Aging and Emotional Well-Being After Disasters: Vulnerability and Resilience.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Climate change threatens well-being and has increased the prevalence of weather-related disasters. We investigated age differences in emotional well-being among adults who had experienced hurricane-related, unavoidable stressors. Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) posits that age-related motivational shifts buffer older adults against psychological distress, whereas the strength and vulnerability integration model (SAVI) posits that unavoidable stressors are more detrimental to older adults' well-being compared to younger adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We used existing self-report data from a life-span sample of adults (N = 618, M age = 58.44 years, standard deviation = 16.03, 18-96 years) who resided in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. The sample was recruited in 2016 to examine the sequelae of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and contacted again after the 2017 and 2018 hurricane seasons. In 2016, participants reported their depression, anxiety, and trauma history. After the 2017-2018 hurricane seasons, participants reported their depression, post-traumatic stress, exposure to hurricane-related adversities, injuries and casualties, self-efficacy, and perceived health. RESULTS: In line with SST, older age was associated with reporting significantly fewer depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, even after controlling for exposure to hurricane-related adversities, injuries and casualties, health, self-efficacy, pre-hurricane depression, anxiety, and trauma. The association between older age and fewer depression symptoms was stronger among those who experienced hurricane-related adversities compared to those who had not, in contrast to predictions based on SAVI. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: We discuss the implications of age-related strengths in emotional well-being for policy and practice in the context of the ongoing climate crisis.

Age differences in social decision-making preferences and perceived ability.

Decision-making often occurs in a social context but is typically studied as if it were an individualistic process. In the present study, we investigated the relationships between age, perceived decision-making ability, and self-rated health with preferences for social decision-making, or making decisions with others. Adults (N = 1,075; ages 18-93) from an U.S. online national panel reported their preferences for social decision-making, perceived changes in decision-making ability over time, perceived decision-making ability compared to age peers, and self-rated health. We report on three key findings. First, older age was associated with being less likely to prefer social decision-making. Second, older age was associated with perceiving one's ability to have changed for the worse over time. Third, social decision-making preferences were associated both with older age and perceiving one's ability to make decisions was worse than age peers. Additionally, there was a significant cubic function of age, such that older age was associated with lesser preferences for social decision-making until around age 50. Preferences then increased slightly with age until about age 60, after which older age was once again associated with lesser preferences for social decision-making. Together, our findings suggest that compensating for perceived lack of competence compared to other people one's age may motivate preferences for social decision-making across the life span. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Age differences in psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: March 2020 - June 2021.

In March 2020, COVID-19 brought illness, lockdowns, and economic turmoil worldwide. Studies from March-April 2020 reported increased psychological distress, especially among younger (vs. older) adults. Here, we examine whether age differences persisted in a 29-wave longitudinal survey conducted with an American national life-span sample over the first 16 months of the pandemic. Socio-emotional selectivity theory (SST) predicts that older age will be consistently associated with lower psychological distress due to life-span changes in motivation, while the strength and vulnerability integration model (SAVI) posits that age differences in psychological distress will diminish under prolonged stress. We find that younger adults consistently reported more psychological distress than older adults, though age differences did decrease over time. Prior diagnosis with anxiety or depression additionally predicted greater psychological distress throughout the study, but did not moderate age differences. We discuss implications for psychological theories of aging and interventions to reduce psychological distress.

Psychological health benefits of focusing on the 'here and now' versus a limited future during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: College students' psychological health has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., 1). We investigated whether students' psychological health was related to their orientation toward the future and mindfulness while considering previously-identified correlates of psychological health such as perceived risks of COVID-19. Participants: Participants were 278 college students at a mid-Atlantic US university in November and December 2020. Method: Using a self-report survey, we measured three aspects of psychological health (depression, anxiety, and stress) and future orientation, mindfulness, perceptions of risk, and the personal impact of COVID-19 on students' lives. Results: Multiple linear regression analyses showed that greater mindfulness and focusing less on a limited future were related to less depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusions: Encouraging students to be mindful and focus on the present instead of focusing on a limited future may be beneficial for their psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perceived Social Norms Guide Health Care Decisions for Oneself and Others: A Cross-Sectional Experiment in a US Online Panel.

