Socio-ecological model as a framework to understand the low participation of Earth Hour among Chinese college students: conflict between belief and practice.

Earth Hour, a global mass effort coordinated to show concern for green urban construction and sustainable development, was first organized by the World Wildlife Fund in Australia in 2007 with a growing trend of participation worldwide. However, analysis of participation in Earth Hour based on a large population are sparse, with only a few studies reporting details in positive results without a clear pattern that explains the potential low participation. This study focuses on the non-participants and analyzed the reasons for low participation in Earth Hour using a questionnaire with 401 college students based on the socio-ecological model. Two aspects are explored: (1) social-demographic features; (2) psychosocial traits (environmental awareness, acceptance for law, social support from family and friends and knowledge about the event). Barriers toward participation are included as mediators to explain how these basic features change students' decision on joining large-scale environmental campaign. A participation analysis method using binary logistic regression and one-way MANOVA is applied in data analysis. This study highlights that the irrelevance between students' belief and practice on environmental protection should not be overlooked, and that college students are inclined to join in groups in relevant activities-conversely, herd effect could greatly reduce their willingness to participation. The findings of this study have wider implications for school educators, practitioners and organizations involved in pro-environmental career. This paper highlights that, from an international perspective, the essence of collective action with a similar nature to Earth Hour and contributes to a global dialogue on fostering sustainable behaviors.

Incarceration Exposure, Biological Aging, and Depression Symptoms in an African American Sample of Older Adults.

Objectives: The study draws upon perspectives on life-course stressors and health to assess whether lifetime incarceration exposure is a determinant of biological aging and self-reported depression. Methods: Using data from a sample of 460 African American participants (average age= 57) in the Family and Community Health Study, the study examined two epigenetic indices of biological aging, DunedinPoAm and GrimAge, as well as a self-reported measure of depression symptoms. Estimates were derived from multivariate regression models with adjustments for selection on observables and confounding factors. Results: Exposure to incarceration was a significant determinant of accelerated biological aging (GrimAge) and the pace of aging (DunedinPoAm) and depressive symptoms. Discussion: Among formerly incarcerated older adults, past experiences with the stressors of incarceration predict key biomarkers of physiological deterioration and depressive symptoms. Incarceration contributes to the mental and physical health burden of older adults.

Racial discrimination during middle age predicts higher serum phosphorylated tau and neurofilament light chain levels a decade later: A study of aging black Americans.

INTRODUCTION: Recent evidence suggests that exposure to the stress of racism may increase the risk of dementia for Black Americans. METHODS: The present study used 17 years of data from a sample of 255 Black Americans to investigate the extent to which exposure to racial discrimination predicts subsequent changes in serum Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) biomarkers: serum phosphorylated tau181(p-tau181), neurofilament light (NfL), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). We hypothesized that racial discrimination assessed during middle age would predict increases in these serum biomarkers as the participants aged into their 60s. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that exposure to various forms of racial discrimination during a person's 40s and early 50s predicts an 11-year increase in both serum p-tau181 and NfL. Racial discrimination was not associated with subsequent levels of GFAP. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that racial discrimination in midlife may contribute to increased AD pathology and neurodegeneration later in life. HIGHLIGHTS: A 17-year longitudinal study of Black Americans. Assessments of change in serum p-tau181, neurofilament light, and glial fibrillary acidic protein. Exposure to racial discrimination during middle age predicted increases in p-tau181 and neurofilament light. Education was positively related to both p-tau181 and exposure to racial discrimination.

Changes in Loneliness, BDNF, and Biological Aging Predict Trajectories in a Blood-Based Epigenetic Measure of Cortical Aging: A Study of Older Black Americans.

