Let\u27s Get Physical: Exploring the Socioemotional Motivators of Group Exercise for Older Adults

Approximately 75% of active adults in the U.S. do not meet the recommended levels of overall physical activity (CDC, 2021a). Given the beneficial impact of physical activity on health, an 8-week long, evidence-based group exercise program—Fit & Strong! (F&S!)—was created to improve the health of older adults (Hughes et al., 2004, 2006, 2010). Despite the clear physical benefits of F&S!, it remains unknown what motivates F&S! participants to initially participate in the program and also throughout the program. Drawing from core notions of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), research has found that older adults are highly motivated to exercise by social goals (Steltenpohl et al., 2019). In other work, Fredrickson (2016) has proposed that positivity resonance—a caring interpersonal connection involving shared positivity and synchrony—is impactful in enhancing psychological and physiological wellbeing, and may play a central role in the quality of the older adults’ exercise experiences. As such, we investigated the extent to which health, social, and emotional factors motivated older adults to participate in F&S!, as well as the presence of positivity resonance during the program itself. Results indicated that (1) F&S! is most important to older adults for health and social reasons relative to emotional reasons, and (2) older adults, within the context of group exercise, experienced high levels of positivity resonance. These findings highlight the importance of how emphasizing both the social and health benefits of group exercise may be leveraged to motivate and maintain intentions to exercise for older adults

Pandemic Pressure: Race, Job Insecurity, and Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic

With the ongoing pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, the working world has been drastically altered. Additionally, pandemic related pressures are not evenly distributed across racial groups–with negative outcomes being exacerbated as a byproduct of structural inequities for people of color (Seldan & Berdahl, 2020). Using the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983), and Job Insecurity Scale (Ashford et al., 1989), we aimed to determine how various work-related factors such as job insecurity, essential worker status, and race relate to overall perceived stress in daily life. Participants (n = 266; Mage = 50.56 years, SD = 7.83; age range: 18-76 years; 49% white, 51% Black) completed a variety of measures through an online survey collected between mid-April and late May 2021. The results indicated that for white workers who identified as non-essential, and Black workers who identified as essential, increased job insecurity predicted an increase in perceived stress. The results of the study provide a launching point for identifying which demographic groups may need more support in the working world. Black essential workers and white non-essential workers likely would greatly benefit from support, resources, and interventions aiming to reduce workplace stress and improve wellbeing

Happiness unpacked: Positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience.

Happiness – a composite of life satisfaction, coping resources, and positive emotions – predicts desirable life outcomes in many domains. The broaden-and-build theory suggests that this is because positive emotions help people build lasting resources. To test this hypothesis we measured emotions daily for one month in a sample of students (N=86) and assessed life satisfaction and trait resilience at the beginning and end of the month. Positive emotions predicted increases in both resilience and life satisfaction. Negative emotions had weak or null effects, and did not interfere with the benefits of positive emotions. Positive emotions also mediated the relation between baseline and final resilience, but life satisfaction did not. This suggests that it is in-the-moment positive emotions, and not more general positive evaluations of one’s life, that form the link between happiness and desirable life outcomes. Change in resilience mediated the relation between positive emotions and increased life satisfaction, suggesting that happy people become more satisfied not simply because they feel better, but because they develop resources for living well

The Wnt Receptor, Lrp5, Is Expressed by Mouse Mammary Stem Cells and Is Required to Maintain the Basal Lineage

Background: Ectopic Wnt signaling induces increased stem/progenitor cell activity in the mouse mammary gland, followed by tumor development. The Wnt signaling receptors, Lrp5/6, are uniquely required for canonical Wnt activity. Previous data has shown that the absence of Lrp5 confers resistance to Wnt1-induced tumor development. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we show that all basal mammary cells express Lrp5, and co-express Lrp6 in a similar fashion. Though Wnt dependent transcription of key target genes is relatively unchanged in mammary epithelial cell cultures, the absence of Lrp5 specifically depletes adult regenerative stem cell activity (to less than 1%). Stem cell activity can be enriched by.200 fold (over 80 % of activity), based on high Lrp5 expression alone. Though Lrp5 null glands have apparent normal function, the basal lineage is relatively reduced (from 42 % basal/total epithelial cells to 22%) and Lrp52/2 mammary epithelial cells show enhanced expression of senescence-associated markers in vitro, as measured by expression of p16 Ink4a and TA-p63. Conclusions/Significance: This is the first single biomarker that has been demonstrated to be functionally involved in stem cell maintenance. Together, these results demonstrate that Wnt signaling through Lrp5 is an important component o

Fit and Strong! Improves Both Physical and Emotional Well-being

Older adults typically experience improved emotional well-being compared to younger adults (Carstensen, 2006). However, not all older adults attain high emotional well-being. One possibility is that some older adults experience more severe reductions in their physical fitness, leading to worse physiological functioning and reduced mobility for daily activities. The present study investigated the relationship between physical fitness and emotional experience in older adults. In this study, older adults participated in Fit and Strong!, an 8-week CDC recommended exercise program aimed at improving physical functioning and activity in older adults. In addition to the exercise program, participants completed a series of emotional assessments and an in-person physical assessment before and after the 8 weeks. Results showed that the program lead to an increase in physical fitness, and that this improvement related to an increase in emotional well-being for older adults.https://via.library.depaul.edu/psychologynight/1156/thumbnail.jp

Do Fluctuations in Subjective Affect Matter When Taking Risks?

Research suggests that affect plays a unique role in determining risk taking. The Affect Heuristic suggests that positive affect leads to perceptions of greater benefits and lower risks, whereas negative affect leads to perceptions of lower benefits and greater risks (Slovic, Finucane, Peters, & MacGregor, 2007). We examined the role of affective fluctuations as a unique factor that influences risky decision-making within the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART; Lejuez et al., 2002). The results of the study confirm the Affect Heuristic: affect predicted risk-taking. Specifically, more positive affect led to greater risk-taking. Importantly, affective fluctuations were a unique predictor of risk-taking beyond affect itself. Greater affective fluctuation led to greater risk-taking. This suggests that although affective valence is an important factor that influences risk-taking, the fluctuation in affect over time is unique information that guides decision processes.https://via.library.depaul.edu/psychologynight/1157/thumbnail.jp