scholarly journals Association of Leukocyte Telomere Length with Fatigue in Nondisabled Older Adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laila Bendix ◽  
Mikael Thinggaard ◽  
Masayuki Kimura ◽  
Abraham Aviv ◽  
Kaare Christensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Leukocyte Telomere Length ◽  
Restriction Fragments ◽  
Fatigue Score ◽  
Southern Blots ◽  
The Life Course

Introduction. Fatigue is often present in older adults with no identified underlying cause. The accruing burden of oxidative stress and inflammation might be underlying factors of fatigue. We therefore hypothesized that leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is relatively short in older adults who experience fatigue.Materials and Methods. We assessed 439 older nondisabled Danish twins. LTL was measured using Southern blots of terminal restriction fragments. Fatigue was measured by the Mob-T Scale based on questions on whether the respondents felt fatigued after performing six mobility items.Results. LTL was significantly associated with fatigue (P=0.023), showing an increase of 0.038 kb/fatigue score unit. Aging-related diseases and mental health did not explain the association, while lifestyle factors slightly attenuated the estimates.Conclusion. Our results support an association between LTL and fatigue. Further studies are required to confirm this finding and the link of LTL with oxidative stress/inflammation over the life course.

The Victimization of Older Adults in Prison

2021 ◽  
pp. 300-325
Author(s):  
Jane C. Daquin ◽  
Victoria Helmly ◽  
Leah E. Daigle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Routine Activities ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Unique Experience ◽  
The Life Course

Researchers have documented the differential risks that people in prison face of victimization. Although older adults in prison—those 50 years or older—generally face lower risks of being victimized than younger people in prison, the unique experience of this group warrants investigation. Connected to the importation/deprivation and the lifestyle/routine activities perspectives, older adults in prison face challenges connected to their physical and mental health that may shape their likelihood of victimization. These challenges are considered through the lens of gerontology and the life course perspective to illuminate how those who work with people in prison may better serve older adults.

scholarly journals Cognitive Change during the Life Course and Leukocyte Telomere Length in Late Middle-Aged Men

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lene Rask ◽  
Laila Bendix ◽  
Maria Harbo ◽  
Birgitte Fagerlund ◽  
Erik L. Mortensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Cognitive Change ◽  
Leukocyte Telomere Length ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
The Life Course

scholarly journals A Faith to Move Mountains? Childhood Abuse, Religious Change, and Mental Health at Midlife

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-461
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Religious Importance ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Of all the various forms of adversity experienced during childhood, childhood maltreatment (emotional and physical abuse) is shown to have the largest impacts on mental health and well-being. Yet we still have a limited understanding of why some victims of early maltreatment suffer immense mental health consequences later on in the life course, while others are able to cushion the blow of these early insults. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), this study considers change in religiosity as a buffer across three dimensions for victims of childhood abuse: religious importance, attendance, and the specific act of seeking comfort through religion. Results suggest that increases in religious comfort during adulthood are positively associated with adult mental health for victims of abuse, while decreases in religious comfort over time were associated with worse mental health. Changes in religious attendance and religious importance were not significant associated with mental health for victims of abuse. Taken together, my results show that the stress-moderating effects of religion for victims of childhood maltreatment are contingent on the stability or increases or decreases in religiosity over the life course, which has been overlooked in previous work.

scholarly journals Trajectories of Unsecured Debt across the Life Course and Mental Health at Midlife

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Ruining Sun ◽  
Jason N. Houle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Debt Accumulation ◽  
Unsecured Debt ◽  
Trajectory Models ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Substantial Heterogeneity

In this paper, we contribute to a growing literature on debt and mental health and ask whether patterns of unsecured debt accumulation and repayment over two decades are associated with depressive symptoms at age 50. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 Cohort and group trajectory models, we have three key findings. First, we find substantial heterogeneity in debt trajectories across the life course. Second, respondents who report consistently high debt levels across the life course or who cycle in and out of high debt report significantly more depressive symptoms than respondents who hold consistently low levels of debt. These findings hold for both absolute and relative (debt-to-income) debt. Third, we find that the association between debt and depressive symptoms is strongest among respondents with less than a college degree, but we find less evidence for heterogeneity by race in this cohort.

scholarly journals Harmonisation and Between-Country Differences of the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire in Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Ourry ◽  
Natalie L. Marchant ◽  
Ann-Katrin Schild ◽  
Nina Coll-Padros ◽  
Olga M. Klimecki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
International Comparisons ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Behavioural Determinants ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
The Life Course

