Selection, optimization, and compensation as strategies of life management: Correction to Freund and Bates (1998).

Because of a scoring error, the data reported in Freund and Baltes (1998; see record 1998-11674-001) were reanalyzed. Except for finding a lower positive manifold involving the 3 components of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC), the outcome of this reanalysis supports the major findings previously reported: Old and very old participants of the Berlin Aging Study reporting SOC-related behaviors also reported higher levels of well-being and aging well. Corrected versions of Tables 3, 6, and 7 are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resources and life-management strategies as determinants of successful aging: On the protective effect of selection, optimization, and compensation.

In this research, the authors investigated the specific and shared impact of personal resources and selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) life-management strategies (A. M. Freund & P. B. Baltes, 2002) on subjective well-being. Life-management strategies were expected to be most relevant when resources were constrained, particularly in very old age. In Study 1 (N = 156, 71-91 years), age-differential predictive patterns supported this assumption: Young-old individuals' well-being was predicted independently by resources and SOC, whereas SOC buffered the effect of restricted resources in old-old individuals. Study 2 replicated the findings longitudinally with resource-poor and resource-rich older individuals (N = 42). In both studies, specific SOC strategies were differentially adaptive. Results confirm that resources are important determinants of well-being but that life-management strategies have a considerable protective effect with limited resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the incomplete architecture of human ontogeny: Selection, optimization, and compensation as foundation of developmental theory.

Drawing on both evolutionary and ontogenetic perspectives, the basic biological-genetic and social-cultural architecture of human development is outlined. Three principles are involved. First, evolutionary selection pressure predicts a negative age correlation, and, therefore, genome-based plasticity and biological potential decrease with age. Second, for growth aspects of human development to extend further into the life span, culture-based resources are required at ever-increasing levels. Third, because of age-related losses in biological plasticity, the efficiency of culture is reduced as life span development unfolds. Joint application of these principles suggests that the life span architecture becomes more and more incomplete with age. Degree of completeness can be defined as the ratio between gains and losses in functioning. Two examples illustrate the implications of the life span architecture proposed. The first is a general theory of development involving the orchestration of 3 component processes: selection, optimization, and compensation. The second considers the task of completing the life course in the sense of achieving a positive balance between gains and losses for all age levels. This goal is increasingly more difficult to attain as human development is extended into advanced old age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life-management strategies of selection, optimization and compensation: Measurement by self-report and construct validity.

The authors examined the usefulness of a self-report measure for elective selection, loss-based selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) as strategies of life management. The expected 4-factor solution was obtained in 2 independent samples ( N = 218, 14-87 years; N = 181, 18-89 yrs) exhibiting high retest stability across 4 weeks (μ, = .74-82). As expected, middle-aged adults showed higher endorsement of SOC than younger and older adults. Moreover, SOC showed meaningful convergent and divergent associations to other psychological constructs (e.g., thinking styles, NEO) and evinced positive correlations with measures of well-being which were maintained after other personality and motivational constructs were controlled for. Initial evidence on behavioral associations involving SOC obtained in other studies is summarized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selection procedures for nonmatured phage antibodies: a quantitative comparison and optimization strategies

Libraries of peptides and proteins can be displayed on the surface of filamentous bacteriophage. The efficient capturing of phage recognizing a defined target molecule remains a serious obstacle, in particular when the phage are present at a low frequency or have a reduced affinity like nonmatured phage antibodies and when the availability of target molecules is limited. We present theoretical considerations and experimental data which allowed us to substantially improve microselection under these conditions. We used a model phage displaying an anti-(2-phenyl-5-oxazolone) single-chain Fv antibody fragment. Following standard protocols and aiming at a low nonspecific binding, only 3.6 x 10(-3)% of the phage input could be recovered from a single round of selection performed in the wells of a microtiter plate. Our results explain why this often employed panning in wells is not efficient, especially with high-molecular-weight target molecules. We devised a procedure which increased the probability of microselection by a factor of 34. An alternative capturing method using immunotubes with a new protocol decreased the amount of required work by a factor of 30. In the case of a nonlimited supply of target molecules, column-affinity chromatography is recommended.     

Everyday memory compensation: The impact of cognitive reserve, subjective memory, and stress.

To determine the potential importance of several unexplored covariates of everyday memory compensation, the authors examined relations between responses on the Memory Compensation Questionnaire (a self-report measure of everyday memory compensation) and cognitive reserve (education and verbal IQ), subjective memory, and life stress in 66 older adults (mean age = 70.55 years). Key results indicated that compensation occurred in people (a) whose IQ level was greater than their education level (representing cognitive reserve “discordance”) but not in people whose IQ was commensurate with their education (representing cognitive reserve “concordance”); (b) who had greater perceived memory errors; and (c) who experienced heightened stress. Further, high-stress older adults compensated whether perceived memory errors were low or high, but low-stress older adults compensated only if they perceived high memory errors. Bootstrapped confidence intervals around model betas provided further support for estimate reliability. These results suggest boundary conditions for the concept of cognitive reserve, and highlight the importance of subjective memory and life stress for defining contexts in which compensation may occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: Integrating process models of life satisfaction.

The authors examined the interplay of personality and cultural factors in the prediction of the affective (hedonic balance) and the cognitive (life satisfaction) components of subjective well-being (SWB). They predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is mediated by hedonic balance and that the relation between hedonic balance and life satisfaction is moderated by culture. As a consequence, they predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is also moderated by culture. Participants from 2 individualistic cultures (United States, Germany) and 3 collectivistic cultures (Japan, Mexico, Ghana) completed measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, hedonic balance, and life satisfaction. As predicted, Extraversion and Neuroticism influenced hedonic balance to the same degree in all cultures, and hedonic balance was a stronger predictor of life satisfaction in individualistic than in collectivistic cultures. The influence of Extraversion and Neuroticism on life satisfaction was largely mediated by hedonic balance. The results suggest that the influence of personality on the emotional component of SWB is pancultural, whereas the influence of personality on the cognitive component of SWB is moderated by culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily goals, life goals, and worst fears: means, ends, and subjective well-being

This study addressed the relations among personal strivings (daily goals) and future life goals and worst fears. Eighty undergraduate participants (62 women, 18 men) listed their daily goals, their ultimate life goals, and their worst fears, and completed questionnaire measures of subjective well-being. Daily goals were content-analyzed for relevance to attaining life goals or avoiding worst fears. Daily goals that were instrumental to life goals or that avoided worst fears were rated as more important but also more difficult by participants. Working on daily goals avoiding one's worst fears was negatively related to measures of subjective well-being, controlling for daily goal progress, difficulty, ambivalence, and importance. Working on daily goals that were instrumental to one's life goals only weakly predicted well-being. The avoidance of worst fears interacted with daily goal appraisals such that individuals who experienced little progress at daily goals that served to avoid their "worst case scenario" experienced the lowest levels of subjective well-being. In addition, progress at daily goals that were relevant to accomplishing one's life goals was significantly more strongly related to subjective well-being than progress at daily goals that were unrelated to one's life goals. Results indicate that daily goals are used to enact life goals and avoid worst fears and that these means--end relations have implications for well-being.     

Health indices as predictors of cognition among older African Americans: MacArthur studies of successful aging

The purpose of this study was to visualize muscarinic receptors and their distribution on cardiomyocytes and to examine the effects of muscarinic cholinergic receptor (mACh-R) stimulation with carbachol on phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis. Cardiomyocytes were prepared as primary culture from 7-day-old chick embryo hearts. Cardiomyocytes, grown on cover slips, were labelled with BODIPY PZ, a fluorescent analog of the muscarinic receptor antagonist pirenzepine, and examined with a laser scanning confocal microscope, mACh-R clusters were visualized and were fairly homogeneous in size with diameters ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 micron. The number of receptor clusters per cell was 83.5 +/- 6.8 (mean +/- SEM) and clusters were found at the periphery of the cell. Cardiomyocytes, grown as a monolayer in dishes, were treated with the 10(-4) M carbachol, a mACh-R agonist, and the effects on phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis were ascertained in cells preincubated with [methyl-3H]choline for 18 h. Cells were washed, lysed, and subjected to thin-layer chromatography to separate [3H]choline in various metabolites of phosphatidylcholine. Carbachol significantly (p < 0.05) increased intracellular free choline and decreased cellular phospholipid consistent with phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis. Carbachol increased the amount of [3H]choline that effluxed out of the cardiomyocyte into the medium. Carbachol-induced choline efflux was not prevented by pretreatment with n-butanol, a phospholipase D inhibitor, suggesting that other lipases such as phospholipase C are the major enzyme involved in phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis. Pertussis toxin prevented carbachol-induced choline efflux and the changes in intracellular free choline and phospholipid. An action of carbachol through G proteins was supported by the ability of pertussis toxin to antagonize the carbachol-induced reduction in cAMP generation from isoproterenol. In summary, mACh-Rs, visualized in living cardiomyocytes, were peripheral to the nucleus. Phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis induced by mACh-R stimulation may be a signal transduction pathway for mACh-R in the cardiomyocyte, operating through inhibitory G proteins sensitive to pertussis toxin.     

Everyday functioning and successful aging: The impact of resources.

The goal of this article is to examine differential aging in everyday functioning between resource-rich and resource-poor older adults. Four groups of older adults were identified on the basis of 2 distinct resource factors: a Sensorimotor-Cognitive factor and a Social-Personality factor. The resource-richest group consisted of those participants who were above the median in both factors; those falling below the median in both factors comprised the resource-poorest group; and 2 additional groups consisted of older adults who were above the median in either 1 of the 2 factors. At the level of mean differences, the 4 groups differed in the length of the waking day, the variability in activities, the frequency of intellectual-cultural and social-relational activities, and resting times. Considering age differences there are more and larger negative age effects in the resource-poorest group than in the resource-richest one. The metamodel of selective optimization with compensation is used to interpret the findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: Toward a dynamic equilibrium model.

Using data from 4 waves of an Australian panel study, this study offers a dynamic account of relations between personality, life events, and subjective well-being (SWB). Members of the Victorian Quality of Life panel study were interviewed in 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1987. The initial sample size was 942; 649 respondents remain. The study shows that very stable personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience) predispose people to experience moderately stable levels of favorable and adverse life events and moderately stable levels of SWB. However, contrary to previous research (P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, 1984) life events influence SWB over and above the effects of personality. A dynamic equilibrium (DE) model is outlined, in which each person is regarded as having "normal" equilibrium levels of life events and SWB, predictable on the basis of age and personality. Only when events deviate from their equilibrium levels does SWB change. The DE model is compared with 3 alternatives: personality models, adaptation level models, and models that treat life events as being wholly exogenous. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuronal nitric oxide synthase in the canine prostate: aging, sex steroid, and pathology correlations

OBJECTIVE: To clarify some anatomical controversies of the fascial structures and lymph node development of the inguinal region through an embryological study in relation to the surgical techniques of groin lymphadenectomy. METHODS: Sections of the femoral triangle belonging to four fetuses whose crown-rump (CR) length ranged from 70 to 310 mm, corresponding to a developmental age of 11 and 35 weeks, were studied. RESULTS: The femoral fascia is formed of one layer and is not divided into superficial and deep layers. The cribriform fascia has a morphogenetic origin different from that of the femoral fascia and it is defined by the thickening of the connective tissue filling the fossa ovalis and therefore would be more correctly named lamina cribrosa. The deep inguinal lymph nodes originate directly from the superficial lymphatic tissue located in the fossa ovalis. This last observation supports the fact that no lymph nodes are present beneath the femoral fascia distal to the lower margin of the fossa ovalis. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study, from a surgical point of view, support the technique of total or radical inguinal-femoral lymphadenectomy with preservation of the femoral fascia and, from an anatomical point of view, resolve some of the contradictory statements reported in the anatomical literature regarding morphogenesis and terminology of the structures of the Scarpa's triangle. In addition, the present study provides useful anatomic and terminological landmarks to those surgical oncologists (gynecologist, urologist, dermatologist, etc.) dealing with malignant diseases requiring groin dissection practices. In addition, it could represent a useful background for a future more precise surgical terminology which represents a vital issue for institutional studies with multiple surgeons as well as for large multi-institutional studies.     

Adjustment in aging: The roles of life stress, hassles, and self-efficacy.

Examined the relationship of life stress, daily hassles, and perceived self-efficacy to adjustment in a community sample of 32 men and 32 women (aged 65–75 yrs). In a structured interview, negative life change events, daily hassles, self-efficacy, depression, psychosomatic symptoms, and negative well-being were assessed. Both negative life events and daily hassles were related to psychological distress and physical symptoms for men, and hassles were associated with psychological distress and physical symptoms for women. An inverse relationship between self-efficacy and maladjustment was also found. Hassles showed the most powerful relationship to distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association of biochemical and subjective indicators of drinking habits with performance on different neurobehavioral tasks

The present paper outlines the association of biochemical and subjective indicators of alcohol consumption. Due to its relevance as a potential confounding variable in occupational neurotoxicology, both sources of information about drinking habits were related to neurobehavioral test performance. A sample of 308 rotogravure printers and control subjects from a cross-sectional longitudinal study in various German printing plants was studied. Duration of employment was 4 months to 44 years (mean = 14.9, sd = 9.67). Mean age was 38.4 years (range 21 - 60). From venous blood samples three parameters considered to be sensitive for increased consumption of alcohol were used. They were carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), and mean cell volume (MCV). During the medical interview subjects with any chronic liver disease were identified and excluded from data analysis. Additionally, information about weekly consumption of alcohol was assessed and transformed to grams per day (g/d) values. Neurobehavioral testing included simple reaction time (SPES version), switching attention, symbol digit substitution, and digit span (EURONEST version). Additionally, a questionnaire of neurotoxic complaints was administrated. Other covariates, i.e. verbal ability, history of solvent exposure, and age were controlled. GGT and CDT were elevated in 10.5% and 6.6% of the population. 3.5% of the subjects reported daily consumption higher than 60 gram. There were positive correlations of CDT and GGT with the subjective indicator of drinking habits. The magnitude of these relationships were low, but the associations were significant. MCV was not correlated with subjective reports of drinking habits, but it showed convergent correlations with CDT and GGT. Comparison of these two parameters with performance on neurobehavioral tasks yielded only one negative association, i.e. between the memory-loaded tasks factor and GGT. CDT and subjective estimation of alcohol consumption were not related to any cognitive function tested in this study. Especially, the digits-backward task was negatively correlated with increased GGT.     

The aging decision maker: Cognitive aging and the adaptive selection of decision strategies.

Are older adults' decision abilities fundamentally compromised by age-related cognitive decline? Or can they adaptively select decision strategies? One study (N = 163) investigated the impact of cognitive aging on the ability to select decision strategies as a function of environment structure. Participants made decisions in either an environment that favored the use of information-intensive strategies or one favoring the use of simple, information-frugal strategies. Older adults tended to (a) look up less information and take longer to process it and (b) use simpler, less cognitively demanding strategies. In accordance with the idea that age-related cognitive decline leads to reliance on simpler strategies, measures of fluid intelligence explained age-related differences in information search and strategy selection. Nevertheless, both young and older adults seem to be equally adapted decision makers in that they adjust their information search and strategy selection as a function of environment structure, suggesting that the aging decision maker is an adaptive one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Objective and subjective quality of life of first-admitted women and men with schizophrenia

There have been assessed physical and ultrasonographic examination in patients with mastopathy and concentration of prolactin, thyrotropin, thyroxine in blood serum of these patients. The examination was carried out in 65 patients with mastopathy (group M), at the age ranging from 18 to 53 years, and in 30 healthy women (group K), at the age from 18 to 55 years as a reference group. The group of the patients with mastopathy and the control group were divided into three subgroups (taking into account the age and function of ovaries). There were excluded from the examined group patients whose general health state, particularly endocrinological disease, and applied drugs might condition occurrence of pathological changes in mammary glands. Particular attention was paid to exclusion from examination of patients with both primary and secondary hyperprolactinemia. Non-toxic goitre was found in 80% patients with mastopathy, and the results of palpation examination of thyroid were confirmed by thyroid ultrasonographic examination. Non-toxic goitre was significantly more often in patients with mastopathy in comparison with healthy women, and there was found significantly higher thyroid volume in these patients. The hormonal evaluation showed first of all significantly higher mean concentration of prolactin in blood serum of the patients with mastopathy than in the blood serum of healthy women in comparison with both the whole examined group and subgroups. There were not significant differences between the mean concentration of thyrotropic hormone, triiodothyronine and thyroxine in blood serum in premenopausal patients with mastopathy and mean concentration of these hormones in healthy women. Only postmenopausal patients were characterized by significantly lower mean concentration of triiodothyronine in comparison with the healthy subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: 1. In patients with mastopathy, there often coexists enlargement of thyroid gland, and prolactin may be also considered as an agent which influences genesis of a goitre. 2. It should be thus admitted that hormonal examinations with particular consideration to prolactin and thyroid hormones are appropriate management in diagnosing and treatment of patients with mastopathy.     

