Does digital inclusion lead to different perceptions of well-being among the middle-aged and the young-old?

Digital inclusion, social participation and subjective well-being of rural middle-aged and older adults - Empirical analysis based on Chinese Social Survey data.

The role of internet use between ADL disability and depressive symptoms in Chinese middle-aged and older adults: Evidence from a longitudinal study.

IntroductionCOVID-19 is an infectious respiratory illness that was declared a pandemic in March 2020. During the course of COVID-19, studies have demonstrated worsening sleep quality and anxiety. No studies have examined age-related and sex-specific associations between COVID-19 anxiety and sleep in aging populations. We examined associations between COVID-19 anxiety and sleep, and evaluated age and sex as moderators, in middle-aged/older adults.MethodsTwo hundred and seventy-seven middle-aged/older adults aged 50+ (Mage=64.68, SD=7.83; 44% women) living in the United States who were cognitively healthy (no cognitive impairment/dementia/neurological disorders) completed an online Qualtrics survey in July/August 2020 measuring sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSQI) and COVID-19 anxiety (Coronavirus Anxiety Scale; CAS). Multiple regressions examined whether CAS was independently associated with or interacted with age or sex in its associations with PSQI total score/subscores (sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, daytime dysfunction), controlling for age, education, number of medical conditions, sleep/pain medication use, and COVID-19 status.ResultsCAS interacted with age (B=-.008, SE=.003 p=.02, R-squared=.02), not sex (p=.31), in its association with sleep duration. Higher CAS was associated with shorter sleep duration in oldest-older adults (~73 years old; B=.12, SE=.05, p=.01) and younger-older adults (~65 years old; B=.07, SE=.03, p=.02), not middle-aged adults (~57 years old, p=.47). CAS interacted with age (B=.01, SE=.004, p=.02), not sex (p=.56), in its association with sleep efficiency. Higher CAS was associated with worse sleep efficiency in oldest-older adults (B=.14, SE=.05, p=.009) and younger-older adults (B=.08, SE=.04, p=.03), not middle-aged adults (p=.60). Higher CAS was associated with greater daytime dysfunction (B=.26, SE=.07, p<.001) and higher PSQI total score (B=.82, SE=.33, p=.01), and did not interact with age or sex (ps>.05).ConclusionIncreased COVID-19 anxiety is associated with several aspects of worse sleep (shorter sleep duration, sleep efficiency) in older adults but not middle-aged adults. Generally, in middle-aged/older adults, higher COVID-19 anxiety is associated with worse daytime dysfunction and overall sleep quality. Sex does not moderate these associations. Increased COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in aging populations may translate to increased anxiety and subsequent sleep disruptions. Interventions aimed at mitigating negative pandemic-related psychological and sleep outcomes may be particularly relevant for older adults.Support (if any):

ObjectivesThis study examines the association between family structure and subjective well-being by focusing on the moderating effects of social connectedness across genders and country contexts. We compare the well-being of older adults across 4 family types: those with both a partner and children, those with a partner but not children, those with children but no partner, and those without a partner and children (“kinless”).MethodsWe use data from 6 waves of the European Social Survey (2012–2024) and estimate ordered logistic regression models of happiness and life satisfaction among middle-aged and older Europeans aged 50–104 (62,687 men and 73,323 women). We include interactions in the analysis to test whether social connectedness mitigates the well-being differences between kinless adults and partnered parents.ResultsThe results show that middle-aged and older adults, especially men, without a partner exhibit lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction compared with their partnered counterparts, regardless of the absence of children. The subjective well-being gap between partnered and unpartnered men diminishes according to their level of social connectedness, a moderating effect primarily observed in Nordic and Western European countries.DiscussionContrary to the notion that “kinlessness” leads to aging alone, middle-aged and older men in less family-centered countries are able to alleviate the detrimental impact of partnerlessness on subjective well-being through increased social connectedness. In contrast, in countries where family ties are more emphasized, particularly in Eastern Europe, un-partnered adults face greater well-being challenges that are harder to offset with social connectedness.

