bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
DOES SEXUAL ORIENTATION RELATE TO HEALTH AND WELL-BEING? A PROPENSITY-SCORE MATCHED ANALYSIS
Authors: Nelson Christi L , Andel Ross 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Around 2.7 million adults over the age of 50 self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) in the United States. Past research suggests that additional stressors caused by being a socially stigmatized minority group can have a negative effect on health and well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between sexual orientation and self-rated health, memory, and psychological well-being in a 1:3 propensity score-matched subsample from 2016 wave of Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative study of older adults. Each lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) participant (n=140) was matched with three straight participants (n=420) on age, sex, and education. The average age was 53.8 years (SD=2.3 years), 54% were men, the average education was 14.3 years (SD=2.4 years). Logistic regression results indicated that LGB participants were almost twice as likely to report ever having depression (OR=1.85, 95% CI=1.23-2.80). Conversely, LGB participants were more likely to report having better health (OR=1.47, 95% CI= 1.04-2.07) than straight participants and the two groups did not differ significantly in memory (OR=1.16, 95% CI= 0.82-1.64) from their straight counterparts. In conclusion, it is possible that the stigma due to sexual orientation plays a role in psychological well-being but may also reflect in better physical health but not cognitive health. It is also possible that the better health in LGB participants reflects self-report bias.
CONSTRUCTED FAMILY SYSTEMS FOR AGING LGBTQ ADULTS PLANNING FOR ELDER CARE
Authors: Hollis-Sawyer Lisa A , Tejada and Laura 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Examining the intersectionality of sexuality, gender, and age, Fredriksen-Goldsen (2017) argued that the aging LGBTQ community is a marginalized aging group, and the lack of attention to their social and other support needs are creating negative aging trajectories for those who have experienced lifespan issues of disenfranchisement and unfair treatment affecting their health and care planning. The effect of a family can be a complex one and is further determined by social class, race, ethnicity, gender, and region. Allen and Roberto (2016) suggested that the LGBT adults may have three different types of family experiences, ranging from their “family of origin” (biological family) to “family of choice” (created kinship family). Oswald (2002) presented research on resilience in constructed family systems for aging gays and lesbians and identified two underlying processes toward establishing and maintaining family resilience: intentionality relates to the intentional actions of the older adult to establish and maintain the chosen family system while redefinition involves using language and symbols to reinforce their social support network. This idea of “doing family” is critical to comprehend from LGBTQ family members’ perspectives for eldercare planning. Social support needs for changing family dynamics begins in middle adulthood among aging gays and lesbians (Barker et al., 2006). Hypothetical case studies (e.g., sibling dynamics) will be discussed with implications for support and intervention programs to assist in the eldercare decision making of this growing aging subpopulation. Resource tools will also be presented to help achieve positive eldercare outcomes in this process of “doing family.”
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL JUDGEMENTS RELATE TO SOCIAL EXPERIENCE ON THE JOB FOR OLDER ADULTS
Authors: Richards Cassandra , Stanley Jennifer T 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Older adults (OA) are worse than young adults (YA) at recognizing emotional facial expressions (Ruffman, Henry, Livingstone, & Phillips, 2008). In particular, age differences in anger recognition remain even when other emotions improve via additional context (e.g., Richter, Dietzel, & Kunzmann, 2011; Stanley & Isaacowitz, 2015). We investigated whether job experiences with greater social components would relate to better anger recognition and interpersonal perception in OA. We expected OA who held jobs with more social requirements would be better at anger recognition and interpersonal perception, but that this would differ by gender. OA (N=194) reported their present job and completed an emotion perception task and the Interpersonal Perception Task-15 (IPT-15; Costanzo & Archer, 1989). Ratings from the O*Net database were used to determine the degree of social requirements (0-100) for reported jobs. For older females, more social experience in their present job was related to better anger recognition (r =.45,p=.014). More face-to-face experience in the job held the longest was related to better overall emotion perception in older females (r=.20,p=.047). For older males, more social experience in their present job was related to worse anger recognition (r=-.45, p=.029). More coordination and leadership experience in the job held the longest was related to better interpersonal perception in older males (r =.28, p=.010). These results suggest gender is important when examining the degree to which social experience in the workplace relates to social judgments. Future work should investigate whether gender differences in subordinate vs leadership roles can account for these findings.
