Genetic influence on childhood family environment perceived retrospectively from the last half of the life span.

A new direction in behavioral genetic research is the exploration of genetic influence on environmental measures. The present study assesses the extent to which individual differences in perceptions of one's childhood family environment, viewed retrospectively some 50 years later, are affected by heredity. One of the most powerful behavioral genetic designs, the combined twin and adoption design, was used as part of the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging ({satsa}), which consists of four groups of twins whose average age is 59 years: 99 pairs of identical twins reared apart, 229 pairs of fraternal twins reared apart, 160 pairs of identical twins reared together, and 212 pairs of fraternal twins reared together. The measure used to assess family environment was the Family Environment Scale (FES), altered to obtain retrospective perceptions of family environment in childhood. The results indicate significant genetic influence on each of the FES scales. Maximum-likelihood model-fitting estimates of heritability suggest that on average 26% of the variance of eight primary FES scales can be explained by genetic differences among individuals. In accord with previous research, the lowest heritability, .15, occurred for perceived control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

EAS temperaments during the last half of the life span: Twins reared apart and twins reared together.

In this first behavioral genetic study of personality in the last half of the life span, results are reported using the powerful adoption/twin design that compares identical and fraternal twins reared apart and identical and fraternal twins reared together. Traits studied were the EAS temperaments (emotionality, activity level, and sociability), traits that show substantial genetic influence in childhood. It was hypothesized that the EAS traits would also show significant genetic influence later in life and that most of the environmental variation would be nonshared—that is, twins reared together would show no greater resemblance for the EAS traits than twins reared apart. Both hypotheses are supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of sex hormones on obesity across the female life span

Women have a higher prevalence of obesity than men in most developed countries. Obesity affects many aspects of women's health by increasing risk for heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and infertility. One reason for the gender difference in obesity may be that fluctuations in reproductive hormone concentrations throughout women's lives uniquely predispose them to excess weight gain. Studies in experimental animals and women have shown that hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle affect calorie and macronutrient intake and alter 24-hour energy expenditure. Pregnancy is a significant factor in the development of obesity for many women. Various factors are associated with excess weight retention following pregnancy, including weight gain during pregnancy, ethnicity, dietary patterns, and interval between pregnancies. There is a need to tailor recommendations for energy intake during pregnancy to individual women, and recent evidence also suggests that the timing of weight gain during pregnancy is a critical factor. Menopause is also a high-risk time for weight gain in women. Although the average woman gains 2-5 pounds during menopausal transition, some women are at risk for greater weight gains. There is also a hormonally driven shift in body fat distribution from peripheral to abdominal at menopause, which may increase health risks in older women. Hormone therapies have varying impacts on body weight and fat distribution. In summary, hormonal fluctuations across the female life span may explain the increased risk for obesity in women. Awareness of these factors allows development of targets for prevention and early intervention.     

Global self-esteem across the life span.

This study provides a comprehensive picture of age differences in self-esteem from age 9 to 90 years using cross-sectional data collected from 326,641 individuals over the Internet. Self-esteem levels were high in childhood, dropped during adolescence, rose gradually throughout adulthood, and declined sharply in old age. This trajectory generally held across gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and nationality (U.S. citizens vs. non-U.S. citizens). Overall, these findings support previous research, help clarify inconsistencies in the literature, and document new trends that require further investigation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and population perspectives on life events and depression

Population comparisons of epidemiological surveys using the same investigator-based measures suggest that large differences are possible in the experience of clinically relevant depression and of life events capable of provoking such episodes. It is argued that, given the great majority of onsets in the various populations were provoked by a life event, the differences in the experience of depression are likely to have been largely the result of psychosocial factors. Moreover, this interpretation would still be likely to hold even if heritability (h2) coefficients for depression within the component populations were substantial. The same argument would hold for the interpretation of the across-population differences in the experience of life events. New material concerning the differing experience across populations of humiliation/entrapment events, known to be particularly depressogenic, is also presented and the implications of the findings for future aetiological research discussed.     

Metamemory through the adult life span.

Metamemory is accurate if it returns correct information about the contents in store. It is efficient if it appropriately controls search durations so that more time is allocated to seeking information actually present, and less to information actually absent. 36 adults in 3 age groups (19–22, 44–53, and 65–74 yrs) answered questions on heterogeneous topics, and their responses were timed. Next, metamemorial judgments were made for each S's set of unanswered questions. The same items were then attempted in multiple-choice format, and confidence ratings in the answers were taken. All age groups showed comparable ability to retrieve answers from memory. All showed accurate and efficient metamemory, with no age differences in either. A signal detection analysis raised the possibility that metamemorial sensitivity increases with age. The data also suggest caution among the elderly in suppressing available but low-confidence answers. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experience during the last year of the life of E. B. Titchener.

Reminisces about personal experiences and interactions during 1926–1927 with Professor E. B. Titchener, who allowed the author use of his laboratory at Cornell University to study galvanic skin reflex. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of self-esteem across the life span.

Two studies examined the rank-order stability of self-esteem from age 6 to 83: Study 1 was a meta-analysis of 50 published articles (N = 29,839) and Study 2 analyzed data from 4 large national studies (N = 74,381). Self-esteem showed substantial continuity over time (disattenuated correlations ranged from the .50s to .70s), comparable to the stability found for personality traits. Both studies provided evidence for a robust developmental trend: Self-esteem stability was low during childhood, increased throughout adolescence and young adulthood, and declined during midlife and old age. This trend could not be explained by age differences in the reliability of self-esteem measures, and generally replicated across gender, ethnicity, self-esteem scale, nationality (U.S. vs. non-U.S.), and year of publication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representations of self across the life span.

This research extends a cognitive-developmental approach to examining age differences in self-representation from adolescence to mature adulthood and later life. The authors suggest that mature adults move from representations of self that are relatively poorly differentiated from others or social conventions to ones that involve emphasis on process, context, and individuality. Participants (n men?=?73, n women?=?76), ranging in age from 11 to 85 years, provided spontaneous accounts of their self-representations and responded to measures assessing cognitive and emotional functioning and broad dimensions of personality. On average, self-representation scores peaked in middle-aged adults and were lowest in the preadolescent and older adult age groups. Level of self-representation was related to cognitive and personality variables, but there was some evidence that the pattern of correlates shifted from younger (ages 15–45) to older (ages 46–85) age segments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regret and quality of life across the adult life span: The influence of disengagement and available future goals.

Two studies examined the associations between life regrets and indicators of quality of life across the adult life span. Given that opportunities to undo regrets decline with age, regret intensity was expected to be inversely associated with subjective well-being and health among older adults. In addition, the research explored protective factors that have the potential to reduce older adults' regret intensity. It was suggested that being disengaged from undoing the consequences of regrets and having many future goals available may reduce older adults' intensity of regret and thereby contribute to a better quality of life. Across both studies, the findings demonstrate that older adults perceived reduced opportunities to undo the consequences of their regrets and that regret intensity predicted a reduced quality of life only among older adults. Furthermore, the findings support the adaptive value of disengagement and available future goals for managing life regrets in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept differentiation across the adult life span.

