean-level decline across 5 years, whereas most subjective indicators did not reveal significant mean-level changes. Interindividual variation in intraindividual change patterns was considerable in most domains. Correlations between trajectories of the different indicators were mostly weak, and predicting late-life changes in subjective functioning by time-varying objective functioning indicators accounted for only modest amounts of variance. Our findings suggest that there is a somewhat paradoxical pattern of discrepant late-life change trends in subjective versus objective indicators of health and functioning. We argue that a differentiated understanding of the fourth age is required and that common health definitions frequently applied to old and very old age need to be challenged. (PsycINFO Database Record