Although studies have documented the effects of grandparenting, little is known about grandparents' long-term health outcomes in terms of optimal engagement with grandchildren, and whether age, ...gender, or location make a difference. This study explores the longitudinal impacts of grandparenting on health, with considerations for subgroup differences.
Using three waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we used propensity score analysis combined with multilevel analysis to examine the longitudinal effect of grandparenting (no, low-, moderate-, and high-intensity) on health (self-rated health, mobility limitations, depressive symptoms, and cognition) among 4,925 grandparents with at least one grandchild, and how impact varies by age, gender, and urban/rural areas.
A nonlinear relationship between grandparenting and health was observed. Compared to those not providing care, grandparents who provided care at a low-to-moderate level were more likely to have fewer mobility limitations and depressive symptoms and better cognition. High intensity had no positive impacts on health. The effects of grandparenting on health operated differently across subgroups. Older grandparents showed better physical, mental, and cognitive health compared to their younger counterparts. Both genders had fewer mobility limitations if they provided care at a low-to-moderate level, although females reported better self-rated health. Rural grandparents reported better physical health; whereas urban grandparents reported better cognition.
Grandparenting could improve health in later life; however, there are complex interactions at play. Policies aimed at supporting grandparenting should consider optimal hours of care relevant to age, gender, and urban/rural contexts.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Residential density enhances subjective wellbeing via perceived age-friendliness.•Street connectivity has a curvilinear relationship with mental health.•Park green space positively affects mental ...health and subjective wellbeing.•Vegetation negatively affects subjective wellbeing through sense of community.•Health facilities enhance subjective wellbeing through sense of community.
Studies have indicated that a sense of community may be shaped by the built environment and has potential mental wellbeing implications. However, few studies have explored this pathway empirically. Moreover, research has rarely differentiated the role of objective and perceived built environment. Based on a survey of 1,553 older adults undertaken between 2015 and 2017 in Hong Kong, we explored the distal mediation pathway from objective built environment to both mental health and subjective wellbeing through perceived built environment and sense of community, using multilevel structural equation modeling. The results showed that perceived built environment and sense of community can fully explain the residential density and subjective wellbeing relationship. The inverted U-shape relationship between street connectivity and mental health was identified. Park-based green space had a protective role for both mental health and subjective wellbeing and was explained by two mediators, but vegetation-based green space was negatively associated with subjective wellbeing. Land use mix had positive total effects on both mental health and subjective wellbeing and was partially mediated by perceived built environment and sense of community. Recreational services showed a protective effect on both mental health and subjective wellbeing, and both were partially mediated by two mediators. The negative direct effect of health services on subjective wellbeing offsets the positive indirect effect through two mediators. The study findings have implications for landscape and urban planning policy and can provide an empirical contribution to the theoretical foundation of aging in place.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Objectives
Studies have documented the impact of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) on cognition. However, research that simultaneously considers SES in varied life stages, the multidimensional ...mechanisms, and racial differences is relatively understudied. This study examines the intersectionality across age, SES, and race and its impact on cognitive trajectories.
Methods
Using 8376 respondents aged 65+ from the 1998–2016 Health and Retirement Study, we used latent growth curve modeling to examine the effects of four life course models (latency, pathway, accumulation, and mobility) on 18‐year trajectories of mental status and episodic memory. We further tested for differences in the links between SES and cognitive trajectories between black and white respondents.
Results
Cognitive function declines with age and is interrelated with SES and race. Adulthood has a stronger effect on cognitive performance than childhood. However, linked positive childhood and adulthood SES contributes to positive cognition. Accumulated SES disadvantages were associated with lower cognition. Older adults with downward mobility and low SES throughout their lifespans had the lowest cognition scores. Life course models operated differently on trajectories of cognitive decline, yet the effects were particularly evident among older black respondents. Overall, those with socioeconomic advantages tended to have a slower decline in cognition, while a faster decline occurred for those with accrued disadvantages.
Conclusions
Cognitive performance is a complex, longitudinal process intertwined with socioeconomic conditions and population heterogeneity shaped by life course contexts. Policies that facilitate healthy cognitive performance and address SES inequality could equalize health opportunities and address racial cognitive disparities later in life.
Key points
Although mental status and episodic memory (EM) decline with age, these declines vary according to life course mechanisms.
Linked positive childhood and adulthood SES contribute most to healthy cognitive performance.
