When a bad day at the golf course is a bad day at the office:Occupational stressors, institutional supports, and the mental health of NCAA golf coaches

This study examined the mental health of NCAA collegiate golf coaches. Utilizing the person-environment fit theory and previous literature on coaches’ well-being, this study examined four outcomes among 48 participants, namely: depressive and anxiety symptoms, burnout, and job turnover intentions. Results suggested that coaching stressors (e.g., administrative tasks, practice plans, pressure to win) only associate with greater burnout. More consistent evidence showed that workplace stress (e.g., lack of control and autonomy, poor work-family balance) associated with higher levels of all outcomes. Finally, greater perceived organizational support had a beneficial association with each outcome. The findings of the current study suggest golf coaches are at risk of mental health problems because of the stressors of this job. Taken as a whole, athletic departments, coaches, and student-athletes must reconsider norms that overemphasize performance and underemphasize self-care and work-life balance

As Goes the City? Older Americans’ Home Upkeep in the Aftermath of the Great Recession

The private home is a crucial site in the aging process, yet the upkeep of this physical space often poses a challenge for community-dwelling older adults. Previous efforts to explain variation in disorderly household conditions have relied on individual-level characteristics, but ecological perspectives propose that home environments are inescapably nested within the dynamic socioeconomic circumstances of surrounding spatial contexts, such as the metro area. We address this ecological embeddedness in the context of the Great Recession, an event in which some U.S. cities saw pronounced and persistent declines across multiple economic indicators while other areas rebounded more rapidly. Panel data (2005–6 and 2010–11) from a national survey of older adults were linked to interviewer home evaluations and city-level economic data. Results from fixed-effects regression support the hypothesis that older adults dwelling in struggling cities experienced an uptick in disorderly household conditions. Findings emphasize the importance of city-specificity when probing effects of a downturn. Observing changes in home upkeep also underscores the myriad ways in which a city’s most vulnerable residents— older adults, in particular—are affected by its economic fortunes

For everything a season? A month-by-month analysis of social network resources in later life

It is widely acknowledged that informal social ties provide older persons with many resources that serve to protect and improve their levels of health and well-being. Most studies on this topic, however, ignore the month or season of the year during which data was accumulated. This study proposes two hypotheses to explain seniors' social network resources over the calendar year: the “fluctuation hypothesis”, which proposes that seasonal variation, in the form of weather fluctuations, institutional calendars, and holidays, might influence the social lives and resources of older persons, and the “network stability” perspective, which, informed by tenets of convoy theory and socioemotional selectivity theory, emphasizes the increasing importance of close network ties as individuals age and the stability of these ties. Using two waves (2005e2006 and 2010e2011) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults aged 57e85 in the United States, we examine a diverse set of nine social connectedness outcomes. Results, overall, support the network stability perspective, as the only social connectedness outcome found to significantly vary by month of year was average closeness with network members. We conclude by suggesting some methodological considerations for survey research and by noting how these findings complement the growing literature on inter-year fluctuation in social networks and social support. Changes in older adults’ networks, while frequently observable over the course of years, do not seem to be seasonally patterned

Probing the Religion-health Connection: Integrating Insights from the Life Course Perspective and Social Networks

While the balance of existing evidence suggests that religion is positively related to health and mental health, the nature of this relationship is complex, with religiosity found to have positive, negative, and null associations with various forms of health. While much progress has been made in revealing this complexity, there are several promising directions that can illuminate currently understudied aspects of this relationship. This dissertation further probes the religion and health connection by integrating the life course perspective and the religious dimensions of people’s close social networks. I argue that the premise that earlier life conditions affect later life outcomes contains an underlying logic generalizable to the domain of religion. Using longitudinal data, Chapter 2 explores the potential long-term health effects of religiosity in the childhood home, and finds that children brought up in highly religious households have a higher risk of mortality than those socialized in more moderately religious households. Extending the findings of Chapter 2, Chapter 3 uses over 35 years of prospective panel data and expands on the life course perspective by considering religious accumulation—the consequences of remaining (ir)religious—as opposed to increasing or decreasing religious attendance, what I term religious mobility. Taken together, results suggest an enduring influence of childhood religiosity on health and mortality, and a beneficial impact of continuity of frequent religious practice over the life course. Health behaviors, particularly smoking, largely mediate the relationship between childhood religiosity and health. Finally, Chapter 4 examines why network religiosity may promote or detract from well-being. Social connection is often offered as the reason for why religion (broadly defined) is beneficial for health. Using nationally representative egocentric network data, this chapter indicates that various dimensions of network members’ religiosity—shared religious tradition, discussion of religious matters, and exchange of prayer support—have different implications for mental health. These associations, moreover, are contingent on respondents’ own religiosity. Considered as a whole, this dissertation broadens the vast body of work assessing the complex relationship between religion and health by offering insight into when and why religion may shape health, in both positive and negative ways.Ph.D.2021-11-15 00:00:0

Using prosocial behavior to safeguard mental health and foster emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A registered report protocol for a randomized trial.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the accompanying lockdown measures, and their possible long-term effects have made mental health a pressing public health concern. Acts that focus on benefiting others-known as prosocial behaviors-offer one promising intervention that is both flexible and low cost. However, neither the range of emotional states prosocial acts impact nor the size of those effects is currently clear, both of which directly influence its attractiveness as a treatment option. Using a large online sample from Canada and the United States, we will examine the effect of a three-week prosocial intervention on two indicators of emotional well-being (happiness and the belief that one's life is valuable) and mental health (anxiety and depression). Respondents will be randomly assigned to perform prosocial, self-focused, or neutral behaviors each week. Two weeks after the intervention, a final survey will assess whether the intervention has a lasting effect on mental health and emotional well-being. Our results will illuminate whether prosocial interventions are a viable approach to addressing mental health needs during the current COVID-19 pandemic, as well for those who face emotional challenges during normal times

Supplemental Material, ROA_741347_Online_Appendices - Disorderly Households, Self-Presentation, and Mortality: Evidence From a National Study of Older Adults

<p>Supplemental Material, ROA_741347_Online_Appendices for Disorderly Households, Self-Presentation, and Mortality: Evidence From a National Study of Older Adults by Markus H. Schafer, Laura Upenieks and Andie MacNeil in Research on Aging</p

(Un)holy Smokes? Religion and Traditional and E-Cigarette Use in the United States

This study employed national cross-sectional survey data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (n = 1578 to 1735) to model traditional cigarette and e-cigarette use as a function of religious affiliation, general religiosity, biblical literalism, religious struggles, and the sense of divine control. Although the odds of abstaining from cigarettes and e-cigarettes were comparable for conservative Protestants and non-affiliates, conservative Protestants were more likely to cut down on cigarettes and e-cigarettes during the pandemic. Religiosity increased the odds of abstaining from cigarettes (not e-cigarettes) and reduced pandemic consumption of cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Biblical literalism was unrelated to abstaining from cigarettes and pandemic changes in cigarette use; however, biblical literalists were more likely to cut e-cigarette use during the pandemic. While the sense of divine control was unrelated to abstaining from cigarettes and e-cigarettes, these beliefs increased the odds of cessation from traditional and e-cigarette use. Finally, our religious struggles index was unrelated to smoking behavior. Our study is among the first to report any association between religion and lower e-cigarette use