Psychology and Aging

Advancing theory-driven research in the psychological science of adult development and aging.
Theory is critical for a developmental science that explains age-related change and stability in psychological phenomena—and their variation across generational and sociocultural contexts. This special issue presents four contributions that advance theoretical approaches to the psychological science of adult development and aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
What’s time got to do with it? Appreciation of time influences social goals and emotional well-being.
Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) maintains that perceived constraints on time horizons motivate people to optimize emotionally meaningful experiences in the present, whereas expansive time horizons lead people to pursue goals that hold future utility. Theoretically, the prioritizing of goals about emotional meaning contributes to the relatively high levels of emotional well-being and mental health observed in older people. The present article provides an overview of SST and places it in historical context, noting the differences and similarities it shares with contemporaneous approaches. We briefly review support for core theoretical postulates and consider a recent set of empirical findings that speak against the role of perceived time on emotional well-being. We argue that existing survey measures of time horizons do not capture the increasing value and appreciation of remaining time posited in SST and describe the development of and evidence for a new Appreciation of Remaining Time scale. We conclude with a discussion about the need for theoretical precision in research and, more broadly, the need to consider explanations for age differences that extend beyond compensation for loss to fully understand socioemotional development in adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Experiential diversity theory of adult development and aging in daily life.
Present theories on adult development and aging offer insights into how aging is characterized by gains and losses across different domains (e.g., social, emotional, physical, and cognitive). Such gains and losses are related to changes in behaviors and experiences across various facets of daily life. However, much of the literature has focused on overall quantity of experiences rather than how such experiences are spread across different types. In this article, we propose that experiential diversity, conceptualized as rich and balanced experiences, is an important component of healthy and resilient aging. A conceptual framework demonstrates the theoretical underpinnings associating person–environment interactions with differences in experiential diversity and linking experiential diversity with aging-related outcomes. Experiential diversity is also discussed in the context of ontogenetic and sociohistorical change processes. Advances in empirical studies of experiential diversity across three representative domains of daily experiences (activities, stressors, and emotions) demonstrate how diversity of experiences declines with age. We further provide methodological (e.g., quantification, measurement, and timescales) and theoretical (e.g., moderators and cross-domain considerations) considerations for future studies on experiential diversity beyond the daily domains. Experiential diversity theory provides a theoretical leap, taking advantage of rich categorical data measured in studies of psychology and aging, and allowing for more nuanced consideration of the role of diverse experiences for healthy aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Associative memory in older adults: Making sense of associative memory deficits and hyperbinding effects.
Aging is generally associated with differences in associative memory, which is memory for relationships between arbitrary pieces of information. There are two predominant explanations for age-related declines in associative memory: (a) the associative deficit hypothesis, which posits that older adults decline in their ability to form and retrieve associations, and (b) the inhibitory deficit hypothesis, which suggests that older adults bind more information together than intended—that is, they form and then struggle to ignore too many irrelevant associations, rather than bind too few appropriate associations. We sought to reconcile these two seemingly conflicting theories. First, we provide overviews of the two theoretical frameworks and their standard associated experimental paradigms. We then synthesize the existing literature in order to reach a resolution for the associative deficit hypothesis and inhibitory deficit hypothesis frameworks together: Evidence supporting both frameworks points to changes in effortful, controlled processing that lead to differential effects in associative memory function in aging. In revisiting the explanatory contribution of this long-standing theory of cognitive aging, we raise areas of interest and key considerations to advance future work on associative memory in older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
The coping, appraisal, and resilience in aging (CARA) model: Longitudinal findings from the Normative Aging Study.
Resilience is central to understanding how individuals withstand the adverse effects of stress, but there is no generally agreed-upon definition of what constitutes resilience in later life. The present study tests the coping, appraisal, and resilience in aging model, which posits that resilient older adults, when faced with a problem, can draw upon their lifelong experience to minimize coping effort to conserve resources but still maintain a sense of coping efficacy (perceptions of how well they had handled the specific problem). We assessed coping effort and efficacy in 896 men in the Veterans’ Affairs Normative Aging Study (Mage in 1993 = 64.46, SD = 6.6, range = 50–89) who were followed for 24 years (1993–2016), providing 3,459 observations. Multilevel modeling showed that coping effort decreased significantly, but coping efficacy showed only modest decreases with age. Group-based multitrajectory models indicated three groups. Struggling Copers (22.4%) had low, stable coping effort and efficacy. Modest Decliners (36.9%) had moderate levels of coping effort and high efficacy, both of which decreased with age. Optimal Copers (40.7%) had initially high coping effort, which declined more steeply, and stable, high coping efficacy. Struggling Copers were highest on neuroticism and pessimism at baseline, while Modest Decliners were lowest on neuroticism and highest on extraversion. The complex pattern of results suggested that both resource conservation and decreasing perceived control models were applicable, but to different subgroups. Nonetheless, nearly 80% of the sample were able to sustain high levels of coping efficacy, indicating good resilience in later life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Kids or no kids? Life goals in one’s 20s predict midlife trajectories of well-being.
For many people, parenthood constitutes a crucial part of a successful life. Yet, the number of adults who never have children is increasing and has prompted concerns about their well-being. Past research mostly focused on parents and rarely investigated factors that are theoretically meaningful for the well-being of adults without children. Our preregistered study uses a propensity-score matched design to investigate how life goals contribute to differences between adults with and without children in the development of eight well-being facets. Leveraging data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we constructed a matched sample comprising N = 562 individuals (average participation = 24.9 waves) who provided data from when they were young adults (ages 18–30) to an age when parenthood becomes less likely (age 40 for women, age 50 for men). We find almost no significant differences in the average midlife well-being trajectories of adults with and without children. Only in young adulthood, people without children reported better mental health, lower negative affect as well as lower positive affect, and more loneliness. Select evidence for a gender moderation suggests that fathers were less lonely than mothers as well as men and women without children. Prioritizing the goal to have children during early adulthood was related to lower midlife mental health, cognitive, and affective well-being in adults without children, but not in parents. Disengaging from the goal to have children was associated with positive changes in life satisfaction in adults without children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Retirement and life satisfaction among middle-aged and older adults: A piecewise growth mixture analysis.
