The Effect of Long-Term (Im)balance of Giving Versus Receiving Support With Nonrelatives on Subjective Well-Being Among Home-Dwelling Older People.

OBJECTIVES: Although many studies have explored the benefits of support giving or receiving for older people, little is known about how the balance between giving and receiving instrumental support in nonrelative relationships affects home-dwelling older people. This study examines the relationship between long-term support balance and subjective well-being in relationships with nonrelatives among older people across 11 European countries. METHODS: A total of 4,650 participants aged 60 years and older from 3 waves of the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe were included. Support balance was calculated as the intensity difference between support received and support given across 3 waves. Multiple autoregressive analyses were conducted to test the relationship between support balance and subjective well-being, as indicated by quality of life, depression, and life satisfaction. RESULTS: The impact of balanced versus imbalanced support on all subjective well-being measurements was not significantly different. Compared to balanced support, imbalanced receiving was negatively related to subjective well-being and imbalanced giving was not related to better subjective well-being. Compared to imbalanced receiving, imbalanced giving showed to be the more beneficial for all subjective well-being measures. DISCUSSION: Our results highlight the beneficial role of imbalanced giving and balanced support for older people compared to imbalanced receiving. Policies and practices should prioritize creating an age-friendly environment that promotes active participation and mutual support among older people, as this may be effective to enhance their well-being.

Effect of Receiving Financial Support from Adult Children on Depression among Older Persons and the Mediating Role of Social Participation.

Older persons are vulnerable to depression SFduring the ageing process. Financial resources and social participation are expected to have an impact on depressive symptoms. This study investigated the relationship between financial support from children and depression among Chinese older persons, as well as the mediating effect of social participation in this relationship. Data from 7163 participants aged 60 and above were extracted from wave 2015 and 2018 of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS). A multivariate regression analysis was performed on both cross-sectional data and two-wave longitudinal data to test our hypotheses. The results revealed that financial support from children was negatively associated with depressive symptoms in both the short-term and the long-term. In addition, this relationship was partially mediated by social participation in the short-term association and fully mediated by social participation in the long-term, where financial support was positively related to social participation, and social participation was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. This study offers an in-depth insight into the relationship between financial support from children and depression among Chinese older persons. Policies and initiatives to stimulate social participation should be promoted to improve older persons' mental health.

Theta oscillations synchronize human medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala during fear learning.

Numerous animal studies have demonstrated that fear acquisition and expression rely on the coordinated activity of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and amygdala and that theta oscillations support interregional communication within the fear network. However, it remains unclear whether these results can be generalized to fear learning in humans. We addressed this question using intracranial electroencephalography recordings in 13 patients with epilepsy during a fear conditioning paradigm. We observed increased power and inter-regional synchronization of amygdala and mPFC in theta (4 to 8 hertz) oscillations for conditioned stimulus (CS+) versus CS-. Analysis of information flow revealed that the dorsal mPFC (dmPFC) led amygdala activity in theta oscillations. Last, a computational model showed that trial-by-trial changes in amygdala theta oscillations predicted the model-based associability (i.e., learning rate). This study provides compelling evidence that theta oscillations within and between amygdala, ventral mPFC, and dmPFC constitute a general mechanism of fear learning across species.