Enright and colleagues (1996) emphasized the beneficial effect of experiencing forgiveness across multiple domains. We build upon their conceptualization of forgiveness by adding a domain--forgiveness by God--to create global forgiveness. In the current study, we use data from a nationally representative study, the Religion, Aging and Health…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of background, psychological, and social variables on older adults' well-being, and how this may differ for men and women. Participants included 800 adults from the 2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), aged 60 to 101 years old (M = 71.22, SD = 8.46), who completed the optional positive…

Classic and contemporary sociological theories suggest that social interaction differs in rural and urban areas. Intimate, informal interactions (strong ties) are theorized to characterize rural areas while urban areas may possess more formal and rationalized interactions (weak ties). Aging and social support literature stresses social interaction…

The study reports on factors predicting the longevity of 328 people over the age of 65 drawn from an English city and followed over 20 years. Both the reported activities score and the individual's comparative evaluation of their own level of activity independently reduced the risk of death, even when health and cognitive status were taken into…

This study explores how grandchild care in conjunction with grandparents' retirement affects depressive symptoms, using data from the Health and Retirement Survey. The findings demonstrate that retirement moderates the influence of grandchild care obligations on well-being, measured by depressive symptoms. For retired men, freedom from grandchild…

Examined relationships between spousal variables and psychological well-being of husbands and wives in older couples (n=120). Spousal variables significantly predicted wives' well-being with three most influential predictor variables being husbands' perception of the marriage, positive dimension of well-being, and physical health. Spousal…

Reviews research on the vulnerability of the elderly to consumer fraud. Patterns of consumption, situational characteristics, education and product knowledge, psychological losses, social isolation, and psychosocial transitions influence the elderly's vulnerability and ability to cope with consumer abuse. Higher educational attainment and greater…

Used path analysis to test race, socioeconomic status (SES), and two intervening variables (self-assessed health status and problems experienced) on two attributes of life satisfaction (happiness and morale). Most effects of race and SES were mediated by self-assessed health status and problems experienced; these two intervening variables were the…

Analyzed national survey data to discern differences in the effects of widowhood on the well-being of older men and women. Data supported an overall decline in well-being of widowed persons, but a direct effect of widowhood was substantial only for the negative dimension of the well-being of women. (Author/RC)

This study developed a dispositional path model of life satisfaction for community dwelling Chinese elderly living in Hong Kong. A sample of 117 elderly completed scales measuring life satisfaction, optimism, self-esteem, relationship harmony, self-construals, and perceived/expected health and financial status. Modeling revealed that life…

Positive affect, an index of psychological well-being, is a known predictor of functionality and health in later life. Measures typically studied include joy, happiness, and subjective well-being, but less often interest--a positive emotion with functional properties that differ from joy or happiness. Following differential emotions theory, the…

This study examined the correlates of symptom-seeking behavior for Alzheimer's disease (AD) among middle-aged persons. Symptom seeking, the tendency to search for signs of disease, is one manifestation of an individual's concern about developing AD. The data were obtained from a survey of two subsamples of 40-60 year old adults: 1) 108 adult…

Interviewed 92 elderly residents of area targeted for massive redevelopment. Findings revealed that each health, control, and support emerged as independent predictors of affect and life satisfaction, and that affect was significantly lower for those with no close support figure than for those with one close relationship. (Author/NB)

Positive psychology has recently developed a classification of human strengths (Peterson & Seligman, in press). We aimed to evaluate these strengths by investigating the strengths and life satisfaction in three adult samples recruited from the community (young adult, middle-aged, and older adult), as well as in the surviving men of the Grant study…