Prosocial Behavior and Contributors to Older Adults’ Well-Being in Daily Life

Jeanne Nakamura,Dwight Tse

doi:10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2080

Abstract

This symposium reports findings from a national experience-sampling study of 165 older adults (mean age=71, range=60-88 years) who are heavily involved in prosocial activity, contributing to their communities as leaders or high-commitment volunteers in social-purpose organizations. Gerontological research has linked prosocial activity to a set of positive outcomes for the older adults who engage in it (e.g., better health and reduced mortality), including global measures of well-being such as life satisfaction. However, little is known about the contributors to these individuals’ momentary well-being. Four presentations address this gap in knowledge. In the first presentation, Dwight Tse revisits the concept of successful aging as a within-person variable with day-to-day variations. Experience sampling data revealed great variations in successful aging indicators, and successful aging was associated with better well-being as hypothesized. In the second presentation, Ajit Mann extends beyond general control beliefs and explores the diversity in distribution of control beliefs across various daily activities (e.g., active leisure, prosocial activity, socializing, etc.), in addition to investigating the relationship between later life control diversity and subjective well-being. In the third presentation, Kelsey Finley explores Aristotle’s concept of the golden mean (an ideal state between deficiency and excess) for the number of hours spent in prosocial work on momentary well-being outcomes. In the fourth presentation, Jeanne Nakamura examines the relationship between global meaning in life and meaningful engagement in the moment, illuminating variation in this relationship through a comparison of the prosocial leaders and high-commitment volunteers.

Highlights

A growing body of evidence underscores the important role of emotional responding and emotional flexibility in healthy adaptation
The adaptive benefits of emotional flexibility have not been studied in Latina/o’s, despite converging evidence indicating that Latina/o’s report greater symptoms of depression and anxiety in the context of exposure to potentially traumatic events and stress
We demonstrate across two studies, how the ability to regulate emotional responses is associated with cognitive health in a community-based population of Latinos and a cohort of Latino responders from the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11

Summary

Introduction

A growing body of evidence underscores the important role of emotional responding and emotional flexibility in healthy adaptation. This symposium reports findings from a national experience-sampling study of 165 older adults (mean age=71, range=60-88 years) who are heavily involved in prosocial activity, contributing to their communities as leaders or high-commitment volunteers in social-purpose organizations. Gerontological research has linked prosocial activity to a set of positive outcomes for the older adults who engage in it (e.g., better health and reduced mortality), including global measures of well-being such as life satisfaction.

Results

Conclusion