Psychological distress around menopause.

The authors sought to identify a subgroup of women who are likely to experience psychological distress in the period around menopause. A sample of 189 women (mean age=49.49) was selected from the general population and rated for menopausal status, menopausal symptoms, depression, anxiety, perceived control, body image, and sex role. Menopausal symptoms were not found to discriminate between pre-, peri-, and postmenopausal women. Factor analysis of the symptoms yielded a specific somatic factor that correlated with menopausal status but not with psychological variables and a nonspecific psychosomatic factor that correlated with psychological variables but not with menopausal status. This suggests that psychological distress during the menopausal transition may indicate a personal psychological or physiological vulnerability rather than a specific reaction to the menopausal events.

Affective bonds of adult children with living versus deceased parents.

In a study of bonds with living versus deceased parents, Israeli adult children (aged 17 to 77 years) formed 3 groups with both parents alive, only mother alive, and both parents deceased. Questionnaires assessed relations with mother and father (363 participants completed bond intensity and 217 of them completed both bond intensity and bond evaluation). Whereas bond intensity (with factors of Closeness, Influence, and Commitment) refers to the strength of the relationship's manifestations, bond evaluation refers to the subjective location of this relationship on a positive-negative continuum. Contrary to the hypothesis, bond intensity was not lower for deceased than for living parents. As hypothesized, bond evaluation was higher for mother and father when both were deceased. The study suggests a developmental trajectory whereby the affective bonds of adult children toward their parents transcend parental death and normative mourning.

The contribution of personal resources to physical and mental health: looking into age and gender effects.

In this study, a model that specified the effects of socioeconomic and psychological resources on physical and mental health was investigated. It was hypothesized that (a) both kinds of resources would affect physical and mental health more strongly in older than in younger adults, and that (b) socioeconomic resources would exert stronger effects in men, whereas psychological resources would exert stronger effects in women. Data were collected in an Israeli national sample. Structural modeling analyses indicated that the model fit the data. A comparison of 4 groups of participants (2 age groups--18-39 and 40-84--and both genders) showed that, for men, the respective effects of socioeconomic and psychological resources on physical and mental health were strong in the older, but not in the younger, group. For women, socioeconomic resources had nonsignificant effects, whereas psychological resources had strong effects on mental health in both age groups; psychological resources also had a moderate effect on physical health in the older group. The results suggest that the contribution of personal resources to health is regulated by the joint impact of age and gender, presumably involving shifting roles and vulnerabilities of men and women across the life span.

Subjective well-being among Holocaust survivors: an examination of overlooked differentiations.

This study addressed the issue of adjustment among Holocaust survivors by multidimensional assessment of subjective well-being (SWB). Participants were Israeli Holocaust survivors incidentally included in a life-span study (Group 1; n = 466) or purposely approached for studying Holocaust survivors (Group 2; n = 178). Comparison participants had immigrated to Israel before World War II, with their parents either undergoing (Group 3; n = 270) or not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 4; n = 388); other comparison participants had immigrated after the war with parents not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 5; n = 166). Results showed that Group 1 scored lower than Group 2, mainly in positive affect. Group 1 scored lower than Group 4, and to a lesser extent also lower than Groups 3 and 5, mainly in aging-related themes of SWB. The study suggests that long-term effects of the Holocaust on the survivors' SWB are traceable but require a differential approach to the study groups and to the facets of SWB.

An outlook on subjective well-being in older Israeli adults: a unified formulation.

The present study explored the factorial structure of the combined item pool of the Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA) [1] and the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGCMS) [2], two prominent instruments for assessing subjective well-being (SWB) and formulating its structure among the elderly. The sample consisted of 830 older Israeli adults, randomly divided into two groups for cross-validating purposes. The exploratory factor analysis yielded five substantial factors labeled Reconciled Aging, Unstrained, Affect, General Contentment, Present Happiness, and Past Self-fulfillment. The emerging structure was subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis by LISREL, indicating the fit of Liang's model [3, 4] that postulates a second-order factor of SWB. Correlations between the factor scales and other SWB indices provided evidence of convergent validity. The current formulation, which awaits further replication and validation, demonstrated that while each measure does contain unique components, they both contribute to a superordinate construct. The integrative approach employed here might facilitate the delineation of basic psychological themes as well as generate a broader perspective for the assessment of SWB in old age.

The apprehensive respondent: failing to rate future life satisfaction in older adults.

Rating scales relating to the individual's past, present, and future were administered to subjects aged 60 to 90; those who completed all ratings (N = 589) were compared with others who specifically failed to rate the future (N = 150). The groups were differentiated by age, gender, health, and marital status. Total subjective well-being did not differ, but specific subjective well-being factors concerning time and aging could serve as discriminators. These differences suggest that these older adults might be apprehensive about their future, and that skipping future-related questions is a genuine reaction with both psychological and methodological implications.

The validity of simulated prediction of behavior.

The author examined a method of predicting behavior, in which the responses of individuals who might conceivably perform certain behaviors were independently simulated by experts acquainted both with the individuals and with the predicted behaviors. Scores derived from belief questionnaires completed by the supervisors of 48 Israeli undergraduate students significantly predicted the students' behavior almost as accurately as scores derived from questionnaires that had been completed by the students themselves, and more accurately than the supervisors' intuitive predictions of the students' behavior.