AGE MODERATES THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL REACTIVITY
Authors: Mikkelsen Mai B , Tramm Gitte , Mehlsen Mimi 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Background: According to the notion of maturational dualism, the link between mind and body weakens with age and this weakening has important consequences for emotional experiences. Specifically, it is hypothesized that age-related decline in interoceptive awareness and physiological reactivity reduce the ability to use bodily states to guide judgments about emotions. If this hypothesis is valid, then age may moderate the association between explicit measures (based on consciously accessible mental representations of affect) and implicit measures (based on unconscious affective processes such physiological activation) of affective reactivity. Purpose: To investigate whether age moderates the association between explicit and implicit measures of negative affective reactivity. Methods: A sample of 275 participants (age range=20-78) viewed 25 pictures validated to induce negative emotions. Participants filled in the PANAS assessing explicit affect and the IPANAT assessing implicit affect before and after viewing the pictures. Emotional reactivity was operationalized as residualized gain scores derived from regressions of baseline affect on affect following picture viewing. Results: Age moderated the association between implicit negative affective reactivity and explicit negative affective reactivity (B=60). Discussion: The results showed a reduced association between explicit and implicit negative affective reactivity with age. This finding is consistent with the notion of maturational dualism and may indicate that older adults use affective processes that are not represented consciously (e.g., physiological activation) less than young adults when judging their emotional state.
THE HIGHWAY OF LIFE: SOCIAL VIRTUAL REALITY AS A REMINISCENCE TOOL
Authors: Baker Steven J , Waycott Jenny , Warburton Jeni , Batchelor Frances 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
A large body of research demonstrates the positive impact that reminiscence activities can have on older adult wellbeing. Within this space, researchers have begun to explore how virtual reality (VR) technology might be used as a reminiscence tool. The immersive characteristics of VR could aid reminiscence by giving the sense of being fully present in a virtual environment that evokes the time being explored in the reminiscence session. However, to date, research into the use of VR as a reminiscence tool has overwhelmingly focussed on static environments that can only be viewed by a single user. This paper reports on a first-of-its-kind research project that used social VR (multiple users co-present in a single virtual environment), and 3D representations of personal artifacts (such as, photographs and recorded anecdotes), to allow a group of older adults to reminisce about their school experiences. Sixteen older adults aged 70-81 participated in a four-month user study, meeting in groups with a facilitator in a social virtual world called the Highway of Life. Results demonstrate how the social experience, tailored environment, and personal artifacts that were features of the social VR environment allowed the older adults to collaboratively reminisce about their school days. We conclude by considering the benefits and challenges associated with using social VR as a reminiscence tool with older adults.
LINKS BETWEEN POSITIVE AFFECT AND DISENGAGEMENT FROM NEGATIVE STIMULI IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS
Authors: Ossenfort Kathryn L , Isaacowitz Derek M 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Older adults attend to more positive than negative content compared to younger adults; this “age-related positivity” effect is often thought of as a way older adults may be regulating their moods. However, attentional disengagement abilities decline with age, which may make positive looking more challenging for older adults in some cases. To evaluate links between early attentional processes and affect, 48 younger adult and 49 older adult participants reported levels of positive and negative affect on the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and completed a spatial cueing task evaluating attentional orienting and disengagement from emotional stimuli. Participants were tasked with responding to the location of a spatial target after seeing a cue (emotional image) that either appeared on the same (orienting) or opposite (disengagement) side of the screen. Multilevel modeling analyses were conducted using age and self-reported affect from the PANAS as predictors at level-2, and trial characteristics as predictors at level-1. Positive affect (PA) was unrelated to task performance for younger adults. Older adults reporting higher PA responded more slowly overall, and higher PA scores predicted similar response times to positive and negative stimuli on both trial types. Older adults reporting lower PA oriented attention more quickly to positive stimuli, but took longer to disengage from negative. These results suggest that there may be a relationship between the ability to flexibly disengage from negative content and PA for older, but not younger adults, and also highlight the importance of teasing apart specific attentional processes when evaluating positivity effects.