The psychological effects of employment after traumatic brain injury: Objective and subjective indicators.

Objectives: This study examines the effects of objective (level of engagement) and subjective (discrepancy between importance of work and the degree to which work needs are met) indicators of employment on self-reported psychological well-being, quality of life (QoL), and depression for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Community-based research and training center. Participants: 317 individuals with self-reported TBI under the age of 65 were included in analysis. Main Outcome Measures: Living Life After Traumatic Brain Injury (LLATBI; 1998), Flanagan Scale of Needs (J. C. Flanagan, 1982), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; A. T. Beck, R. Steer, & G. Brown, 1996). Results: Only 21% of the present sample experienced similar levels of pre- and postinjury employment. Multiple regressions revealed significant relationships between demographic, objective, and subjective employment indicators and perceived QoL and depression. In addition, significant increments in QoL and depression variance were accounted for by subjective indicators of employment per se. Conclusions: Subjective indicators are additional important measures when assessing the rehabilitation needs and planning treatment for individuals with TBI, as they contribute to further improvements in their QoL and mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postural changes with aging in tetraplegia: effects on life satisfaction and pain

OBJECTIVES: (1) To measure kyphosis and scoliosis in individuals with tetraplegia; (2) to examine the relation between kyphosis and scoliosis and years since injury; and (3) to determine the association between kyphosis and scoliosis and measures of pain, depression, and life satisfaction. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, case-control study. SETTING: University medical center and a free-standing university-affiliated rehabilitation hospital. PARTICIPANTS: (1) Ten individuals with tetraplegia I to 3 years postinjury (NT); (2) 10 individuals with tetraplegia 10 to 20 years postinjury (OT); and (3) 10 control individuals (C) matched to the other subjects on the basis of age, height, and weight. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Radiographic measurements of kyphosis and scoliosis taken in a seated position, pain as measured by the short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), depression as measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and life satisfaction as measured by the Life Satisfaction Index Assessment (LSIA) and the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART). RESULTS: No significant differences were seen between the OT and NT groups with respect to age, height, or weight. In addition, no significant differences were found between the NT and OT groups with respect to measures of kyphosis and scoliosis. Individuals with tetraplegia had significantly higher (p < .05) measures of kyphosis (42 + 16.0 ) and scoliosis (14 degrees +/-9.2 degrees) than the C subjects (kyphosis, 32 degrees +/- 7.9 degrees ; scoliosis, 5 degrees+/-3.8 degrees). No correlation was found between scores on the SF-MPQ and degree of kyphosis or scoliosis. Significant differences were seen between the NT and OT groups on both CES-D (NT, 15.2+/-8.1; OT, 5.8+/-5.5) and LSIA (NT, 9.9+/-2.8; OT, 14.4+/-2.9). CONCLUSION: This study indicates that seated kyphosis and scoliosis develop early in individuals with tetraplegia and may not be progressive. No association was seen between pain and kyphosis or scoliosis in this relatively young sample (mean age of OT and NT combined, 34.8 years). Future research is needed to determine whether pain becomes a problem in individuals with significant kyphosis or scoliosis as they age.     

Ageing and quality of life. 2: Understanding successful ageing

Older people are being maintained in their own homes for longer periods and at increasing levels of frailty since the widespread introduction of community care policies across Europe. In order to sustain a good quality of life such individuals are more reliant on support from both informal (family) and formal sources. If appropriate assistance is to be provided then there is a need for a better understanding of how older people maintain their self-esteem. This article provides additional empirical support for the processes of accommodation and immunization and illustrates how knowledge of these concepts is important to the development of improved services for older people.     

"You're only as old as you feel": Self-perceptions of age, fears of aging, and life satisfaction from adolescence to old age.

We examined differences in subjective age identification from adolescence to old age and the relation between subjective age and fears about one's own aging and life satisfaction. Using a questionnaire format, 188 men and women from 14 to 83 years of age made judgments about how old they felt, looked, acted, and desired to be. Respondents also answered questions about their personal fears of aging and present life satisfaction. Results revealed that individuals in their teens held older subjective age identities, whereas during the early adult years, individuals maintained same age identities. Across the middle and later adult years, individuals reported younger age identities, and women experienced younger age identities than men across these adults years. Results also revealed that discrepancies between subjective and actual age were associated with personal fears of aging and life satisfaction, especially in younger men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)