Faced with life stress and peer competition, middle-aged adults increasingly are lacking happiness and well-being. The address this problem, this research studied current mobile applications for wellbeing and perceptions of Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) among middle-aged adults. In this study, questionnaires were administered with 100 middle-aged adults (aged 35-55) to understand their status quo of SWB, including the element of positive/negative affect, life satisfaction, as well as flourishing (i.e., overall life wellbeing). In the questionnaire, events that influenced the positive/negative affect were also investigated. Results of the study showed that the ratings for all SWB elements were at the average level and that they were positively correlated. Results also indicated that current wellbeing mobile applications did not have much effect on enhancing SWB. Results revealed that family relationships and job and life achievements were the key drivers for positive and negative affect. The outcome of the study made design recommendations for mobile applications for improving the SWB of middle-aged adults.KeywordsSubjective wellbeingmiddle-aged adultsmobile application

Being or becoming disabled over the life course can have profound effects on one's financial well-being and health-related quality of life. Adults of different ages and abilities who need long-term services and supports (LTSS) may perceive and experience financial strain and its impact on their health and well-being differently. Yet research on LTSS has typically studied defined age groups separately. This study explores how age may differentiate the associations between disability status, financial strain, and the subjective health and well-being of adults with LTSS needs in California. Using representative population-level data from the 2019 to 2020 California Long-Term Services and Supports survey, merged with data from the California Health Interview Survey (N = 2,030), descriptive and conditional process analyses were applied to answer the primary research questions. Findings indicate that young and middle-aged adults with LTSS needs struggled more than older adults to make financial ends meet. Middle-aged and older adults reported worse self-rated health, whereas younger adults were more likely to experience serious psychological distress. The indirect effects of difficulty in performing instrumental activities of daily living and the experience of serious psychological distress through financial strain were significant for young and middle-aged adults but not significant for older adults. These findings suggest the need to calibrate services to be more responsive to diverse experiences of disability, and to reset aging and disability silos to create coordinated LTSS networks for people with disabilities of all ages.

Older adults are an active but a heterogeneous group of digital technology users. Their digital inclusion and active engagement with digital technologies are influenced by social inclusion and connectedness with other people. This paper discusses the connection between digital and social inclusion by focusing on digital mobile practices and social connectedness among older adults in Sweden. The study reports findings from a Swedish data set from the cross-national survey ‘Being connected at home – Making use of digital devices in later life’, collected among 55–79 year-old smartphone users in 2019 in Sweden (N = 121). The study analyses the usage of smartphone for digital mobile practices and their association with social connectedness. Results show that older smartphone users in Sweden use the smartphone for versatile mobile practices. Nearly all respondents use the smartphone for text messages, but receiving or sending voice or video calls is relatively rare. The differences between the three age groups (55–59; 60–69; 70–79) are relatively small. Using the smartphone for gaming is a more frequent activity among younger age groups. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the usage of the smartphone for digital mobile practices is positively associated with connectedness with community, and less associated with connectedness with personal relationships and society. Older adults who use their smartphone in a more versatile way report more social activities with community than respondents with less versatile digital activity. Age did not remain a significant predictor to any form of social connectedness.

Middle aged adults experience depression and anxiety differently thanyounger adults. Age may affect life circumstances, depending on accessibility ofsocial connections, jobs, physical health, etc, as these factors influence theprevalence and symptomatology. Depression and anxiety are typically measured usingrating scales; however, recent research suggests that such symptoms can be assessedby open-ended questions that are analysed by question-based computational languageassessments (QCLA). Here, we study middle aged and younger adults’ responsesabout their mental health using open-ended questions and rating scales about theirmental health. We then analyse their responses with computational methods based onnatural language processing (NLP). The results demonstrate that: (1) middle agedadults describe their mental health differently compared to younger adults; (2)where, for example, middle aged adults emphasise depression and loneliness whereasyoung adults list anxiety and financial concerns; (3) different semantic models arewarranted for younger and middle aged adults; (4) compared to young participants,the middle aged participants described their mental health more accurately withwords; (5) middle-aged adults have better mental health than younger adults asmeasured by semantic measures. In conclusion, NLP combined with machine learningmethods may provide new opportunities to identify, model, and describe mental healthin middle aged and younger adults and could possibly be applied to the older adultsin future research. These semantic measures may provide ecological validity and aidthe assessment of mental health.

Neuroticism, extraversion, goals, and subjective well-being: Exploring the relations in young, middle-aged, and older adults

Background:The treatment goal for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is to not only achieve remission with drug treatment but also improve treatment satisfaction. A patient’s proactive participation in treatment is essential for...

