Although daily social exchanges are important for well-being, it is unclear how different types of exchanges affect daily well-being, as well as which factors influence the way in which individuals react to their daily social encounters. The present study included a sample of 705 adults aged 31 to 91, and using Multilevel Modeling analyses…

This study is based on original research that explored family reaction to the death of an elderly husband and father. We interviewed 34 families (a family included a widow and two adult biological children) approximately 6 to 10 months after the death. In one-on-one interviews, we discussed family members' initial reaction to the death, how the…

Centenarians are often concerned with outliving their accumulated resources. Yet, research consistently finds that older adults, despite low incomes, are more financially satisfied than younger adults. This "satisfaction paradox" has been attributed to psychological accommodation to poor financial circumstances and lower expectations. As a result,…

According to the Team Identification-Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006b), team identification and social psychological health should be positively correlated because identification leads to important social connections which, in turn, facilitate well-being. Although past research substantiates the hypothesized positive relationship…

We examined the influence of changes in loneliness and social support networks upon mortality during 18 years of follow-up among an elderly cohort and determined the gender-specific nature of this relationship. The study is based on data collected from the Jerusalem Longitudinal Study (1990-2008), which has followed a representative sample of 605…

Using 2 waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, I examine psychological consequences of potentially stressful, non-normative, or "off-time" aspects of the parental role in late midlife and early old age, including coresidence with adult children, stepparenthood, and parental bereavement. Additionally, I analyze gender differences in…

The use of images of older people in the British advertising media has been under-researched to date. Further, previous research in any country has tended to examine such images from an "a priori" framework of general impressions and stereotypes of older people. This study addresses these issues with British consumers' (n = 106)…

To investigate how psychosocial resources may improve well-being for older adults, this study explored the relationship among questionnaire measures of optimism, social support and perceptions of control in predicting subjective well-being (measured with the positive affect subscale of the Affect Balance Scale) (Bradburn, 1969) and psychological…

Social support has been shown to buffer the relationship between life stress and psychological distress in late life. However, little attention has been paid to personality variables that are associated with the capacity to effectively utilize social support. Although the buffering effects of social support were replicated in our sample of 134…

This study investigated how perceived stress, social support, and home-based physical activity affected older adults' fatigue, loneliness, and depression. We also explored whether social support and physical activity mediated the relationships between stress and mental health problems. The data of 163 older participants were analyzed in this…

Valuable insights about emotional well-being can be learned from studying older adults who have wrestled with differentiating and regulating their emotions while they navigate through the many joys and traumas of a lifetime. Our objective was to document the underlying reasons for older adults' (n = 353, ages 72-99) emotional experiences. Using a…

The aim of this study was to analyze the situation of social support exchange among elderly men and women and to study the cross-cultural validity of predictors of loneliness in two Nepalese castes/ethnicities of older adults. Data for this study were taken from a cross-sectional study of the elderly at least 60 years old living in one ward of…

This study investigated the hypothesis that older adults would show age-related reductions in the tendency to worry in both their retrospective accounts and through cross-sectional age comparisons with a sample of younger adults. We also sought to determine whether age differences would be evident in psychological processes associated with a…

This study examined the worries adults and their parents experience for one another. To date, relatively little research has considered the experience of worry in this relationship. A small number of studies, however, suggest worry is relatively common in this relationship (Boutain, 2001; Cicirelli, 1988; Parker, Call, Dunkle, & Vaitkus, 2002).…

This study employed hierarchical linear modeling to document the time course of happiness across 20 years from average ages of 66 to 86 among 717 members of the Terman Study of the Gifted. In addition, the study examined the role of positive expectancies about aging, assessed at an average age of 61, in enhancing happiness in aging. The results…