This study used 2 measures to examine 158 adults' (80 men, 78 women; ages 20 to 88 years) self-concept differentiation (SCD) across 5 role-specific self-representations. Findings revealed that the 2 measures did not assess SCD in similar ways and that they showed different associations with age. Specifically, the 1st measure was not significantly related to age, whereas the 2nd measure showed a curvilinear, U-shaped association with age. The 2nd SCD index also showed significant associations with several measures of emotional adjustment and 6 dimensions of psychological well-being. Additional analyses showed that age moderated the associations between SCD and positive and negative psychological well-being. A high level of SCD was associated with lower positive and higher negative psychological well-being for both young and older adults. However, this effect was significantly more pronounced in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk indicators for hospitalization during the last year of life

OBJECTIVE: High levels of hospital expenditures for older people during their last year of life are widely documented. However, evidence of the association between prospectively measured indicators and subsequent hospitalization is sparse. This article investigates the pattern of hospitalization for a sample of Medicare enrollees during their last year of life. DATA SOURCES: Data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging, a national study of persons age 70 and older, are used. Only data on decedents are used. STUDY DESIGN: We determine individual characteristics (including functional status, evidence of disease, living arrangement, and prior hospitalization) shortly before the last year of life. A distinction is made between terminal and nonterminal admissions. National estimates and regression analyses using survey weights are conducted. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The likelihood of any use is high regardless of age, functional status, or the presence of major diseases. Although only a few indicators are associated with having a terminal stay, a number of indicators are associated with nonterminal use. Nonterminal stays and total nights hospitalized are positively associated with prior evidence of disease, prior hospitalization, and age, although the probability of nonterminal use decreases with age for persons over 82 years old. The relationship between use and functional status depends on whether persons lived alone, were institutionalized, or had private health insurance. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that while it is difficult to predict who will be admitted to the hospital at the time of death, a number of characteristics existing before the last year of life are associated with nonterminal hospitalization and total nights hospitalized during the last year of life.     

Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span.

Age differences in emotional experience over the adult life span were explored, focusing on the frequency, intensity, complexity, and consistency of emotional experience in everyday life. One hundred eighty-four people, age 18 to 94 years, participated in an experience-sampling procedure in which emotions were recorded across a 1-week period. Age was unrelated to frequency of positive emotional experience. A curvilinear relationship best characterized negative emotional experience. Negative emotions declined in frequency until approximately age 60, at which point the decline ceased. Individual factor analyses computed for each participant revealed that age was associated with more differentiated emotional experience. In addition, periods of highly positive emotional experience were more likely to endure among older people and periods of highly negative emotional experience were less stable. Findings are interpreted within the theoretical framework of socioemotional selectivity theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why is life expectancy a problem for the Danes? The influence of smoking during the last 50 years

The study quantifies the influence of smoking on mortality in Denmark and computes measures for the individual risk. Mortality due to lung cancer among Danish women is now the highest in Europe. Smoking-attributable deaths among men amounted to 3% in 1945, 26% in 1985, and 25% in 1995; the proportion is lower among women, but is increasing considerably. In 1995 in the age-group 35-69 years such deaths make up the same proportion among men and women. The risk that a 35-year old Dane dies before attaining the age of 70 due to other than smoking-attributable causes has decreased since 1945, most significantly among women. Women have experienced a considerable increase in smoking-attributable mortality over the last 20 years, increasing the total risk of a 35 year-old of dying before reaching the age of 70. In 1995 a little over 13,000 of a total of a little less than 63,000 deaths could be attributed to smoking. Smoking is responsible for a significant part of the adverse development in Danish life expectancy.     

Development of inhibitory control across the life span.

The stop-signal procedure was used to examine the development of inhibitory control. A group of 275 participants, 6 to 81 years of age, performed a visual choice reaction time (go) task and attempted to inhibit their responses to the go task when they heard a stop signal. Reaction times to the stop and go signals were used to assess performance in inhibition and response execution, respectively. Results indicated the speed of stopping becomes faster with increasing age throughout childhood, with limited evidence of slowing across adulthood. By contrast, strong evidence was obtained for age-related speeding of go-signal reaction time throughout childhood, followed by marked slowing throughout adulthood. Hierarchical regression confirmed that the age-related change in inhibitory control could not be explained by general speeding or slowing of responses. Findings are discussed in regard to the contrast between the development of inhibition and response execution and the utility of the stop-signal procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiation of cognitive abilities across the life span.