The influence of personality and life events on subjective well-being from a life span perspective

Leisure activities serve as key measures to enhance the subjective happiness of middle-aged and older adults individuals and to positively address the challenges of an aging society; however, the trajectory of changes in their participation in leisure activities and how these changes relate to shifts in subjective happiness have not been adequately explored. This study selected data from the China Health and Aging Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), which included a total of 5,190 middle-aged and older adults people. Linear and nonlinear latent growth models, parallel latent growth models and cross-lagged models were constructed to investigate the influence and lagged relationship between the trajectory of changes in the level of participation in leisure activities on the trajectory of changes in the subjective well-being of middle-aged and older adults people. The initial level of physical activity participation of middle-aged and older adults people significantly predicted the initial level (β = 1. 203, p < 0.001) and rate of change (β = -0.138, p = 0.016) of their subjective well-being, and the trajectory of change of middle-aged and older adults people's physical activity also significantly predicted the rate of change of their subjective well-being (β = 0.582, p = 0.003). Meanwhile, the initial level of social activity of middle-aged and older adults people also effectively predicted the initial level of their subjective well-being (β = 0.048, p < 0.001). At the same time, the covariates (gender, age, level of education, marital status, chronic disease) also predicted the initial level and rate of change of leisure activity participation level and subjective well-being. Finally, the cross-lagged model test confirmed the predictive effect of leisure activity participation level on subjective well-being of middle-aged and older adults people. This study confirms that the level of participation in leisure activities of Chinese middle-aged and older adults people has a significant predictive effect on their subjective happiness and that there is a significant correlation between the trajectory of changes in the level of participation in leisure activities and the trajectory of changes in subjective happiness.

BackgroundFor adolescents and young adults (AYAs, aged 15-39 years) with cancer, metastatic disease at diagnosis is the strongest predictor of mortality, but its associations with age and sociodemographic factors are largely unexplored.MethodsUsing Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program data from 2000 to 2016, we collected incident cases of poor-prognosis metastatic cancer (5-year survival < 50%) and compared the proportion, incidence, time trends, and incidence rate ratios for race and ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status among AYAs, middle-aged adults (aged 40-64 years) and older adults (aged 65-79 years).ResultsFrom 2000 to 2016, a total of 17 210 incident cases of poor-prognosis metastatic cancer were diagnosed in AYAs, 121 274 in middle-aged adults, and 364 228 in older adults. Compared with older patients, the proportion of AYAs having metastatic disease was equivalent or substantially lower in nearly every site except stomach and breast cancers, which were statistically significantly higher for AYAs compared with middle-aged and older adults (stomach: 57.3% vs 46.4% and 39.5%; breast: 6.6% vs 4.4% and 5.6%, respectively; 2-sided P < .001 for all comparisons). Incidence rates rose significantly faster among AYAs for breast, stomach, and kidney cancers and among AYAs and middle-aged adults for colorectal cancer. Markedly higher incidence rate ratios were noted for AYA racial and ethnic minorities with breast, stomach, and especially kidney cancer, where only non-Hispanic Black AYAs were at considerably higher risk. For most sites, incidence rate ratios were higher among male patients and individuals of low socioeconomic status across age groups.ConclusionsFor most cancers, AYAs are not more likely to present with metastases than middle-aged and older adults. Further investigation is warranted for the disproportionate rise in incidence of metastatic breast, stomach, and kidney cancer among AYAs and their excess burden among AYA racial and ethnic minorities. The rising incidence of colorectal cancer among AYAs and middle-aged adults remains an additional concern.

Socioeconomic status, cardiovascular risk profile, and premature coronary heart disease

BackgroundPrevious studies have not investigated the association between medical insurance and instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) disability. To fulfill this research gap, this study aims to explore the association between Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) and IADL disability among middle-aged and older adults in China.MethodsThe data of this study were sourced from the 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Logit regression models were used to analyze the association between URRBMI and odds of suffering from IADL disability. Furthermore, we used IV-Probit regression model to address the potential endogeneity problem. Moreover, propensity score matching and generalized random forest model were employed to conduct robustness checks.ResultsThe logit regression results reveal that URRBMI participation was significantly related to reduced odds of suffering from IADL disability by 39.86% after adjusting for the control variables (p < 0.01). The results of IV-Probit estimation show that URRBMI was an exogenous variable. Further robustness checks reported similar estimation results. The results of heterogeneity analysis reveal that URRBMI produced a statistically stronger effect on IADL disability for the older adults (OR = 0.5815, p < 0.01) when compared with the middle-aged adults (OR = 0.5690, p < 0.05). The results of impact channel analysis indicate that physical exercise was a channel involving the effect of URRBMI on IADL disability.ConclusionThis study finds that the middle-aged and older adults who were covered by URRBMI had a reduced possibility of suffering from IADL disability when compared with those without URRBMI. Furthermore, it is found that URRBMI produced a statistically stronger effect on IADL disability for the older adults when compared with the middle-aged adults. Moreover, we obtain evidence indicating that physical exercise was a channel involving the effect of URRBMI on IADL disability.