BACKGROUND: Global aging has increased the reliance on surrogates to make health care decisions for others. We investigated the differences between making health care decisions and predicting health care decisions, self-other differences for made and predicted health care decisions, and the roles of perceived social norms, emotional closeness, empathy, age, and gender. METHODS: Participants (N = 2037) from a nationally representative US panel were randomly assigned to make or to predict a health care decision. They were also randomly assigned to 1 of 5 recipients: themselves, a loved one 60 y or older, a loved one younger than 60 y, a distant acquaintance 60 y or older, or a distant acquaintance younger than 60 y. Hypothetical health care scenarios depicted choices between relatively safe lower-risk treatments with a good chance of yielding mild health improvements versus higher-risk treatments that offered a moderate chance of substantial health improvements. Participants reported their likelihood of choosing lower- versus higher-risk treatments, their perceptions of family and friends' approval of risky health care decisions, and their empathy. RESULTS: We present 3 key findings. First, made decisions involved less risk taking than predicted decisions, especially for distant others. Second, predicted decisions were similar for others and oneself, but made decisions were less risk taking for others than oneself. People predicted that loved ones would be less risk taking than distant others would be. Third, perceived social norms were more strongly associated than empathy with made and predicted decisions. LIMITATIONS: Hypothetical scenarios may not adequately represent emotional processes in health care decision making. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived social norms may sway people to take less risk in health care decisions, especially when making decisions for others. These findings have implications for improving surrogate decision making. HIGHLIGHTS: People made less risky health care decisions for others than for themselves, even though they predicted others would make decisions similar to their own. This has implications for understanding how surrogates apply the substituted judgment standard when making decisions for patients.Perceived social norms were more strongly related to decisions than treatment-recipient (relationship closeness, age) and decision-maker (age, gender, empathy) characteristics. Those who perceived that avoiding health care risks was valued by their social group were less likely to choose risky medical treatments.Understanding the power of perceived social norms in shaping surrogates' decisions may help physicians to engage surrogates in shared decision making.Knowledge of perceived social norms may facilitate the design of decision aids for surrogates.

Age differences in risk taking: now you see them, now you don't.

Older age has often, but not always, been associated with less risk taking. Inconsistencies may be due to diversity in the risk-taking measures used and/or individual differences in cognitive abilities. We investigated the robustness of age differences in risk taking across three measures, and tested whether age differences in risk taking remained after accounting for cognitive abilities. Younger (aged 25-36) and older (aged 60+) adults completed behavioral (i.e., Balloon Analogue Risk Task, BART) and self-report (i.e., framing tasks and Choice Dilemmas Questionnaire) measures of risk, as well as several measures of cognitive ability (i.e., analytic thinking, numeracy, processing speed, memory, and attention). Older adults showed significantly less risk taking than younger adults on the behavioral measure of risk, but not on the two self-report measures. Older adults also had significantly lower analytic thinking, slower processing speed, and worse executive control compared to younger adults. Less risk taking on the BART was associated with lower analytic thinking and numeracy, slower processing speed, and worse shifting of attention. Age differences in risk taking on the BART remained after accounting for older adults' lower scores on tests of cognitive abilities. Implications for measuring age differences in risk taking are discussed.

Risk and protective factors for college students' psychological health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: College students' psychological health may be compromised due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we aimed to identify risk (eg, perceived risk of contracting COVID-19) and protective factors (ie, social support, mindfulness) for positive (ie, subjective happiness, satisfaction with life) and negative (ie, depression, anxiety, stress) aspects of psychological health. Participants: Participants were 251 college students at a mid-Atlantic university. Method: Self-report online survey data were collected between March and May 2020 using established measures of risk perception, mindfulness, social support, and psychological health. Results: Greater perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 was associated with greater depression, anxiety, and stress. Greater mindfulness was a protective factor for psychological health. Greater social support was associated with less depression, and greater happiness and life satisfaction. Conclusions: Programs that teach students how to cultivate mindfulness and supportive relationships and reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19 may help protect against depression, stress, and anxiety.

