A 6-item scale for overall, emotional, and social loneliness: Confirmatory tests on survey data

Loneliness is an indicator of social well-being and pertains to the feeling of missing an intimate relationship (emotional loneliness) or missing a wider social network (social loneliness). The 11-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale has proved to be a valid and reliable measurement instrument for overall, emotional, and social loneliness, although its length has sometimes rendered it difficult to use in large surveys. In this study, the authors empirically tested a shortened version of the scale on data from two surveys (N = 9,448). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the specification of two latent factors. Congruent validity and the relationship with determinants (partner status, health) proved to be optimal. The 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale is a reliable and valid measurement instrument for overall, emotional, and social loneliness that is suitable for large surveys

Optimierung durch Selektion und Kompensation

Ein psychologisches Modell erfolgreichen oder "guten" Alterns wird vorgestellt, das von sechs empirisch fundierten Thesen ausgeht: (l) Unterscheidung zwischen normalem, krankem und optimalem Altern; (2) interindividuelle Variabilität (Heterogenität); (3) Plastizität und Kapazitätsreserve; (4) altersbedingte Verringerung der Bandbreite von Kapazitätsreserven oder Anpassungsfähigkeit; (5) altersabhängige Veränderung des Verhältnisses von Entwicklungsgewinn und -verlust; und schließlich (6) Aufrechterhaltung großer subjektiver Zufriedenheit und des Selbstbewirkungsvermögens auch im vorgerückten Alter. Das von diesen Thesen abgeleitete prototheoretische Modell der Optimierung durch Selektion und Kompensation (model of selective optimization with compensation) charakterisiert den Prozeß einer wirkungsvollen psychologischen Anpassung an die Bedingungen des Alterns. Das Modell ist universalistisch angelegt, schließt aber auch phänotypische Variationen aufgrund individueller und gesellschaftlicher Merkmale ein

The Ecopsychological Relativity and Plasticity of Psychological Aging: Convergent Perspectives of Cohort Effects and Operant Psychology

Boesch's conceptual and empirical emphasis has been on demonstrating the plasticity of behavior and behavioral development as evidenced in ecopsychological perspectives and intra- and intercultural comparisons. Two lines of research are reviewed to illustrate the power of an ecopsychological position for the study of development and aging: (1) cohort effect in behavioral development and (2) operantly based intervention effects in aging. Research on cohort effects shows large variability in the nature of development across generations in a variety of behaviors. Operant research in aging, contrary to widely held stereotypes about the fixedness and irreversibility of aging phenomena, has also produced persuasive evidence on variability and the plasticity of aging behavior. In addition, operant research has shown that operant psychology represents a model which, due to its focus on a systematic analysis of behavior-environment systems, is consistent with an ecopsychological position. The present evidence on the variability and plasticity of development and aging has significant implications, not only for theory construction in the field, but also for issues in social policy dealing with the aged

Validity of retrospective time-use reports in old age

In a sample of N ˆ 83 participants aged between 72 and 97, we assessed the accuracy of time budgets originating from the Yesterday Interview (YI; Moss and Lawton, 1982) by means of comparison with in-situ assessments based on the Experience-Sampling Method (ESM; e.g. Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 1987). We examined convergent and discriminant correlation patterns from indices of activity participation, location, company, and mood collected via both methods. The correspondence between the two methods appeared acceptable. Furthermore, we explored whether (a) length of the retention interval, (b) congruence with pre-existing knowledge, and (c) congruence of the locations of encoding and retrieval accounted for (in)accuracy of recall. We also analysed the degree to which age and cognitive functioning explained performance di€erences. While we found discrepancies between YI and ESM to be hardly attributable to context e€ects or di€erences in cognitive functioning, there was an age e€ect. Finally, the sensitivity of the two methods to detect di€erences between groups was found to be largely equivalent but hardly su�ciently convergent. Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd