Older adults are faced with prescriptions to remain fit and socially engaged (active aging) or limit consumption of social resources (altruistic disengagement), and violations of these may result in ...backlash and marginalization. Despite such negative consequences that prescriptive views of aging (PVoA) may have for older adults, whether PVoA endorsement is modifiable is still to be examined. Thus, in our study, we investigated the malleability of PVoA endorsement. Further, we explored whether malleability of PVoA endorsement generalizes across specific age norms (active aging and altruistic disengagement), life domains (health and social), and targets (others and self). We conducted two preregistered experiments in which participants reflected on agreeing or disagreeing with PVoA. In Experiment 1, 536 adults (50-89 years) reflected on their personal agreement or disagreement with PVoA. In Experiment 2, 435 adults (50-87 years) reflected on agreement with PVoA in society. Reflecting on agreement changed endorsement of PVoA in both experiments: Participants who reflected on agreement reported higher endorsement of PVoA, whereas participants who reflected on disagreement reported lower endorsement. Our results indicated that the cognitive representation of PVoA is norm and domain specific: The endorsement effect did not transfer from active aging to altruistic disengagement (or vice versa) nor across health and social domains. Further, participants set the same prescriptions for their behavior as they set for others as shown by a transfer between endorsement of other- to self-related PVoA. Our findings attest to the complexity and specificity of PVoA and offer important insights for designing interventions.
Public Significance Statement
Older adults are faced with expectations to not become a burden to society by either remaining socially engaged or limiting consumption of (scarce) social welfare resources. The current findings suggest that reflecting on these expectations can lead to changes in their endorsement. Our results have important implications for designing interventions and combating age discrimination.
N‐glycosylation is the most common protein modification in the eukaryotic secretory pathway. It involves the attachment a high mannose glycan to Asn residues in the context of Asn‐X‐Ser/Thr/Cys, a ...motif known as N‐glycosylation sequon. This process is mediated by STT3A and STT3B, the catalytic subunits of the oligosaccharyltransferase complexes. STT3A forms part of complexes associated with the SEC61 translocon and functions co‐translationally. Vacant sequons have another opportunity for glycosylation by complexes carrying STT3B. Local sequence information plays an important role in determining N‐glycosylation efficiency, but non‐local factors can also have a significant impact. For instance, certain proteins associated with human genetic diseases exhibit abnormal N‐glycosylation levels despite having wild‐type acceptor sites. Here, we investigated the effect of protein stability on this process. To this end, we generated a family of 40 N‐glycan acceptors based on superfolder GFP, and we measured their efficiency in HEK293 cells and in two derived cell lines lacking STT3B or STT3A. Sequon occupancy was highly dependent on protein stability, improving as the thermodynamic stability of the acceptor proteins decreases. This effect is mainly due to the activity of the STT3B‐based OST complex. These findings can be integrated into a simple kinetic model that distinguishes local information within sequons from global information of the acceptor proteins.
N‐glycosylation is the most common protein modification in the eukaryotic secretory pathway. This process is mediated by STT3A and STT3B, the catalytic subunits of the oligosaccharyltransferase complexes. STT3A forms part of complexes associated with the SEC61 translocon and functions co‐translationally. Vacant sequons have another opportunity for glycosylation by complexes carrying STT3B.
Retirement is a normative life transition that liberates the individual from the external obligations of employment, being a catalyzer of leisure activity engagement. However, the individual's ...motivations to engage in leisure activities in the time that is gained after retirement may depend on their future self-views (i.e., views of their own ageing) as well as on their levels of preparation for age-related changes. In this study, therefore, we aim to examine longitudinal changes in levels of engagement in leisure activities that occur around the age of retirement as being influenced by views on ageing and preparation for old age. The sample consisted of 451 persons aged 50–65 years at baseline who participated in the Ageing as Future study at two time points 5 years apart. Participants were split in three age-matched groups: recently retired (in between baseline and follow-up), already retired (at baseline), and individuals who were still working (at follow-up). Findings indicated that changes in levels of leisure differed between groups. Compared to both already retired and still working participants, recently retired participants increased their levels of engagement in leisure activities. Positive views on ageing in the leisure domain (at baseline) predicted subsequent increases in activity levels but group and levels of preparation qualified this effect. A combination of positive views on ageing and preparation for age-related changes is needed for one to make use of the time that is gained with retirement, highlighting their role as determinants of behavior in response to normative life events in later life.
Selective Engagement in Preparations for Aging Hess, Thomas M; Park, Jeongsoo; de Paula Couto, M Clara P ...
The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences,
2024-Feb-01, 2024-02-01, 20240201, Volume:
79, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Preparing for old age is an adaptive behavior with positive consequences on well-being. This study examined; (a) the degree to which the importance associated with positive outcomes within specific ...domains of everyday functioning (e.g., social relationships, health) varies across ages and cultures; (b) the impact of importance on preparing for old age; and (c) whether the effects of importance were greater in later life.
Using data from adults aged 30-85 years in Germany (n = 623), Hong Kong (n = 317), and the United States (n = 313) collected over 5 years, we examined variations in importance ratings across age, cultures, and behavioral domains, and the extent to which age and importance predicted preparations.
Importance ratings were found to vary with age, time of test, domains, and culture, reflecting the expected contextual effects. Importance also was a positive predictor of preparations, with the strength of prediction being somewhat greater in old age.
The results provide evidence that the perceived importance of functioning within domains is affected by a number of contextual factors, including the domain of everyday function and culture. Given that importance also predicts preparations, such variation may help explain differences in preparations across contexts. In line with selective engagement theory, some support was also obtained for the prediction that older adults are more selective in engaging resources in support of preparations. Such selectivity can be viewed as an adaptive response to diminishing personal resources in later life.
Abstract
Objectives
Past studies showed that intergenerational contact is beneficial in improving attitudes toward older people. To date, however, research on the benefits of contact with older ...adults focused on younger adults (intergenerational contact), overlooking the effects for older adults (contact with same-age peers). In this study, we investigated the association between contact with older adults and views of the self in old age in a domain-specific way among younger and older adults.
Methods
The sample (n = 2,356) comprised younger (39–55 years) and older (65–90 years) adults who participated in the aging as future study and were from China (Hong Kong and Taiwan), the Czech Republic, Germany, and the United States. We used moderated mediation models for data analysis.
Results
Contact with older adults was related to more positive views of the self in old age and this effect was mediated by more positive stereotypes of older people. These relations were stronger for older adults. Beneficial effects of contact with older adults emerged mostly in the domains of friends and leisure, but less in the family domain.
Discussion
Having interactions with other older adults may help favorably shape how younger adults and particularly older adults view their own aging, especially in relation to friends and leisure activities. From the perspective of older adults, having regular contacts with other older adults may increase the heterogeneity of exposure to different aging experiences, thus encouraging the formation of more differentiated stereotypes of older people and of their views of themselves in old age.
In this study, we investigated explicit and implicit endorsement of
. To achieve that, we captured endorsement of a wide range of prescriptive expectations targeting both younger (younger adults are ...expected to be ambitious, eager to learn, unconventional, respectful) and older (older adults are expected to stay active, to be generous, dignified, and wise) people. Younger (
= 58, 50% female,
= 26.07 years,
= 3.01) and older adults (
= 75, 44% female,
= 66.69 years,
= 4.63) participated in the study. We assessed implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes with the Propositional Evaluation Paradigm (PEP) and used a direct measure to assess explicit endorsement. In general, we found strong support for age-specificity in both explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes: Sentences ascribing expectations for young/old to the respective age group (e.g., "young should be ambitious"; "old should be wise") were endorsed much more strongly than sentences in which expectations for young/old were ascribed to the other age group (e.g., "old should be ambitious"; "young should be wise"). Age group differences in the endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes were found. Compared to younger participants, older participants showed stronger endorsement for prescriptive beliefs targeting both younger and older targets. Explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes did not correlate with one another, thus revealing they might assess independent belief systems with different predictive potential.
Depression is a prevalent mental health condition that also often affects older adults. The PROACTIVE psychosocial intervention was developed to reduce depressive symptomatology among older adults ...within primary care settings in Brazil. An important psychological marker that affects individuals' aging experience relates to how old people feel. Known as subjective age, this marker has been shown to be a risk factor for experiencing greater depressive symptoms if individuals report feeling older than their (chronological) age. In this study, we perform secondary analyses of the PROACTIVE cluster-randomized controlled trial to examine the role of subjective age.
The sample included 715 Brazilian older adults (74% female,
68.6,
= 6.9, age range: 60-94 years) randomized to intervention (
= 360, 74% female,
68.4,
= 6.6, age range: 60-89 years) or control (
= 355, 74% female,
68.9,
= 7.2, age range: 60-94 years) arms. Here our primary outcome was depressive symptoms at the 8-month follow-up assessed with the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) as a continuous variable. Our previous analyses demonstrated improved recovery from depression at follow-up in the intervention compared with the control arm.
Relevant main effects and interactions in regression models for PHQ-9 presented here found that those reporting older subjective age had worse depressive symptoms at follow-up but that they benefitted more from the intervention when initial levels of depression were high. For participants who reported younger subjective ages the intervention showed positive effects that were independent of initial levels of depression.
Our findings emphasize the importance of investigating possible underlying mechanisms that can help clarify the impact of mental health interventions.
Prescriptive views of aging (PVoA) are normative age-based expectations about age-appropriate behavior for older adults, e.g. that they should stay fit/active (active aging norms) but also behave ...altruistically toward younger generations (altruistic disengagement norms). We aimed at examining age differences in endorsement of active aging and altruistic disengagement and investigated predictors of endorsement.
In the AGEISM Germany survey, a representative sample of
= 1,915 German participants was recruited, covering a wide age range (
=56.57 years, 16-96 years). Cross-sectional data was collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews.
Active aging was more strongly endorsed than altruistic disengagement. Endorsement of both PVoA was higher in older age groups - even more pronounced for altruistic disengagement. Endorsement of both norms was positively associated with positive age stereotypes. Furthermore, active aging was predicted by age centrality whereas altruistic disengagement was predicted by negative age stereotypes. Age was still a robust predictor of PVoA even after entering additional predictors.
Although associated, prescriptive age norms (i.e. beliefs how older people should behave) and descriptive age norms (i.e. beliefs about how older adults and the aging process are like) represent partly independent belief systems, highlighting the importance to assess & further investigate predictors and consequences of PVoA, which become more prevalent with age.
We give an overview of what age stereotypes (AS) are, how they are acquired and change across the lifespan, and how they shape development in old age. AS reflect complex beliefs and expectations that ...vary on the following dimensions: They differ in content and valence, depending on the life-domain to which they are applied (context), they refer to different age-groups (reference), to older people or to oneself as an old person (direction of relevance), and they either describe how older people are or prescribe how they should be (modality). AS are acquired early, and later taint beliefs about one's own aging (internalization). Once they are part of the self-concept, AS act as self-fulfilling prophecies that shape the actual aging process (stereotype embodiment).
In this study, we investigated endorsement of two types of prescriptive views of aging, namely active aging (e.g., prescriptions for older adults to stay fit and healthy and to maintain an active and ...productive lifestyle) and altruistic disengagement (e.g., prescriptions for older adults to behave altruistically toward the younger generation by granting young people access to positions and resources). The study comprised a large international sample of middle-aged and older adults (
= 2,900), covering the age range from 40 to 90 years. Participants rated their personal endorsement of prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement targeting older adults in general (i.e., "In my personal opinion, older adults should…"). Findings showed that endorsement was higher for prescriptions for active aging than for prescriptions for altruistic disengagement. Age groups in the sample differed regarding their endorsement of both prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement with older adults showing higher endorsement than middle-aged adults did. Prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement related positively to each other and to the superordinate social belief that older adults should not become a burden, which attests to their functional similarity. In contrast, prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement were associated with psychological adjustment in opposite ways, with endorsement of active aging (vs. altruistic disengagement) being related to better (vs. worse) adjustment outcomes such as life satisfaction and subjective health. Our findings highlight the internalization of prescriptive views of aging in older people and their implications for their development and well-being.
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