Benefits of Experience and Knowledge for Older Adults' Monetary Sequence Preferences.

Financial literacy and financial experience may be important for understanding age differences in financial decisionmaking. Older adults generally have more financial experience than younger adults do, and some studies suggest they also have better financial literacy. We investigated associations among age (N = 594, aged 20-88, Mage = 46.48), financial experience, financial literacy, and preferences for receiving larger (versus smaller) amounts of money sooner (versus later). Older age was correlated with preferences for receiving larger amounts of money sooner and smaller amounts later, but this association was no longer significant after accounting for financial experience and financial literacy. Financial experience was the only significant contributor. We discuss implications for improving financial decision-making across adulthood.

Knowing you are there makes the difference: perceived social support, preferences for using support, and health.

Using cluster analysis, we investigated whether perceived social support and individual differences in preferences to use support combined to form distinct profiles. Self-report data were collected from U.S. adults (N = 454; aged 40-90, Mage = 55.37, SD = 9.73). Four profiles were identified: disengaged, interpersonally connected, isolated independent, and connected independent. Profiles characterized by high perceived support were associated with better overall health, even among those who preferred not to use support; men and those not married or cohabiting were less likely to be in these profiles. Implications for understanding associations between social support and health and the identification of at-risk groups are discussed.

Don't Risk It. Older Adults Perceive Fewer Future Opportunities and Avoid Social Risk Taking.

Drawing from life-span psychology, we conducted two studies to test perceptions of time left in the future as an underlying mechanism for age differences in self-reported social risk taking. Study 1 included 120 younger (25-35 years) and 119 older (60-91 years) community-dwelling adults. Study 2 included 439 participants (18-85 years) mostly recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. In both studies, older age was associated with rating a lower likelihood of social risk taking (e.g., speaking about an unpopular issue) and perceiving the future as holding fewer future opportunities and being more limited. Perceptions of fewer future opportunities with aging statistically mediated age-related declines in social risk taking. Findings highlight motivational factors as key for understanding age differences in social risk taking. Implications of age differences in social risk taking on factors related to well-being, such as social support and strain, are discussed.

What would people think? Perceived social norms, willingness to serve as a surrogate, and end-of-life treatment decisions.

BACKGROUND: Population aging has increased the prevalence of surrogate decision making in healthcare settings. However, little is known about factors contributing to the decision to become a surrogate and the surrogate medical decision-making process in general. We investigated how intrapersonal and social-contextual factors predicted two components of the surrogate decision-making process: individuals' willingness to serve as a surrogate and their tendency to select various end-of-life treatments, including mechanical ventilation and palliative care options. METHOD: An online sample (N = 172) of adults made hypothetical surrogate decisions about end-of-life treatments on behalf of an imagined person of their choice, such as a parent or spouse. Using self-report measures, we investigated key correlates of willingness to serve as surrogate (e.g., decision-making confidence, willingness to collaborate with healthcare providers) and choice of end-of-life treatments. RESULTS: Viewing service as a surrogate as a more typical practice in healthcare was associated with greater willingness to serve. Greater decision-making confidence, greater willingness to collaborate with patients' physicians, and viewing intensive, life-sustaining end-of-life treatments (e.g., mechanical ventilation) as more widely accepted were associated with choosing more intensive end-of-life treatments. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The current study's consideration of both intrapersonal and social-contextual factors advances knowledge of two key aspects of surrogate decision making - the initial decision to serve as surrogate, and the surrogate's selection of various end-of-life treatment interventions. Providers can use information about the role of these factors to engage with surrogates in a manner that better facilitates their decision making. For instance, providers can be sensitive to potential cultural differences in surrogate decision-making tendencies or employing decision aids that bolster surrogates' confidence in their decisions.