A recent epigenetic measure of aging has developed based on human cortex tissue. This cortical clock (CC) dramatically outperformed extant blood-based epigenetic clocks in predicting brain age and neurological degeneration. Unfortunately, measures that require brain tissue are of limited utility to investigators striving to identify everyday risk factors for dementia. The present study investigated the utility of using the CpG sites included in the CC to formulate a peripheral blood-based cortical measure of brain age (CC-Bd). To establish the utility of CC-Bd, we used growth curves with individually varying time points and longitudinal data from a sample of 694 aging African Americans. We examined whether three risk factors that have been linked to cognitive decline-loneliness, depression, and BDNFm-predicted CC-Bd after controlling for several factors, including three new-generation epigenetic clocks. Our findings showed that two clocks-DunedinPACE and PoAm-predicted CC-BD, but that increases in loneliness and BDNFm continued to be robust predictors of accelerated CC-Bd even after taking these effects into account. This suggests that CC-Bd is assessing something more than the pan-tissue epigenetic clocks but that, at least in part, brain health is also associated with the general aging of the organism.

Strengthening couple functioning promotes resilience to COVID-19-related stressors among Black Americans.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantial hardship for Black Americans, leading to increased stress and mental health difficulties. We used longitudinal data from the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) intervention study to test the hypothesis that improved couple functioning following ProSAAF participation would serve as a constructed resilience resource during the pandemic, buffering the impact of elevated pandemic-related stressors on change in depressive symptoms. We found that COVID-19-related stress predicted change in depressive symptoms from prepandemic to during the pandemic, that ProSAAF predicted improved couple functioning, and that positive change in couple functioning buffered the impact of pandemic stressors on change in depressive symptoms. These effects resulted in a significant indirect buffering effect of ProSAAF on the association between COVID-19-related stress and change in depressive symptoms through its effects on change in couple functioning. The results suggest that relationship intervention may increase resilience to unanticipated community-wide stress and promote mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Direct and Indirect Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Discrimination on Subjective Cognitive Decline: A Longitudinal Study of African American Women.

OBJECTIVES: The present study builds on recent findings suggesting that the stress of institutional and interpersonal racism may contribute to African Americans' elevated risk for dementia. We investigated the extent to which 2 consequences of racism-low socioeconomic status (SES) and discrimination-predict self-reported cognitive decline (SCD) 19 years later. Further, we examined potential mediating pathways that might link SES and discrimination to cognitive decline. Potential mediators included depression, accelerated biological aging, and onset of chronic illnesses. METHODS: Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 293 African American women. SCD was assessed using the Everyday Cognition Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the effects of SES and racial discrimination, both measured in 2002, on SCD reported in 2021. Turning to the mediators, midlife depression was assessed in 2002, accelerated aging in 2019, and chronic illness in 2019. Age and prodrome depression were included as covariates. RESULTS: There were direct effects of SES and discrimination on SCD. In addition, these 2 stressors showed a significant indirect effect on SCD through depression. Finally, there was evidence for a more complex pathway where SES and discrimination accelerate biological aging, with accelerated aging, in turn leading to chronic illness, which then predicted SCD. DISCUSSION: Results of the present study add to a growing literature indicating that living in a racialized society is a central factor in explaining the high risk for dementia among Black Americans. Future research should continue to emphasize the various ways that exposure to racism over the life course effects cognition.

Effect of support foot placement on football instep kick performance.

Although the support foot plays an important role in kicking a football, there has been a paucity of research exploring the effect of the placement of the support foot on kicking performance. To investigate the kick performance under different support foot positions, ten male footballers were recruited to participate in two experiments: one determining the maximum ball speed and the second determining accuracy. The participants were instructed to plant their support foot on one of nine different spots marked in the form of a 3 × 3 shape on a piece of artificial grass and asked to kick the ball. In the first (maximum speed) test, the participants tried their best to kick the ball at the maximum ball speed from nine different support foot positions. In the second (accuracy) test, the participants kicked the ball toward the target area without restricting the support foot position. The ball speed, as well as the success rate, were recorded from each support foot position. Significantly higher ball speed and accuracy were obtained at medial positions than was the case at lateral positions from the nine spots. It was concluded that although footballers may choose different positions for support foot placement, the maximum ball speed and better accuracy could be expected when the support foot was next to or slightly in front of the ball centre without too much side-by-side separation (27-37 cm).

Integrin α6 Targeted Near Infrared Fluorescent Imaging and Photoacoustic Imaging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Mice.

