TY - JOUR T1 - Successful Aging as the Intersection of Individual Resources, Age, Environment, and Experiences of Well-being in Daily Activities. JF - J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci Y1 - 2017 A1 - Shannon T. Mejia A1 - Lindsay H Ryan A1 - Gonzalez, Richard A1 - Jacqui Smith KW - Activities of Daily Living KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Aging KW - environment KW - Female KW - Follow-Up Studies KW - Health Status KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Personal Satisfaction KW - Social Support KW - United States AB -

Objective: We conceptualize successful aging as a cumulative index of individual resources (the absence of disease and disability, high cognitive and physical functioning, social embeddedness) in the service of successful aging outcomes (global well-being, experienced well-being, and vital status), and conditioned by age, social structure, and environment.

Method: The study used baseline and follow-up data from the 2008-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (N = 17,230; age = 51-101). Linear, multilevel, and logistic models compared individual resources at baseline as independent, cumulative, and binary predictors of outcomes 4 years later.

Results: Individual resources were unequally distributed across age group and social structures (education, wealth, race, gender) and had a cumulative effect on all successful aging outcomes. For experienced well-being, individual resources were most important at midlife and for groups with lower education. Person-environment congruence (social cohesion, city satisfaction) was associated with all successful aging outcomes and conditioned the effect of individual resources on experienced well-being.

Discussion: A cumulative index allows for gradations in resources that can be compensated for by external factors such as person-environment congruence. This index could guide policy and interventions to enhance resources in vulnerable subgroups and diminish inequalities in successful aging outcomes.

VL - 72 UR - http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=28077430 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28077430?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Snapshots of Mixtures of Affective Experiences in a Day: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study JF - Journal of Population Ageing Y1 - 2014 A1 - Jacqui Smith A1 - Lindsay H Ryan A1 - Tara L Queen A1 - Sandra E Becker A1 - Gonzalez, Richard KW - Demographics KW - Expectations KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Methodology AB - In 2009, a representative subsample of participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS: N = 5333; Age 50 101) responded to a short day reconstruction self-administered questionnaire that asked about their time and experiences on seven activities the previous day. We evaluate the quality and reliability of responses to this 10-min measure of experienced well-being and compare the properties and correlates of three intensity-based composites reflecting mixtures of activity-linked affective experiences (Activity-Positive Affect, Activity-Negative Affect, and Net Affect), and a frequency-based index, Activity Affective Complexity, that summarizes the proportion of activities that include a mixture of positive and negative affective experiences regardless of intensity. On average, older adults reported that 36 of the activities in their day provided some mixture of feelings (e.g., interested and frustrated). Regression models revealed differential associations for the four constructs of affective well-being with socio-demographic factors, physical and mental health, and proximal indicators of the day s context. We conclude that the HRS short day reconstruction measure is reliable and discuss the conceptual issues in assessing, summarizing, and interpreting the complexity of emotional experience in older adults. PB - 7 VL - 7 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12062-014-9093-8 IS - 1 ER -