Age differences in reported social networks and well-being.

Social networks can consist of close friends, family members, and neighbors as well as peripheral others. Studies of social networks and associations with well-being have mostly focused on age-restricted samples of older adults or specific geographic areas, thus limiting their generalizability. We analyzed 2 online surveys conducted with RAND's American Life Panel, a national adult life span sample recruited through multiple probability-based approaches. In Survey 1, 496 participants assessed the sizes of their social networks, including the number of close friends, family members, neighbors, and peripheral others. Of those, 287 rated their social satisfaction and well-being on Survey 2. Older participants reported smaller social networks, largely because of reporting fewer peripheral others. Yet older age was associated with better well-being. Although the reported number of close friends was unrelated to age, it was the main driver of well-being across the life span-even after accounting for the number of family members, neighbors, and peripheral others. However, well-being was more strongly related to social satisfaction than to the reported number of close friends-suggesting that it is the perception of relationship quality rather than the perception of relationship quantity that is relevant to reporting better well-being. We discuss implications for social network interventions that aim to promote well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Taking the Biggest First: Age Differences in Preferences for Monetary and Hedonic Sequences.

OBJECTIVES: People face decisions about how to sequence payments and events, including when to schedule bigger events relative to smaller ones. We examine age differences in these sequence preferences. METHODS: We gave a national adult life-span sample (n = 1,296, mean = 53.06 years, standard deviation = 16.33) four scenarios describing a positive or negative hedonic (enjoyable weekends, painful dental procedures) or monetary (receiving versus paying money) event. We considered associations among age, sequence preferences, three self-reported decision-making processes-emphasizing experience, emotion, and reasoning-and two dimensions of future time perspective-focusing on future opportunities and limited time. RESULTS: Older age was associated with taking the "biggest" event sooner instead of later, especially for receiving money, but also for the other three scenarios. Older age was associated with greater reported use of reason and experience and lesser reported use of emotion. These decision-making processes played a role in understanding age differences in sequence preferences, but future time perspective did not. DISCUSSION: We discuss "taking the biggest first" preferences in light of prior mixed findings on age differences in sequence preferences. We highlight the distinct roles of experience- and emotion-based decision-making processes. We propose applications to financial and health-care settings.

Restricting future time perspective reduces failure to act after a missed opportunity.

Inaction inertia occurs when missing an attractive opportunity (vs. not having been offered it) decreases the likelihood of acting on another similar opportunity. We experimentally manipulated future time perspective to reduce inaction inertia. Middle-aged and older adults from the Health and Retirement Study were randomly assigned to imagining restricted or expansive time left to live, or to no instructions. Across age, imagining a restricted future (vs. the other two instructions) reduced inaction inertia and future time perspective. Imagining living longer increased future time perspective among relatively younger participants. Consequences of restricted time perspective for decisions and life regrets are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Age differences in emotional responses to monetary losses and gains.

People of all ages face events that threaten their well-being, but theories of aging posit that older adults will cope better. In a gamble with randomly assigned losses (vs. gains), older adults reported relatively less negative and more positive emotions than younger adults, especially after losses (vs. gains). Avoiding preoccupation with negative thoughts was more likely among older (vs. younger) adults and was related to less negative emotions after losses (vs. gains). A focus on limited time was associated with more positive emotions across all participants. Our findings may inform interventions that aim to promote emotional well-being across all ages. (PsycINFO Database Record

Living longer with help from others: Seeking advice lowers mortality risk.

Associations between self-sufficiency and advice seeking with mortality risk were examined to assess the long-term implications of individualistic and interpersonally oriented strategies. Wave 1 participants from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States ( N = 6116, 25-75 years, Mage = 46.38 years) completed questionnaires assessing demographics, self-sufficiency, advice seeking, social support, and health. Cox proportional hazard models indicated that each standard deviation increase in seeking advice was associated with an 11 percent decreased hazard of dying 20 years later. Self-sufficiency was not significantly related. Future research should examine contexts in which interpersonal strategies are adaptive, as seeking advice from others promotes longevity.