Background and Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death and ranks sixth in terms of incident cases worldwide. The purpose of this study was to develop an effective and sensitive method to distinguish liver cancer tissues from normal tissues in HCC patients. Integrin α6 is a promising cell surface target for molecular imaging of HCC, where it is overexpressed and is a prognostic biomarker. We previously identified an integrin α6-targeted peptide CRWYDENAC (RWY) that has been used for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of HCC in mouse models. Methods: We labeled the integrin α6-targeted RWY peptide with cyanine 7 (Cy7) to form an optical probe (Cy7-RWY) for near infrared fluorescent (NIRF) and photoacoustic (PA) imaging in HCC. Mice transplanted with subcutaneous HCC-LM3 or orthotopic HCC-H22 cells that overexpressed integrin α6 were intravenously injected with Cy7-RWY and its corresponding Cy7-control. NIRF and PA images of mice were collected from 0 to 48 h after injection. Results: Both NIRF and PA signals started to accumulate in the tumor 2 h after injection of Cy7-RWY and peaked at 24 h. Conclusions: Cy7-RWY is a promising optical probe for NIRF and PA imaging of HCC in mice, and has potential clinical application for HCC detection.

Specifying the psychosocial pathways whereby child and adolescent adversity shape adult health outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Social scientists generally agree that health disparities are produced, at least in part, by adverse social experiences, especially during childhood and adolescence. Building on this research, we use an innovative method to measure early adversity while drawing upon a biopsychosocial perspective on health to formulate a model that specifies indirect pathways whereby childhood and adolescent adversity become biologically embedded and influence adult health. METHOD: Using nearly 20 years of longitudinal data from 382 Black Americans, we use repeated-measures latent class analysis (RMLCA) to construct measures of childhood/adolescent adversities and their trajectories. Then, we employ structural equation modeling to examine the direct and indirect effects of childhood/adolescent adversity on health outcomes in adulthood through psychosocial maladjustment. RESULTS: RMLCA identified two classes for each component of childhood/adolescent adversity across the ages of 10 to 18, suggesting that childhood/adolescent social adversities exhibit a prolonged heterogeneous developmental trajectory. The models controlled for early and adult mental health, sociodemographic and health-related covariates. Psychosocial maladjustment, measured by low self-esteem, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and lack of self-control, mediated the relationship between childhood/adolescent adversity, especially parental hostility, racial discrimination, and socioeconomic class, and both self-reported illness and blood-based accelerated biological aging (with proportion mediation ranging from 8.22% to 79.03%). CONCLUSION: The results support a biopsychosocial model of health and provide further evidence that, among Black Americans, early life social environmental experiences, especially parenting, financial stress, and racial discrimination, are associated with adult health profiles, and furthermore, psychosocial mechanisms mediate this association.

Neighborhood disadvantage is associated with biological aging: Intervention-induced enhancement of couple functioning confers resilience.

The accelerated pace of biological aging predicts mortality and morbidity later in life. The current study examines whether a change in supportive couple functioning buffers accelerated aging associated with stressful community environments among Black Americans who live in rural, Southern, disadvantaged neighborhoods. We examined 348 Black American middle-aged adults assigned randomly to receive the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) intervention or a control condition. The program was designed to enhance supportive couple functioning among Black Americans. We used DunedinPoAm to quantify the methylation pace of aging and employed the Area Deprivation Index at the census block group level to measure neighborhood disadvantage. Neighborhood disadvantage was associated with the accelerated pace of aging. Further, participation in ProSAAF enhanced supportive couple functioning, and improvement in couple functioning protected participants from the harmful effects of neighborhood disadvantage on the accelerated pace of aging. These findings supported mediated moderation and suggested that family-based prevention programs that enhance couple support may decrease the erosive effects of neighborhood disadvantage and improve prospects for healthy aging among rural, Southern, Black Americans living in difficult circumstances. This may provide a supplemental strategy for decreasing health disparities due to neighborhood disadvantage by enhancing family systems.

Biomechanical fidelity of athletic training using virtual reality head-mounted display: the case of preplanned and unplanned sidestepping.