Retirement represents a significant life transition typically occurring in later adulthood, often accompanied by substantial lifestyle changes. Several theoretical frameworks suggest that these changes present both opportunities and challenges for well-being, and the extent to which individuals experience positive versus negative well-being outcomes may be influenced by various factors. To study such heterogeneity in retirement experiences, researchers have embraced person-centered methodologies. Yet, some previous studies have not robustly delineated retirement- from age-related changes in well-being, accounted for statistical uncertainties, or examined these diverse experiences outside of a Western context. These limitations preclude conclusions about the diverse experience of retirement. Using both person- and variable-centered approaches, this study examined life satisfaction trajectories before and after retirement among 532 retired middle-aged and older adults from the Singapore Life Panel. Controlling for age-related changes, latent growth mixture analysis was employed to identify retirement subgroups with varying life satisfaction trajectories. Three distinct trajectories were revealed—decreasingly satisfied, stable postretirement, and increasingly satisfied. As compared to those increasingly satisfied, decreasingly satisfied individuals tended to have lower social support, were higher on neuroticism, and had higher income. While expressed to a similar magnitude across profiles, education and religious activity also emerged as important predictors of well-being in retirement transition. Findings from the present study highlight the importance of recognizing heterogeneity in retirement experiences and opportunities for targeted interventions to support retirees’ well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Emotional support across adulthood: A 60-year study of men’s social networks.
Past research shows that social networks get smaller with age. But not all types of relationships may shrink at the same rate or for similar reasons. In the present study, we used a unique data set from a sample of 235 men who were followed longitudinally for 71 years to examine how the general pattern of network shrinkage documented in previous research generalizes to the number of emotional support providers in people’s networks. We additionally examined early-life predictors of the size of later-life support network. Growth curve analyses revealed that, mirroring the more general pattern of network shrinkage, emotional support networks shrink by as much as 50% between the ages of 30 and 90, reflecting an average reduction from two to one support providers. Examining the associations between prospectively collected measures of childhood family environment and later-life emotional support, we also found that men who grew up in warmer family environments had larger support networks in adulthood. In contrast, childhood family socioeconomic status was not connected to the size of emotional support networks later in life. The generalizability of this work is limited by the use of an archival all-male sample from the United States. Despite this limitation, these findings make important contributions to our understanding of adult socioemotional development and underscore the importance of prospectively collected longitudinal data in developmental research. Additional research is needed to examine the consequences of changing emotional support across the lifespan for health and well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Are depressive symptoms associated with biological aging in a cross-sectional analysis of adults over age 50 in the United States.
Major depressive disorder accelerates DNA methylation age, a biological aging marker. Subclinical depressive symptoms are common, but their link to DNA methylation aging in older adults remains unexplored. This study analyzed the cross-sectional relationship between depressive symptoms and accelerated DNA methylation aging, considering gender and race/ethnicity in U.S. adults aged over 50. We used data from 3,882 diverse participants in the 2016 Health and Retirement Study wave, measuring blood DNA methylation age against chronologic age for acceleration. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Multiple linear regression evaluated the association between depressive symptoms and DNA methylation age acceleration, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, blood cell proportions, and health behaviors (physical activity, alcohol use, smoking, and chronic conditions). Gender and race/ethnicity modifications were also tested. Depressive symptoms, measured by continuous CES-D score, high depressive symptoms (CES-D ≥ 4), or any symptoms (CES-D ≥ 1), significantly correlated with increased GrimAge DNA methylation age acceleration (all p ≤ .001) in unadjusted and sociodemographic-adjusted models but were nonsignificant in fully adjusted models. No significant gender or race/ethnicity effect modifications were found in fully adjusted models. Health behaviors significantly influence DNA methylation age acceleration and depressive phenotypes, underscoring the need to understand their roles in assessing psychological factors related to DNA methylation age acceleration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Effects of one-to-one music therapy in older adults with cognitive impairment: A randomized controlled trial.
This study investigated the effects of music therapy (MT), a nonpharmacological therapy, on cognitive, behavioral, and physiological outcomes in older adults with mild-to-moderate cognitive decline residing in care home settings. A randomized controlled trial design was employed, with 42 care home residents (Mage = 86.25 years) randomly assigned to either a one-to-one 16-week MT intervention or an active control group receiving storytelling. Experimental and control activities were matched on key aspects, and groups were equivalent at baseline concerning demographic factors, general health, cognitive–behavioral characteristics, and cognitive reserve levels. Pre/postintervention neuropsychological and behavioral measures were collected, alongside saliva samples for cortisol/dehydroepiandrosterone ratio and respiratory sinus arrhythmia analysis as indicators of overall stress and autonomic regulation. The MT group exhibited benefits in cognitive, behavioral, and physiological domains, suggesting potential advantages in maintaining cognitive functioning and reducing neuropsychiatric symptoms. Biomarkers indicated possible mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of MT. The 16 one-to-one interactive MT sessions—delivered over 5 months—had a positive impact on older adults with mild-to-moderate cognitive decline living in care home settings. The implications of these findings for healthy aging and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychology and Aging - Vol 39, Iss 8