Age-Related Attributions of Experienced Changes in Life: Origins and Implications.

OBJECTIVES: Attributing life changes to age represents a core marker of the subjective experience of aging. The aims of our study were to investigate views on aging (VA) as origins of age-related attributions of life changes and to investigate the implications of these age-related attributions for personal control (PC) and life satisfaction (LS). METHODS: Life changes and the attribution of life changes to age were independently assessed on a large international sample of older adults (N = 2,900; age range 40-90 years) from the Ageing as Future project. The valence of VA, PC, and LS were also assessed to investigate possible determinants (VA) and consequences (PC and LS) of age-related attributions of life changes. RESULTS: Attributions to age were shown to depend on the valence of experienced life changes, with more negative changes being linked to more age-related attributions. This relation was moderated by the valence of personally held VA, with more negative VA amplifying the relation between negative life changes and age-related attributions. Age-related attributions predicted reduced PC and lower LS and were found to exacerbate the effects of negative life changes on LS, especially for the older cohorts of our sample. DISCUSSION: Our findings help to better understand what determines age-related attributions of life changes and highlight the negative consequences of attributing them to aging. Age-related attributions of change are a major factor that worsens the subjective aging experience. Methodologically, our study emphasizes the necessity to separately assess changes and their attributions to age.

Race attitudes in cultural context: The view from two Brazilian states.

The development of implicit and explicit racial attitudes were investigated in 542 White, Pardo, and Black Brazilian children and adolescents (aged 6 to 14) from 2 different regional contexts that vary dramatically in their racial diversity, Bahia (BA) and Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Results revealed the pervasive presence of race biases favoring higher status groups across multiple measures of implicit and explicit attitude. Contextual differences were also apparent, particularly in measures of group identification: Children from the more diverse context (BA), including Black children, identified themselves more strongly with lighter skin tones, particularly with Whites. Implicit attitudes were stable with age, whereas explicit attitudes generally showed less bias as a function of age. Implicit and explicit racial preference were related in younger but not older children, providing evidence of increasing divergence across early development. Differences between our findings and those reported from other regions underscores the need for greater diversity in our research efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).