Virtual reality has recently been recognised as an effective tool for investigating visual-perceptual tasks. To develop a sport-specific virtual environment with realistic locomotion, it is crucial to examine the effect of using virtual reality devices on athletes performing intense and complex movements. Twelve collegiate football players were instructed to perform pre-planned and unplanned sidestepping in both environments with the same dimension and experimental setup in the virtual environment as in the real one. Analysis of the performance and knee biomechanical parameters showed that movements performed in the two environments were generally comparable. Consistent changes in approach velocity and knee angle/moment under unplanned conditions (compared with preplanned conditions) were also found in the virtual environment as in the real one, except for the significantly larger peak flexion angle (p < .05) observed in the virtual environment. Interestingly, half of the participants changed from producing abduction to adduction moment at the weight acceptance phase in the preplanned condition (p < .05). These findings suggested that while it is generally feasible to use virtual reality head-mounted displays for designated experiments and training, the effect of wearing virtual reality devices could be somewhat subject-specific.

Epigenetic and Proteomic Biomarkers of Elevated Alcohol Use Predict Epigenetic Aging and Cell-Type variation Better Than Self-Report.

Excessive alcohol consumption (EAC) has a generally accepted effect on morbidity and mortality, outcomes thought to be reflected in measures of epigenetic aging (EA). As the association of self-reported EAC with EA has not been consistent with these expectations, underscoring the need for readily employable non-self-report tools for accurately assessing and monitoring the contribution of EAC to accelerated EA, newly developed alcohol consumption DNA methylation indices, such as the Alcohol T Score (ATS) and Methyl DetectR (MDR), may be helpful. To test that hypothesis, we used these new indices along with the carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT), concurrent as well as past self-reports of EAC, and well-established measures of cigarette smoking to examine the relationship of EAC to both accelerated EA and immune cell counts in a cohort of 437 young Black American adults. We found that MDR, CDT, and ATS were intercorrelated, even after controlling for gender and cotinine effects. Correlations between EA and self-reported EAC were low or non-significant, replicating prior research, whereas correlations with non-self-report indices were significant and more substantial. Comparing non-self-report indices showed that the ATS predicted more than four times as much variance in EA, CDT4 cells and B-cells as for both the MDR and CDT, and better predicted indices of accelerated EA. We conclude that each of the non-self-report indices have differing predictive capacities with respect to key alcohol-related health outcomes, and that the ATS may be particularly useful for clinicians seeking to understand and prevent accelerated EA. The results also underscore the likelihood of substantial underestimates of problematic use when self-report is used and a reduction in correlations with EA and variance in cell-types.

Do Loneliness and Per Capita Income Combine to Increase the Pace of Biological Aging for Black Adults across Late Middle Age?

In a sample of 685 late middle-aged Black adults (M age at 2019 = 57.17 years), we examined the effects of loneliness and per capita income on accelerated aging using a newly developed DNA-methylation based index: the DunedinPACE. First, using linear, mixed effects regression in a growth curve framework, we found that change in DunedinPACE was dependent on age, with a linear model best fitting the data (b = 0.004, p < 0.001), indicating that average pace of change increased among older participants. A quadratic effect was also tested, but was non-significant. Beyond the effect of age, both change in loneliness (b = 0.009, p < 0.05) and change in per capita income (b = -0.016, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with change in DunedinPACE across an 11-year period, accounting for significant between person variability observed in the unconditional model. Including non-self-report indices of smoking and alcohol use did not reduce the association of loneliness or per capita income with DunedinPACE. However, change in smoking was strongly associated with change in DunedinPACE such that those reducing their smoking aged less rapidly than those continuing to smoke. In addition, both loneliness and per capita income were associated with DunedinPACE after controlling for variation in cell-types.

Childhood adversity and adult health: A dyadic analysis of Black American couples.

OBJECTIVE: The association between childhood adversity and adulthood health is well established, but few studies have examined potential effects of childhood adversity on partner health in couples. This study examined the long-term health impact of childhood adversity on individuals as well as their significant others. METHOD: The participants were 163 distinguishable dyads from the Family and Community Health Study. Health outcomes included both self-reported chronic illness and a messenger RNA index of accelerated aging. The actor-partner interdependence model with structural equation methods was used to test the hypothesis. RESULTS: Replicating prior research, childhood adversity was associated with more chronic illness and an accelerated speed of aging. Further, participants' health in adulthood was affected by both own and partner experiences of childhood adversity. There were no gender differences. CONCLUSION: Our findings replicate and extend prior research on the long-term impact of exposure to childhood adversity, suggesting that adverse childhood experiences are also harmful to romantic partners. Further studies are required to examine potential mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Relationship between Concrete Hole Shape and Meso-Crack Evolution Based on Stereology Theory and CT Scan under Compression.

