Daily activities and survival at older ages

This study tested the hypothesis that time spent on regenerative (e.g., resting), productive (e.g., housework), and consumptive activities (e.g., meeting friends) is associated with survival in persons aged 70 and older. An observational study with semi-annual mortality follow-ups was carried out in the former West Berlin, Germany. The sample was stratified by age and sex and consisted of 473 persons aged 70 to 103 years. Study participants lived in the community as well as in institutions. Activity measures were assessed in 1990-1993 by structured interviews in the participants´ homes. Cox regression was used to model survival from time of interview. The main outcome measure was survival on 3 February 2000. Consumptive activities were related to survival (relative risk = 0.76, 95% confidence interval 0.58 to 1.00) after several confounding factors were controlled for. There were indications that the greatest survival benefit is achieved with a medium amount of time devoted to consumptive activities. Our results support the idea that daily activities are linked to survival via a psychosocial pathway, which might involve perceived quality of life. Consumptive activities (e.g., meeting friends, reading a novel) may contribute considerably to maintaining health and achieving longevity, because they are performed on a daily basis and their effects may accumulate over the life course.

Grandparental investment facilitates harmonization of work and family in employed parents: A lifespan psychological perspective

The target article emphasizes the need to identify psychological mechanisms underlying grandparental investment, particularly in low-risk family contexts. We extend this approach by addressing the changing demands of balancing work and family in low-risk families. Taking a lifespan psychological perspective, we identify additional motivators and potential benefits of grandparental investment for grandparents themselves and for subsequent generation

Correspondence Between Retrospective and Momentary Ratings of Positive and Negative Affect in Old Age: Findings From a One-Year Measurement Burst Design

Objectives and Method. Using 5 measurement bursts spanning 1 year, this study examined correspondences between retrospective end-of-year ratings and momentary ratings of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) in 53 older adult participants from the Berlin Aging Study. Results. Average momentary assessments were moderately positively correlated with retrospective ratings of PA and NA. Hierarchical regression analyses further indicate that mean momentary PA best predicted retrospective PA over and above peak or recent momentary PA, whereas no such pattern emerged for NA. No evidence for age differences in these patterns was found. Discussion. Our discussion focuses on the implications of affective memory biases for examining affective experiences as they occur in peoples' daily lives and points to implications concerning methods and theory developmen

Linking Possible Selves and Behavior: Do Domain-Specific Hopes and Fears Translate Into Daily Activities in Very Old Age?

We used time-sampling information from a subsample of the Berlin Aging Study (N = 83; M = 81.1 years) to investigate the link between possible selves in three domains (health, everyday cognition, and social relations) and performance of daily activities. In the domains of health and social relations, hoped-for selves were associated with higher probabilities of performing daily activities in those domains. There were no associations in the cognitive domain or between feared selves and activities. Individuals who engaged in hope-related activities reported concurrent higher positive affect and subsequently had a higher probability of survival over a 10-year period. These findings speak to important associations between beliefs about possible selves and activities in advanced old age and the value of considering associations between microlevel and macrolevel indicators of successful agin

Daily Work Stress and Relationship Satisfaction: Detachment Affects Romantic Couples' Interactions Quality

Psychologically detaching from work in the private setting is crucial to recover from work stress and promotes well-being. Moreover, broad evidence documents negative effects of stress on relationship quality. However, the interpersonal consequences of detachment have barely been studied. We seek to investigate, in daily life, whether and how detachment affects the interaction quality with the romantic partner. We propose that stress impedes detaching from work, and that detachment in turn, promotes individuals’ ability to engage in positive interactions at home, which increases individual and relational well-being. In a first experience sampling study, involving 106 dual-earner couples with young children, detachment mediated the association between work stress and not only the stressed individual’s, but also their partner’s relationship quality. However, positive (affectionate) behaviors did not play a significant role in this process. In a second experience sampling study, involving 53 dual-earner couples with preschool children, detachment was associated with more affectionate interactions, which in turn, predicted lower actor, but not partner evening strain. These results suggest that detachment from work not only affects the working individual’s, but also their close partner’s the perception of their interactions, showing that detachment plays an important mediating role in the stress spillover and crossover process. This emphasizes the relevance of addressing interpersonal processes in the association between detachment and well-being

Prolonged performance-related neuroendocrine activation and perseverative cognition in low- and high-anxious university music students.

Music performances are social-evaluative situations that can elicit marked short-term neuroendocrine activation and anxious thoughts especially in musicians suffering from music performance anxiety (MPA). The temporal patterns of neuroendocrine activity and concert-related worry and rumination (perseverative cognition, PC) days before and after a concert in low- and high-anxious musicians are unknown. The first goal of the present study was to investigate the prolonged effects of a solo music performance and the effects of trait MPA on salivary cortisol (sC), alpha-amylase (sAA), and concert-related PC. The second goal was to investigate whether concert-related PC is associated with neuroendocrine activity and mediates the effects of measurement day and trait MPA on neuroendocrine responses. Seventy-two university music students collected saliva samples and reported their PC for seven consecutive days. On the fifth day, they performed solo. Measurement day and trait MPA were tested as main predictors of the diurnal area under the curve with respect to ground (sC AUCg, sAA AUCg), awakening responses, and PC. SC AUCg, sAA AUCg, and concert-related PC were highest on concert day. SC AUCg decreased only partially on post-concert days. SAA AUCg remained elevated on the first post-concert day among students with moderate to very high trait MPA. Throughout the assessment period, trait MPA was associated with smaller sC AUCg and higher concert-related PC. Concert-related PC showed significant positive associations with sC AUCg and sAA AUCg but did not mediate the effects of measurement day and trait MPA on these measures. These findings suggest that solo music performances have prolonged neuroendocrine effects and that trait MPA is an important factor having specific effects on university music students' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, autonomic nervous system, and cognitive activity

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

Daily activities and survival at older ages

This study tested the hypothesis that time spent on regenerative (e.g., resting), productive (e.g., housework), and consumptive activities (e.g., meeting friends) is associated with survival in persons aged 70 and older. An observational study with semi-annual mortality follow-ups was carried out in the former West Berlin, Germany. The sample was stratified by age and sex and consisted of 473 persons aged 70 to 103 years. Study participants lived in the community as well as in institutions. Activity measures were assessed in 1990-1993 by structured interviews in the participants' homes. Cox regression was used to model survival from time of interview. The main outcome measure was survival on 3 February 2000. Consumptive activities were related to survival (relative risk = 0.76, 95% confidence interval 0.58 to 1.00) after several confounding factors were controlled for. There were indications that the greatest survival benefit is achieved with a medium amount of time devoted to consumptive activities. Our results support the idea that daily activities are linked to survival via a psychosocial pathway, which might involve perceived quality of life. Consumptive activities (e.g., meeting friends, reading a novel) may contribute considerably to maintaining health and achieving longevity, because they are performed on a daily basis and their effects may accumulate over the life course