Socioeconomic advantages bring a slower decline in cognition; accrued disadvantages were associated with faster cognitive decline.
Older black respondents' cognitive functioning appears more susceptible to the impact of life course SES conditions.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The findings from this study provide significant evidence that environmental cognition distortion, especially negative perception, can be significantly associated with lower mental health through ...physical activity and a sense of community. This suggests that policies focused on changing environmental cognitions could be a promising public health strategy. Environmental cognition theory suggests that improving awareness of setting could help improve the precision of cognitive mapping of environmental reality. This can be very important where it is difficult to change the objective environment due to the deep-rooted and long-standing urban structure.
Service accessibility plays a pivotal role in older adults' mental health. However, accessibility measures used in previous studies are either objective or perceived. This study aimed to integrate both objective and perceived measures of service accessibility to explore the relationship between environmental cognition on service accessibility and mental health in older adults and the pathways.
We used both questionnaire data collected from 2,317 older adults in Hong Kong and geographical data to explore the direct and indirect effect of environmental cognition (i.e. positive, negative, and matching evaluation) relating to service accessibility on mental health and two pathways (i.e. physical activity and sense of belonging) based on a structural equation model.
Physical activity mediated the positive relationship between non-negative perceptions toward access to convenience stores, leisure facilities, clinics, community centers, places of worship and mental health. Sense of community can significantly mediate the positive relationships between non-negative perceptions toward all 10 types of services and mental health.
This study provides an empirical contribution to environmental cognition theory and person-environment fit theory; its findings have implications for urban planning policy.
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COVID-19-related information on social media is overabundant and sometimes questionable, resulting in an "infodemic" during the pandemic. While previous studies suggest social media usage increases ...the risk of developing anxiety symptoms, how induced anxiety affects attitudes and behaviors is less discussed, let alone during a global pandemic. Little is known about the relationship between older adults using social media during a pandemic and their anxiety, their attitudes toward social trust in information, and behaviors to avoid contracting COVID-19.
The goal of this study was to investigate the associations between using social media for COVID-19-related information and anxiety symptoms as well as the mediation effect of anxiety symptoms on social trust in information and COVID-safe behaviors among older adults.
A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted in Hong Kong between May and August 2020. A rapid warm-call protocol was developed to train social workers and volunteers from participant nongovernmental organizations to conduct the telephone surveys. Questions related to COVID-safe behaviors, social trust in information, social media use, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and sociodemographic information were asked. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at the community level was used to account for the risk of contracting COVID-19. Ordinary least squares regressions examined the associations between social media use and anxiety symptoms, and how they were associated with social trust in information and COVID-safe behaviors. Structural equation modeling further mapped out these relationships to identify the mediation effects of anxiety symptoms.
This study collected information regarding 3421 adults aged 60 years and older. Use of social media for COVID-19-related information was associated with more anxiety symptoms and lower social trust in information but had no significant relationship with COVID-safe behaviors. Anxiety symptoms predicted lower social trust in information and higher COVID-safe behaviors. Lower social trust in information was predicted by using social media for COVID-19 information, mediated by anxiety symptoms, while no mediation effect was found for COVID-safe behaviors.
Older adults who rely on social media for COVID-19-related information exhibited more anxiety symptoms, while showing mixed effects on attitudes and behaviors. Social trust in information may be challenged by unverified and contradictory information online. The negligible impact on COVID-safe behaviors suggested that social media may have caused more confusion than consolidating a consistent effort against the pandemic. Media literacy education is recommended to promote critical evaluation of COVID-19-related information and responsible sharing among older adults.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Few research has attempted to synthesize the effects of nudge tools in promoting prosocial behaviors through the lens of behavioral economics. This systematic review synthesizes empirical evidence of ...various types of nudges and their effectiveness in promoting charitable donations and volunteering. We identified 67 eligible studies with 117 experiments reporting eight nudge tools. We found that the studies focused mainly on three types of nudges (including reframing, referring to descriptive norms, and changing social consequences). We revealed that decreasing physical/cognitive effort, providing reminders, anchoring, and referring to descriptive norms effectively promote charitable donations; only reframing effectively promotes volunteering. Changing social consequences, connecting decisions to benefit or cost, and referring to descriptive norms are not effective in promoting volunteering. This review offers implications for practitioners implementing nudge tools in promoting charitable donations and volunteering. The data supporting the findings of this study are available in the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/kg836 ).