To achieve more accurate prediction of the potential failure location and to conduct a deeper analysis of the failure mechanism of concrete constructions, it is critical to probe the evolution process of internal meso-cracks that bear various intensities of load. While a computer Tomography (CT) test provides a non-destructive detection technique for obtaining the internal meso-damage state of concrete, traditional image processing and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) are ineffective in extracting meso-damage information from concrete CT images. On the other hand, by observing the shape change law of concrete's internal holes under load, it is proposed to use the hole roundness and area fraction formula, developed based on the stereology principle and morphology, to characterize and predict the potential failure location. Four features particularly addressed include the CT image as a whole, image equal partitioning, crack and non-crack areas, and representative holes. The approach is to explore the variation law of critical hole shape parameters, especially the hole roundness under different loading stages, and analyze the relationship between the change in hole shapes and the final macro-crack positions. It is found that compared with the average area fraction, the average hole roundness value of cross section images is more sensitive to the change in stress. In both uniform partitioning and non-uniform partitioning, the average hole roundness value near the final macro-crack location exhibits an increase trend with the stress, while the smoothing effect caused by the hole roundness averaging always exists. Near the final macro-crack location, the roundness of each individual hole is positively associated with the stress, while away from the final macro-crack location such a relation may not be observed. This trend expounds the evolution process of meso-damage in concrete, and the finding can be used to predict the accurate locations of macro-cracks.

Incarceration exposure and epigenetic aging in neighborhood context.

OBJECTIVE: Research has implicated incarceration exposure as a social determinant of health, with recent work suggesting incarceration may trigger a stress response that accelerates physiological deterioration. The objective of the current study is to assess whether neighborhood stressors intensify the health consequences of incarceration exposure. METHODS: We test whether two neighborhood context measures - socioeconomic disadvantage and perceived crime - moderate the association between incarceration exposure and a measure of accelerated epigenetic aging based on the GrimAge index. Our sample included 408 African American young adults from the Family and Community Health study. RESULTS: Results from regression analyses with inverse probability of treatment weights suggest that incarceration exposure and neighborhood disadvantage are independently associated with accelerated biological aging. The results also show that the impact of incarceration exposure on accelerated aging is amplified for individuals in neighborhoods with higher levels of perceived crime. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that the neighborhood contexts where formerly incarcerated individuals return have a substantial impact on their pace of biological aging. Policies aimed at reducing ambient stressors after release may promote healthy aging among formerly incarcerated African American adults.

The Changing Role of Chinese English-as-Foreign-Language Teachers in the Context of Curriculum Reform: Teachers' Understanding of Their New Role.

The New Curriculum Standards for teaching English introduced major changes in the culture of teaching and learning English in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Changes have been linked to changing goals for English instruction and a revision of Confucian values in schooling. In this article, we argue that this English curriculum proposes a new role, with new demands, for English-as-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in the PRC. In order to implement the curriculum reform successfully, teachers involved in the reform are required to have a shared understanding of its nature, purposes and scope. However, little is known about to what extent EFL teachers understand and engage with their new roles. This study examines teachers' understandings of the new curriculum and of the new, demanding role of teachers implied by the curriculum. This is a mixed methods study involving an analysis of the curriculum document, a survey (n = 227) of EFL teachers and semi-structured interviews with a sample of teachers in the cohort (n = 18). The findings suggest that many teachers know the content of the curriculum document, but expressed uncertainty about the implications of changes, uncertainty about what a shift to student-centered teaching and learning means and confusion about new professional development demands. The findings of this study have wider implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, researchers and policy makers in the PRC and similar national contexts. This article highlights that, from an international perspective, introducing new ideas and practices should consider teachers' existing understanding and experiences of the curriculum as well as the way in which they understand the purposes of the changes, and should promote a shared understanding of policy intentions.

Digital methylation assessments of alcohol and cigarette consumption account for common variance in accelerated epigenetic ageing.