Background: The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) assesses complex mental activity across the life-course and has been associated with brain and cognitive health. The different education systems and occupation classifications across countries represent a challenge for international comparisons. The objectives of this study were four-fold: to adapt and harmonise the LEQ across four European countries, assess its validity across countries, explore its association with brain and cognition and begin to investigate between-country differences in life-course mental activities.Method: The LEQ was administered to 359 cognitively unimpaired older adults (mean age and education: 71.2, 13.2 years) from IMAP and EU-funded Medit-Ageing projects. Education systems, classification of occupations and scoring guidelines were adapted to allow comparisons between France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom. We assessed the LEQ's (i) concurrent validity with a similar instrument (cognitive activities questionnaire - CAQ) and its structural validity by testing the factors' structure across countries, (ii) we investigated its association with cognition and neuroimaging, and (iii) compared its scores between countries.Results: The LEQ showed moderate to strong positive associations with the CAQ and revealed a stable multidimensional structure across countries that was similar to the original LEQ. The LEQ was positively associated with global cognition. Between-country differences were observed in leisure activities across the life-course.Conclusions: The LEQ is a promising tool for assessing the multidimensional construct of cognitive reserve and can be used to measure socio-behavioural determinants of cognitive reserve in older adults across countries. Longitudinal studies are warranted to test further its clinical utility.

scholarly journals Theories of Personality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra M Brandes ◽  
Kathleen Wade Reardon ◽  
Jennifer L Tackett
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Adult Individual ◽  
Foundational Research ◽  
The Life Course

The study of personality development has seen significant advances in the last two decades. For many years, youth and adult individual differences were studied from separate theoretical standpoints. However, more recent research has indicated that teenagers display personality traits in many of the same ways as adults. These personality traits are moderately stable throughout the life course, but there are important developmental shifts in their expression, structure, and maturation, especially in adolescence. This has resulted in an effort to study youth personality “in its own right” (Tackett, Kushner, De Fruyt, & Mervielde, 2013). Early personality associations with important lifelong outcomes including academic achievement, mental health, and interpersonal relationships further underscore the importance of studying traits in youth. Here we discuss current consensus and controversy on adolescent personality and highlight foundational research on the topic.

Depression, Work and Family Roles, and the Gendered Life Course

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Leupp
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Protective Effect ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Traditional Gender Roles ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Work And Family Roles ◽  
The Life Course

Despite the importance of employment for shaping mental health over the life course, little is known about how the mental health benefits of employment change as individuals age through their prime employment and child-rearing years. This study examines the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 Cohort ( N = 8,931), following respondents from their late 20s to mid-50s. Results suggest that among women, the aging of children is especially salient for shaping the mental health consequences of employment. Young children diminish the protective effect of mothers’ full- and part-time employment, but the salubrious effects of paid work increase as children get older. The benefit of employment for men’s mental health also changes over time, but it is the aging of men themselves rather than their children that alters the magnitude of full-time employment’s protective effect. Findings suggest the contribution of employment to life course mental health remains tethered to traditional gender roles.

Historical and generational forces in the Iridescent Life Course of bisexual women, men, and gender diverse older adults

Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072094731
Author(s):  
Karen Fredriksen Goldsen ◽  
Sarah Jen ◽  
Theresa Clark ◽  
Hyun-Jun Kim ◽  
Hyunzee Jung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Bisexual Women ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
And Gender

Purpose Little is known about the life course of bisexual older adults. This study examines life events and experiences of bisexuals by generation: Pride Generation, born 1950–1964; Silenced Generation, born 1935–1949; and Invisible Generation, born 1934 or earlier, as well as by gender among women, men, and gender diverse older adults. Methods Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study is the first national longitudinal study of LGBTQ older adults in the US. We utilize the Iridescent Life Course to examine the life events and life course experiences of bisexual older adults ( N = 216) using 2014 survey data. The Iridescent Life Course frames this study for comparing generational and gender differences in five key areas: identity development; work; kin and social relationships; bias-related experiences; and physical and mental health. Findings The Invisible Generation, the oldest generation, compared to the two younger generations, reports significant risks related to social relationships, the lowest levels of openly disclosing, and fewer bias-related experiences. They also demonstrate important signs of resilience and better mental health. Bisexual men and gender diverse older adults report higher rates of bias-related experiences and fewer social resources than bisexual women. Conclusion Based on the Iridescent Life Course, we document important differences in the heterogeneity and intersectionality in bisexual lives, particularly for those in late life and those gender diverse. It is essential to document the distinct nature of bisexuals’ life course, as it provides both historical and contemporary insights into aging and the reframing of future research.

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