The role of time orientation in life satisfaction across the life span.

Relating contentment to different points in life can provide the construct of life satisfaction with an essential time orientation. The Self-Anchoring Scale was used to rate life in the present, the past (five years before), and the future (five years ahead). Subjects were the respondents of five national surveys in Israel. The findings showed an age-related configuration where progressive age was associated with declining ratings for the future, a milder decline for the present, and a relative increase for the past. In addition to rating levels, a structural modeling approach was used to explore the relative salience of these time referents, considered as indicators of the construct of life satisfaction. LISREL estimates of the indicator loadings in two related models showed the present as most salient and the past as least salient in most age groups. The salience of the past increased in later life, when that of the future did as well. The time-related construct of life satisfaction (which fit the data in all age groups) highlights the yet undetermined role of the future in the subjective well-being of the elderly.

The structure of the Life Satisfaction Index A in elderly Israeli adults.

Neugaraten et al.'s Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA) is a widely used instrument for measuring subjective well-being among elderly adults, and the generalizability of its structure in different cultural contexts should be established [1]. The present study investigated the structure of the LSIA in older Israeli adults by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Exploratory factor analyses in Sample 1 (N = 267) yielded three factors of Zest, Mood Tone, and Congruence. Unlike previous studies in the United States, Zest emerged in alternate forms, labeled Zest-Via-Time and Zest-Via-Interest. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in Sample 1 and Sample 2 (N = 154) according to Liang's [2] model specifications, assuming a second-order factor. When previously suggested factorial compositions were tested, Liang's [2] and Hoyt and Creech's [3] three-factor models fit the data, while Adams' [4] model did not. Hoyt and Creech's [3] four-factor model provided no improvement on the two, three-factor models. When the present factorial compositions were tested, a three-factor model with Zest-Via-Interest best fit Sample 1, while an alternate three-factor model with Zest-Via-Time best fit Sample 2. A four-factor model with both forms of Zest provided no improvement on the best fitting three-factor models. The results support the generalizability of a three-factor structure with a second-order factor but suggest two different variations of Zest. Cross-cultural as well as other implications concerning subjective well-being in elderly adults are discussed.

Subjective well-being and its domains across different age groups: an Israeli sample.

Subjective well-being (SWB) across the life span was studied in a representative Israeli sample by a national survey of 1183 subjects, ranging from 18 to 80 years of age. Subjects were given "life scales", on which they rated their SWB in their present life, as well as their satisfaction regarding health, relations with friends, family, work, economic status, sense of personal achievement, and sense of control. The results indicate that: (a) SWB is negatively correlated with chronological age; (b) the relative strength of most of SWB domains changes in the different age groups; (c) SWB is best explained by different sets of domains in different age groups; and (d) economic status is the strongest domain, accounting for SWB in 6 out of 8 age groups. Explanations for these results confronted the developmental view of changing tasks across the life span vs cohort-based differences between the age groups. The decreasing number of domains that account for SWB variance with progressing age, as well as some unexpected findings with regard to the oldest age group (71-80) are also discussed.

Indoor and outdoor activities of aged women and men as related to depression and well-being.

This article examines the relations between reported level of activity and measures of affect in old people exploring possible sex differences. It was hypothesized that these relations are mediated by the satisfaction from the specific activity. The sample consisted of fifty-four women and forty-five men, ranging in age from sixty to eighty, functioning normally in the community. A questionnaire assessed participants' levels of indoor/outdoor activities. Participants rated their satisfaction for each of these activities. Negative affect was measured by Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale, and positive affect was measured by Bradburn's Well-Being (Affect-Balance) Scale. For male respondents, results showed significant negative correlations between depression and both activities, and significant positive correlations with respect to well-being. Significant positive correlation was obtained only between well-being and outdoor activity for female respondents. When satisfaction from the specific activity was controlled for, only two correlations remained significant in the male participants, lending partial support to the hypothesis. A multiple regression analysis revealed reported levels of activity could predict both depression and well-being for men much better than for women, whereas satisfaction from activity could do that much better for women than for men. Discussion deals with the sex differences regarding the meaning of activity in old age and its implications for affect. The differentiation between kinds of activity as well as measures of affect is also referenced.

The meaning of time-related concepts across the life-span: an Israeli sample.

Three-hundred-thirty-eight Israeli participants rated five time-related concepts on Semantic Differential Scales. Participants constituted six, age-based, groups, representing different life stages: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, late adulthood, and old age. The concepts rated were: time, past, present, and future. In addition, each group rated its own life stage. Results were analyzed in terms of the relationship between age and attributed meaning of these concepts, as denoted by the three Semantic Differential dimensions: evaluation, potency, and activity. The results indicate that people of different ages differ significantly in the way they construe most of the time-related concepts. Past ratings show a significant tendency to increase with progressive age, while future ratings decrease with progressive age. The ratings of present tend to remain stable across the life-span, and the ratings of life stages are significantly lower in older groups as compared to the younger ones. Results are discussed in light of developmental processes, the role that meaning of time-related concepts play in psychological adjustment, and methodological aspects.