Existing representations of cognitive ability structure are exclusively based on linear patterns of interrelations. However, a number of developmental and cognitive theories predict that abilities are differentially related across ages (age differentiation–dedifferentiation) and across levels of functioning (ability differentiation). Nonlinear factor analytic models were applied to multivariate cognitive ability data from 6,273 individuals, ages 4 to 101 years, who were selected to be nationally representative of the U.S. population. Results consistently supported ability differentiation but were less clear with respect to age differentiation–dedifferentiation. Little evidence for age modification of ability differentiation was found. These findings are particularly informative about the nature of individual differences in cognition and about the developmental course of cognitive ability level and structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impressions of babyfaced individuals across the life span.

Four questions were addressed concerning perceptions of babyfaced individuals from infancy to older adulthood: (1) Do perceivers make reliable babyface judgments at each age; (2) does a babyface have the same effects on trait impressions at each age; (3) are the effects of a babyface independent of the effects of attractiveness; and (4) what facial maturity features are associated with babyface ratings, and do these features predict trait impressions? Ratings of portrait photographs revealed that perceivers reliably detect variations in babyfaceness across the life span. Facial measurements revealed that large eyes, a round face, thin eyebrows, and a small nose bridge characterized a babyface. Trait impressions showed a babyface overgeneralization effect at each age: Babyfaced individuals were perceived to have more childlike traits than their maturefaced peers, and this effect was independent of attractiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of personality change across the life span.

Six aspects of personality were examined for a sample of 211 individuals across either a 30- or 40-year time span. Latent curve analyses found an underlying pattern of lifetime change for self-confidence, cognitive commitment, outgoingness, and dependability. An underlying pattern of lifetime stability was found for assertiveness. No shared systematic underlying pattern could be fit to individuals' lifetime trajectories for warmth. Although individuals shared a single underlying pattern of change or stability for 5 of the 6 dimensions of personality considered here, they also showed differences in the degree and direction of personality change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Egocentrism and social interaction across the life span.

Uses a life-span framework to organize and interpret existing theory and data pertaining to the concept of egocentrism. Review indicates that most research and theorization on egocentrism are concerned with only the infancy and childhood periods of life, although some theorization has concerned the adolescent period. Essentially none of the existing literature pertaining to the major portion of the life span, adulthood and senescence, is directly related to the concept of the egocentrism. However, the notions of rigidity and regression and the process of psychosocial disengagement, all of which have been traditionally identified with the aging process, are reinterpreted as either manifestations of or contributors to increasing egocentricity in later life. Several areas of pertinent research are identified. (119 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and obesity across the adult life span.

Personality traits contribute to health outcomes, in part through their association with major controllable risk factors, such as obesity. Body weight, in turn, reflects our behaviors and lifestyle and contributes to the way we perceive ourselves and others. In this study, the authors use data from a large (N = 1,988) longitudinal study that spanned more than 50 years to examine how personality traits are associated with multiple measures of adiposity and with fluctuations in body mass index (BMI). Using 14,531 anthropometric assessments, the authors modeled the trajectory of BMI across adulthood and tested whether personality predicted its rate of change. Measured concurrently, participants higher on Neuroticism or Extraversion or lower on Conscientiousness had higher BMI; these associations replicated across body fat, waist, and hip circumference. The strongest association was found for the impulsivity facet: Participants who scored in the top 10% of impulsivity weighed, on average, 11Kg more than those in the bottom 10%. Longitudinally, high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness, and the facets of these traits related to difficulty with impulse control, were associated with weight fluctuations, measured as the variability in weight over time. Finally, low Agreeableness and impulsivity-related traits predicted a greater increase in BMI across the adult life span. BMI was mostly unrelated to change in personality traits. Personality traits are defined by cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns that likely contribute to unhealthy weight and difficulties with weight management. Such associations may elucidate the role of personality traits in disease progression and may help to design more effective interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)