Smoking and Heavy Alcohol Consumption (HAC) are established risk factors for myriad complex disorders of ageing. Yet many prior studies of Epigenetic Ageing (EA) have shown only modest effects of smoking and drinking on accelerated ageing. One potential reason for this conundrum might be the reliance of some prior EA studies on self-reported substance use, which may be unreliable in many samples. To test whether novel, non-self-reported indices would show a stronger association of smoking and HAC to EA, we used methylation sensitive digital PCR (MSdPCR) and data from 437 African American subjects from Wave 7 of the Family and Community Health Study Offspring Cohort to examine the effects of subjective and objective measures of smoking and HAC on 7 indices of EA. Because of limited overall correlations between the various EA indices, we examined patterns of association separately for each index. Consistent with expectations, MSdPCR assessments of smoking and HAC, but not self-reported alcohol consumption, were strongly correlated with accelerated EA. MSdPCR assessments of smoking and HAC accounted for 57% of GrimAge acceleration and the shared variance in GrimAge and DunedinPOAM accelerated EA. We conclude that MSdPCR assessments of smoking and HAC are valuable tools for understanding EA, represent directly targetable conditions for the prevention of premature ageing, and substantially improve upon self-reported assessment of smoking and HAC.

Shifts in lifestyle and socioeconomic circumstances predict change-for better or worse-in speed of epigenetic aging: A study of middle-aged black women.

BACKGROUND: While numerous studies have documented the power of new generation epigenetic clocks to predict morbidity and mortality, research regarding the causes of variation in speed of epigenetic aging is in the early stages. To the extent that these epigenetic clocks are robust measures of biological aging, they should be sensitive to various nutritional, behavioral, ecological, and social factors that have been shown to affect health. OBJECTIVE: Investigate over an 11-year period the extent to which changes in socioeconomic stress and lifestyle predict changes in speed of epigenetic aging among a sample of middle-aged African American women. METHODS: Using data from the Family and Community Health Study, we investigated whether changes in socioeconomic stress, diet, smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, and relationship status predict changes in speed of biological aging assessed with 3 s-generation epigenetic clocks: AccelGrimAge, DunedinPoAm, and AccelPhenoAge. The study was able to avoid the challenges associated with self-reports of diet and smoking by employing recently developed epigenetic measures. RESULTS: Changes in socioeconomic stress and diet were associated with changes in speed of biological aging as assessed by all three epigenetic clocks, and changes in smoking was related to changes in AccelGrimAge and DunedinPoAm. Analyses controlling for cell-type indicated that in large measure diet exerts its effect on aging through its impact on the immune system. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that adoption of a healthy diet and reduction in the use of tobacco are related to a decrease in epigenetic aging, whereas increased pressure relating to income, housing and economic independence are associated with an increase in the speed of aging. These effects were especially strong for the two epigenetic clocks AccelGrimAge and DunedinPoAm. Overall, the results indicate that stress and lifestyle changes may, for better or worse, influence the "biological weathering" often experienced by middle-aged African American women.

Romantic Relationship Status, Quality, and Depressive Symptoms Among Middle-Aged and Older Black Women.

OBJECTIVES: Past research has established a link between romantic relationships and depressive symptoms among adults, including those in later life. There is, however, still a lack of evidence regarding whether romantic relationship status or relationship quality is a better predictor of psychological well-being among middle-aged and older Black adult women. METHODS: The present study draws on data from the Family and Community Health Study, a multisite, longitudinal survey of health and psychosocial experiences of Black families, to examine how relationship status and quality relate to depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older Black adult women (N = 571). A series of negative binomial regression models, with 95% confidence intervals and internal moderators, were used to assess the research questions. RESULTS: Middle-aged and older Black women in married, cohabiting, and dating relationships who reported higher levels of relationship quality had a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms than those who reported lower levels of relationship quality or who did not report being in any romantic relationship when controlling for baseline depressive symptoms. The findings from our study indicate that relationship quality is a better predictor of depressive symptoms than relationship status. DISCUSSION: Our findings extend the body of literature on the impact of romantic relationships on individual well-being and provide compelling evidence that such relationships, particularly those of high quality, are significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older Black women.