Effects of Anti- Versus Pro-Vaccine Narratives on Responses by Recipients Varying in Numeracy: A Cross-sectional Survey-Based Experiment.

BACKGROUND: To inform their health decisions, patients may seek narratives describing other patients' evaluations of their treatment experiences. Narratives can provide anti-treatment or pro-treatment evaluative meaning that low-numerate patients may especially struggle to derive from statistical information. Here, we examined whether anti-vaccine (v. pro-vaccine) narratives had relatively stronger effects on the perceived informativeness and judged vaccination probabilities reported among recipients with lower (v. higher) numeracy. METHODS: Participants ( n = 1,113) from a nationally representative US internet panel were randomly assigned to an anti-vaccine or pro-vaccine narrative, as presented by a patient discussing a personal experience, a physician discussing a patient's experience, or a physician discussing the experiences of 50 patients. Anti-vaccine narratives described flu experiences of patients who got the flu after getting vaccinated; pro-vaccine narratives described flu experiences of patients who got the flu after not getting vaccinated. Participants indicated their probability of getting vaccinated and rated the informativeness of the narratives. RESULTS: Participants with lower numeracy generally perceived narratives as more informative. By comparison, participants with higher numeracy rated especially anti-vaccine narratives as less informative. Anti-vaccine narratives reduced the judged vaccination probabilities as compared with pro-vaccine narratives, especially among participants with lower numeracy. Mediation analyses suggested that low-numerate individuals' vaccination probabilities were reduced by anti-vaccine narratives-and, to a lesser extent, boosted by pro-vaccine narratives-because they perceived narratives to be more informative. These findings were similar for narratives provided by patients and physicians. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with lower numeracy may rely more on narrative information when making their decisions. These findings have implications for the development of health communications and decision aids.

Understanding Adult Age Differences in the Frequency of Problems With Friends.

We investigated characteristics of younger and older adults' friendships. Younger (N = 39) and older (N = 39) adults completed measures pertaining to a specific friend they had (i.e., contact frequency, positive friendship quality, and negative friendship quality) and their frequency of problems with friends in general. Older adults reported fewer problems with friends in general, and fewer negative friendship qualities, less frequent contact, and more positive friendship qualities with a specific friend than younger adults. Contact frequency, positive friendship quality, and negative friendship quality with a specific friend were related to frequency of problems with friends in general, but only contact frequency was a significant mediator of the relation between age and frequency of problems with friends in general. Results show that characteristics of a specific friendship relate to problems with friends in general, and that contact frequency with a specific friend mediates the relation between age and problems with friends in general. Implications are discussed.

What were they thinking? Reducing sunk-cost bias in a life-span sample.

We tested interventions to reduce "sunk-cost bias," the tendency to continue investing in failing plans even when those plans have soured and are no longer rewarding. We showed members of a national U.S. life-span panel a hypothetical scenario about a failing plan that was halfway complete. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention to focus on how to improve the situation, an intervention to focus on thoughts and feelings, or a no-intervention control group. First, we found that the thoughts and feelings intervention reduced sunk-cost bias in decisions about project completion, as compared to the improvement intervention and the no-intervention control. Second, older age was associated with greater willingness to cancel the failing plan across all 3 groups. Third, we found that introspection processes helped to explain the effectiveness of the interventions. Specifically, the larger reduction in sunk-cost bias as observed in the thoughts and feelings intervention (vs. the improvement intervention) was associated with suppression of future-oriented thoughts of eventual success, and with suppression of augmentations of the scenario that could make it seem reasonable to continue the plan. Fourth, we found that introspection processes were related to age differences in decisions. Older people were less likely to mention future-oriented thoughts of eventual success associated with greater willingness to continue the failing plan. We discuss factors to consider when designing interventions for reducing sunk-cost bias. (PsycINFO Database Record