@article {8493, title = {Linked Lives: Dyadic Associations of Mastery Beliefs With Health (Behavior) and Health (Behavior) Change Among Older Partners.}, journal = {J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci}, volume = {73}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 06 14}, pages = {787-798}, abstract = {

Objectives: Mastery beliefs are known to contribute to healthy aging. However, it is an open question whether individual mastery-health associations impact the health of close long-term partners.

Method: We applied actor-partner interdependence models to 4-wave, 6-year longitudinal dyadic data from married and cohabitating partners in the Health and Retirement Study (N = 1,981 partners; age at baseline: M = 67 years, SD = 8.93, range 50-94 years).

Results: Higher individual mastery beliefs were associated with better individual physical health and health behaviors. Higher mastery beliefs were associated with subsequent increases in light physical activity. Having a partner with higher levels of mastery was uniquely associated with fewer functional limitations, better self-rated health, and more physical activity. Actor {\texttimes} Partner interaction effects for functional limitations indicated multiplicative associations of actor and partner mastery with health. Of note, mastery-health associations for individuals and their partners were invariant across age, gender, education, employment status, perceived stress over one{\textquoteright}s own and partner{\textquoteright}s health, and cognition.

Discussion: Findings suggest that partner mastery beliefs matter for the health (behaviors) of older adults. We discuss possible mechanisms underlying partner interrelations in mastery and health, their age invariance, and consider implications arising from our results.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Dominance-Subordination, Female, Health Behavior, Health Status, Humans, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Models, Theoretical, Psychological Tests, Risk Reduction Behavior, Surveys and Questionnaires}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbw058}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27229003}, author = {Drewelies, Johanna and William J. Chopik and Christiane A Hoppmann and Jacqui Smith and Denis Gerstorf} } @article {8131, title = {Longitudinal Associations of Subjective Memory With Memory Performance and Depressive Symptoms: Between-Person and Within-Person Perspectives}, journal = {Psychology and Aging}, volume = {29}, year = {2014}, note = {Times Cited: 0 0}, pages = {814-827}, publisher = {29}, abstract = {Clinical diagnostic criteria for memory loss in adults typically assume that subjective memory ratings accurately reflect compromised memory functioning. Research has documented small positive between-person associations between subjective memory and memory performance in older adults. Less is known, however, about whether within-person fluctuations in subjective memory covary with within-person variance in memory performance and depressive symptoms. The present study applied multilevel models of change to 9 waves of data from 27,395 participants of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; mean age at baseline = 63.78; SD = 10.30; 58 women) to examine whether subjective memory is associated with both between-person differences and within-person variability in memory performance and depressive symptoms and explored the moderating role of known correlates (age, gender, education, and functional limitations). Results revealed that across persons, level of subjective memory indeed covaried with level of memory performance and depressive symptoms, with small-to-moderate between-person standardized effect sizes (0.19 for memory performance and -0.21 for depressive symptoms). Within individuals, occasions when participants scored higher than usual on a test of episodic memory or reported fewer-than-average depressive symptoms generated above-average subjective memory. At the within-person level, subjective memory ratings became more sensitive to within-person alterations in memory performance over time and those suffering from functional limitations were more sensitive to within-person alterations in memory performance and depressive symptoms. We take our results to suggest that within-person changes in subjective memory in part reflect monitoring flux in one{\textquoteright}s own memory functioning, but are also influenced by flux in depressive symptoms.}, keywords = {Expectations, Health Conditions and Status, Methodology}, doi = {10.1037/a0037619}, author = {Hueluer, Gizem and Hertzog, Christopher and Ann M. Pearman and Ram, Nilam and Denis Gerstorf} } @article {7908, title = {Linking Perceived Control, Physical Activity, and Biological Health to Memory Change}, journal = {Psychology and Aging}, volume = {28}, year = {2013}, note = {Times Cited: 0}, pages = {1147-1163}, publisher = {28}, abstract = {Perceived control plays an important role for remaining cognitively fit across adulthood and old age. However, much less is known about the role of perceived control over and above common correlates of cognition, and possible factors that underlie such control-cognition associations. Our study examined whether perceived control was predictive of individual differences in subsequent 4-year changes in episodic memory, and explored the mediating role of physical activity and indicators of physical fitness, cardiovascular, and metabolic health for control-memory associations. To do so, we used longitudinal data from the nationwide Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 4,177; ages 30 to 97 years; 59 women). Our results show that perceiving more control over one{\textquoteright}s life predicted less memory declines, and this protective effect was similar in midlife and old age. We additionally observed that higher levels and maintenance of physical activity over 2 years, better pulmonary function, lower systolic blood pressure (SPB), lower hemoglobin A(1c), and higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) also predicted less memory declines. Mediation analyses revealed that levels of, and 2-year changes in, physical activity, as well as levels of pulmonary function and hemoglobin A1c and HDL-C, each uniquely mediated control-memory change associations. Our findings illustrate that perceived control, physical activity, and indicators of physical fitness and cardiovascular and metabolic health moderate changes in memory, and add to the literature on antecedents of cognitive aging by conjointly targeting perceived control and some of its mediating factors. We discuss possible pathways underlying the role of control for memory change and consider future routes of inquiry to further our understanding of control-cognition associations in adulthood and old age.}, keywords = {Event History/Life Cycle, Health Conditions and Status, Healthcare, Other}, doi = {10.1037/a0033327}, author = {Frank J Infurna and Denis Gerstorf} }