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Evidence about the association between volunteering and the mental health of older adults during COVID-19 remains underexplored. This study investigated (1) patterns of volunteering among older ...adults in Hong Kong during COVID-19; (2) associations between volunteering and mental health of older adults during COVID-19; and (3) associations between key psychological resources (e.g., self-efficacy and self-esteem) and volunteering among older adults during COVID-19. This study applied a cross-sectional design with data collected from 128 older adults in June 2020, who were trained as volunteers in a volunteer program that began before COVID-19. The study found that older adults continued to actively contribute to their communities by engaging in volunteering during COVID-19. The specific type of volunteering activities was linked to few depressive and anxiety symptoms. Older adults with increased self-esteem prior to COVID-19 were more likely to participate in volunteering activities related to COVID-19. Our study suggested that encouraging older adults to volunteer during the pandemic is a key pathway to maintain mental health. Social workers are encouraged to engage older adults in volunteerism regularly to offset the risk of depression and anxiety symptoms in times of crisis.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract Network analysis provides an innovative approach to examining symptom-to-symptom interactions in mental health, and adverse external conditions may change the network structures. This study ...compared the networks of common risk factors and mental health problems (loneliness, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms) in community-dwelling older people before and during COVID-19. Older adults (aged ≥ 60) at risk for depression were recruited through non-governmental organizations. Loneliness, depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms were measured using the three-item Loneliness Scale (UCLA-3), nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), respectively. Data from 2549 (before) and 3506 (during COVID-19) respondents were included using propensity score matching. Being restless (GAD-7-item5) was most central, indicated by Expected Influence, in both pre and during COVID-19 networks despite low severity (mean score). The network during COVID-19 had higher global strength and edge variability than the pre-pandemic network, suggesting easier symptom spread and potentially more complex symptom presentation. In addition, feeling isolated from others (UCLA-3-item3) had stronger connections with feeling worthless/guilty (PHQ-9-item6) and anticipatory anxiety (GAD-7-item7) during COVID-19 than before. These findings may enhance our knowledge of the symptom structure of common mental health problems and the impacts of the pandemic. Targeting central symptoms may offer novel preventive strategies for older people.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Objectives: Mentally stimulating leisure activities and cognitive interventions are associated with delayed cognitive decline, although evidence has not been unequivocal, possibly due to differential ...contribution of the two types of activities. This study aimed to examine the respective contributions of mentally active lifestyle and structured cognitive programs on cognitive changes in older adults.
Methods: This was a 2-year prospective cohort study of 1,793 healthy older adults. We recorded mentally active lifestyle and participation in cognitive program. Cognitive function was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Physical frailty was also screened for the potential effect on cognition.
Results: Compared to the mentally inactive group, the mentally active group had better baseline cognitive functioning (standardized mean difference of 0.08, t = −3.8; p < 0.001), but both groups showed a mild cognitive decline over time (both p < 0.05). The mentally active group were less physical frail, more physical independent, and less depressed. Participation in structured cognitive programs was associated with cognition improvement, in older persons who had a mentally active or inactive lifestyle (standardized mean differences of 0.22 and 0.27, respectively; both p < 0.01), but these gains significantly diminished at year 2 in the latter group. Lower baseline cognitive function and higher level of physical frailty predicted greater cognitive gains from structured cognitive programs.
Conclusion: Both a mentally active lifestyle and structured cognitive programs contributed to better cognition. Structured cognitive programs appeared to add on to the benefits of a mentally active lifestyle, and predicted cognitive changes regardless of lifestyle.
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Objectives: Maintaining good cognition is crucial in later life. However, most existing research has focused on individual factors impacting cognition, and few studies have investigated the ...association between neighborhood built environment and older adults' cognition. This study examined the association between neighborhood built environment and cognition among community-dwelling older adults and identified variations in this association between different age groups in the older population.
Methods: Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 1873 people aged 65 years and above in Hong Kong. We merged individual data from the survey with neighborhood built environment data based on community auditing and geographical information system. After controlling for individual covariates, we used multivariable linear regression to examine the association between neighborhood built environment and cognition.
Results: Residents aged 80 and younger in neighborhoods with a higher land-use mix and more public transport terminals exhibited better cognition. Only the number of community centers in a neighborhood was positively associated with cognition for people older than 80.
Conclusion: The built environment creates diverse impacts on different age groups among older adults. Our findings provide useful information for urban planners and policymakers for planning community facilities and built environments that consider the needs of different age groups within the older population.
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