REMEMBER AND REMINISCE: CONNECTING OUR SCIENCE TO PEOPLE’S LIVES
Authors: Gaugler Joseph E , Birkeland Robyn , Statz Tamara L , Zmora Rachel , Peterson Colleen M , McCarron Hayley R , Kazlauckas Nancy 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
A driving paradigm of science, including much of the discipline of gerontology, remains post-positivism. However, the post-positivistic emphasis on experimental control, elimination of “bias,” and internal validity may create a chasm between the science and scholarship we conduct and the lives of those who engage with us in such endeavors. The purpose of this presentation (a quilt provided to the authors by an individual who completed one of our studies evaluating the efficacy of a psychosocial support program for family members of relatives living in residential long-term care and with memory loss) is to offer an opportunity for scholars and others to reflect on the connections and partnerships we establish with those who volunteer to engage in our research initiatives. In particular, the aim of this presentation is to stimulate viewers to consider how we grow our relationships with those who volunteer in our research by creating true partnerships that outlast a single project. With the emergence of participatory research methodologies, person-centered care, and social media technologies, the importance of building relationships and partnerships with communities, families, and individuals in a more equitable manner is pressing. The use of the “Remember and Reminisce” quilt as well as other materials donated by individuals to dementia care researchers provide vivid, tactile reminders from those who engage with our science that our obligations to understanding their experiences must assume a broader, longer-term perspective than the boundaries that often dictate the life-cycle of a standard project/study.
THE HISTORY OF BEAUTY AND THE AESTHETICS OF LONGEVITY
Authors: Woodspring Naomi 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
A long standing cultural narrative is aging appearance is neither attractive nor acceptable. This has not always been the case; the aesthetics of older appearance has been appreciated other times in history. Significant numbers of older people in the public sphere, as a result of the longevity revolution, has created a sense of visibility of among older people, particularly women. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore current notions of beauty and age among the postwar generation. A diverse group of thirty-four women and men (born between 1945 -1955) from the US and the UK were interviewed with a focus on their own self-presentation and the acts of seeing and being seen. This paper explores the some of the findings from this study which asked the central question – can old people be beautiful and, if so, how is age and beauty defined? The majority of research participants answered in the affirmative and responded with clearly defined notions of age and beauty. The findings found significant gender differences; not within the central research question but in regard to their own appearance. There were also significant gender differences in terms of a ‘competitive’ or ‘cooperative’ gaze when observing other older people. This small study invites further research and points to a possible shift in the aesthetics of old age, in part, as a result of the longevity revolution. It provides an outline for further exploration of the importance of appearance, meaning, and a sense of self in old age.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MEANINGFUL LIVED EXPERIENCES RECALLED BY CENTENARIANS
Authors: Bhatta Jyoti , Bishop Alex J , Firdauysa Nadia , Finchum Tanya 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
The purpose of the investigation was to conduct a retrospective examination of meaningful live experiences reported by centenarians. Data for this study originated from N=111 centenarians (n = 43 men; n = 68 women) who participated in the Oklahoma 100-Year Life Project. Applying a hierarchical convoy mapping technique commonly used in social network evaluations, IBM/SPSS 23.0 was used to conduct a descriptive analysis of N = 654 recalled lived experiences. The Mini-Mental Status Examination-SF (MMSE-SF; M = 12.55; SD = 1.55) was used to screen all participants for cognitive orientation prior to participation to ensure capacity to consent and intact memory recall. Centenarian participants recalled a total of M = 6.90; SD= 2.61 lived experiences. Centenarian men recognized a significantly greater average number of meaningful experiences (F = (1, 653) = 30.53, p &lt; .01) compared to centenarian women (M = 4.06 vs. M = 3.43). A good proportion of centenarians (40.50%) acknowledged meaningful events as occurring during young-adulthood. However, the timing of such events occurred significantly earlier (F = (1, 357) = 7.37, p &lt; .01) on average for men compared to women (M = 27.60 yrs. vs. M = 34.11; 1.53). Further analysis revealed that over half of lived experiences considered meaningful among centenarians proportionally fit into three domain types: Family-oriented (19.5%); Work/employment related (18.7%); and Marriage (13.7%). Results have implications relative to understanding how variation in meaningful lived experiences among centenarians. Further evidence of a gendered life course in human longevity will be highlighted.
HARNESSING ARTS IN MEDICINE FOR STRENGTH IN AGE: CASE STUDY, CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS MEDICINE, HOUSTON METHODIST
Authors: Frazier J Todd 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
In the 1970’s hybrid arts and humanities programs began developing within healthcare systems across the country. Today, the National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH) represents a network of hundreds of programs with a major focus of serving older people and their caregivers. This presentation will provide an overview of this rapidly developing network along with a multimedia overview of a comprehensive arts and medicine hospital based program in the Texas Medical Center: Houston Methodist Hospital’s System Center for Performing Arts Medicine one of NOAH’s founding members. The Center’s expanding national, regional and community network of artist health, arts integration, creative arts therapy, research, and outreach programs serving older people will be described. Demonstrating how arts in health communicate and elevate value across disciplines through program evaluation (patient satisfaction and employee opinion), clinical research, and financial and outcome data will be explored as a case study.
LONGITUDINAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RESOURCES, MOTIVATION, AND ENGAGEMENT IN COGNITIVELY DEMANDING ACTIVITIES
Authors: Growney Claire , Hess Thomas M 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Selective Engagement Theory (SET; Hess, 2014) suggests that decreases in personal resources and increases in the costs associated with activity engagement in old age negatively influence the motivation to engage in cognitively demanding activities. Here we explore these ideas longitudinally including a wide range of personal resources (cognitive ability, physical health, emotional health, and sensory functioning), with the expectation that emotional health might be a particularly important resource for older adults given its relative preservation with age. Young (n=125; age 19-42 at Time 1) and older adults (n=183; age 60-85 at Time 1) were tested from two to five times between years 2010 and 2016. Resources, motivation, and self-reported activity engagement (VLS Activity Questionnaire) were assessed at each time point. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we found that changes in emotional health and sensory functioning predicted changes in motivation to engage in cognitively demanding activities. Additionally, increases in motivation predicted increases in engagement in cognitively demanding activities (e.g., technical, developmental), but decreases in less demanding activities (e.g., TV watching). Lastly, motivation partially mediated the relationships between emotional health and these activities, as well as between sensory functioning and engagement in technical activities. Results provide support for SET, demonstrating associations between changes in resources, motivation, and engagement in activities that are particularly demanding of cognitive resources, with the strength of these relationships being stronger in older than in young adults. Our results suggest that emotional resources may be particularly influential in determining the motivation for activity engagement in later life.
THE INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL IQ ON THE LAGGED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MOMENTARY PAIN AND AFFECT IN OLDER ADULTS
Authors: Condon Shelley E , Cox Brian , Smith Dylan M , Parmelee Patricia A 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Emotion regulation is influenced by stage of life and time perspective (Carstensen, 1992), with older adults placing greater emphasis on optimizing positive moods and repairing negative ones. Recently, there has been growing interest in emotional intelligence (EI) as a broad indicator of these mood regulation processes. Multiple cross-sectional studies have examined EI, pain and affect in older adults with chronic pain; however, little research has addressed these relationships in temporal context. The current microlongitudinal study addressed this gap by examining (1) lagged relationships between momentary pain and affect, (2) main effects of emotional intelligence (mood attention, clarity and repair) on those relations, and (3) the moderating role of EI on lagged relationships between pain and affect. Three hundred twenty-five older adults (mean age = 63.9) with knee osteoarthritis completed in-person interviews and received four phone calls daily (random within 4-hour blocks) for one week. Multilevel models examined the predictive value of affect from the previous call on current pain, and vice versa, controlling for sociodemographic variables. Across all outcomes (positive affect, negative affect, pain), a significant main effect was found for mood clarity and repair, but not attention. However, EI did not moderate lagged associations between momentary pain and affect. Average pain (across the 28 calls) significantly predicted momentary negative affect, and vice versa. Thus, while emotional intelligence is significantly related to momentary mood states, it does not appear to be related to momentary pain. Implications and ideas for future research are discussed. (R01-AG041655, P. Parmelee & D. Smith, Co-PIs)
MEASURING MINDFULNESS IN OLDER ADULTS: A LITERATURE REVIEW OF EXISTING MEASURES
Authors: Jacobs M Lindsey , Gurevitch Jacqueline , Catlin Casey , Bamonti Patricia M 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Mindfulness is the process of non-judgmental, present-moment awareness and has increasingly been used in psychotherapy. Self-report measures that assess mindfulness are vital in clinical research and practice in order to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based psychotherapies. Many mindfulness measures have been developed, but it is unclear which measures have been validated with older adults. The purpose of this review was to identify measures that have been validated in adults age 50 and older. PubMed was searched through March 2019. Search terms were “mindfulness” and terms denoting measurement (e.g., “measure,” “measurement”). Review articles, dissertations, and non-English publications were excluded. Articles were independently evaluated by three raters. Studies describing measures that did not exclusively evaluate mindfulness were excluded. Sixty-two articles were included and described 27 mindfulness measures. The most frequently studied measures were the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (n=13) and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (n=14). Only three psychometric studies had a participant sample with a mean age of 50 and over, with one study having a sample with a mean age of 71. The measures evaluated in these studies were the Five Facet Mindfulness Scale and Langer Mindfulness Scale. Eighteen studies included some older adults, though the numbers were not large enough to yield a mean age over 50. Validation of mindfulness measures in adults age 50 and over has been largely neglected. Additional psychometric research is needed to validate commonly used measures in this population.