Recent research in gerontology and geriatrics has identified that one factor repeatedly associated with depression in the elderly is the presence of physical illness. The increasing numbers of elderly persons in the population and their high rate of chronic physical illness make it important to identify critical disease and individual characteristics that play a role in the association of depression and physical illness. In order to investigate and clarify these relationships and concerns, a panel survey of 133 middle aged and elderly persons with recent exacerbations of various physical illnesses was completed. Subjects were referred by medical offices and agencies in the Portland metropolitan area. Two in-depth interviews were completed approximately three months apart. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlational analysis, analysis of variance, multiple regression, and dynamic (change focused) correlational analysis. Results indicated a slight but consistent decrease in level of depression with increasing age. Increased levels of income, social support, religiosity, subjective health, internal locus of control for health, and life expectancy were associated with decreased levels of depression. Conversely, increased levels of pain, physical dependency, progressiveness of the disease, death anxiety, external locus of control for health, and worry about medical resources were associated with increased levels of depression. While the residential setting of urban, suburban, or rural had a significant effect on income and a slight effect on size of support system, it had no significant impact on level of depression. The four best predictors of level of depression at Time 1 were subjective health, pain, death anxiety, and income. Analysis of change over time revealed moderate stability in levels of depression. The best predictor of level of depression at Time 2 was level at Time 1. Only change in pain added significantly to the prediction of depression at Time 2. The results of this study will help to identify physically ill middle aged and elderly persons at risk for the development of depression. Analysis of change over time suggests causal relationships for further investigation.

Research has indicated a relationship between reminiscence and self-actualization among older persons. Reminiscence, or reflection upon the past, provides an opportunity for survey, assessment, and re-integration of significant aspects of one's life. Thus, reminiscing facilitates movement toward self-actualization. Reflection upon the past has been associated with adaptation to loss and stress in old age. Entry into special settings for the elderly often involves adaptation to socially-imposed stress. During periods of environmental adjustment, reminiscing has been used by many older persons as an adaptive technique to promote self-actualization. The impact of one special setting, long-term care, upon reminiscence has been substantiated by research. A higher frequency of reminiscing has been evidenced in institutionalized residents as compared to elders within the community setting. Retrospection has also been associated with the anticipatory stage of the institutionalization process. Further research was needed, however, to determine the impact of other residential settings upon the relationship between reminiscence and self-actualization. The current study examined the influence of three different residential settings upon reminiscence and self-actualization among male and female elderly. Three constructs were used as dependent variables: reminiscence frequency, reminiscence affect, and self-actualization (major scales of time competent and inner-directed). The Reminiscence Questionnaire and the Personal Orientation Inventory, were used to measure these constructs. A simple randomized-subjects design was utilized. Ten males and ten females were randomly selected from each of three residential settings: a senior day center, a long-term care facility, and a senior retirement community. Age range was 70-85 years with a mean age of 76.5 years. All subjects were individually administered The Reminiscence Questionnaire and the Personal Orientation Inventory. The following four hypotheses were analyzed: (H1) Elderly males or females participating in a senior day center, living in a long-term care facility, or residing in a senior retirement community will show no significant difference in scores on frequency of reminiscence on The Reminiscence Questionnaire. (H2) Elderly males or females participating in a senior day center, living in a long-term care facility, or residing in a senior retirement community will show no significant difference in scores on affective quality of reminiscence on The Reminiscence Questionnaire. (H3) Elderly males or females participating in a senior day center, living in a long-term care facility, or residing in a senior retirement community will show no significant difference in scores on self-actualization on the Personal Orientation Inventory. (H4) There will be no significant interaction between gender and residential setting regarding frequency of reminiscence, affective quality of reminiscence, and scores on self-actualization. Neither reminiscence frequency nor reminiscence affect of respondents significantly differed between setting and gender. Significant results beyond the .05 level of confidence were obtained on both measures of self-actualization. Results indicated that residential setting was the source of the statistically significant difference with gender having no statistically significant independent effect. Residential setting and gender of respondents did not significantly interact regarding reminiscence frequency, reminiscence affect, and self-actualization. These data indicate that the residential setting of older persons influences both time competence and inner-directedness, factors of self-actualization.

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No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine if exposure to humor media improves mood states of older adults. The humor media consisted of four thirty minute videos. Ten subjects from a retirement community in East Central Indiana participated in the study. A control group and experimental group were assigned by the Activities Director of the retirement community. Each participant was administered the Profile of Mood States for the pretest and posttest measurement. The Profile of Mood States lists sixty-five adjectives and participants ranked on a scale of 0 to 4 how much they felt that mood within the past week. Members of the experimental group participated in fifteen minute interviews after the completion of the intervention.Total mood score means for the experimental group indicated an increase in positive mood from the pretest to the post-test. Total Mood Score means for the control group showed either no change or a decrease in positive mood. Because the sample size was very small,no statistical test of significance could be executed to test the null hypothesis. Based upon the qualitative interviews and the simple analysis of quantitative data humor media appears to have positive effects on the subjects in nursing homes and retirement communities. However, this intervention deserves further investigation with a larger sample that would allow for more rigorous statistical analysis. / Fisher Institute for Wellness

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1976. / Bibliography: leaves [111]-123. / Microfiche. / vi, 123 leaves ill

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No description available.

Older adults have been reported to show attentional preference for positive stimuli and attentional avoidance from negative stimuli. The relationship between this pattern of emotional attention and emotion regulation, however, is not well known. The present study aims to replicate the findings of age-related attentional bias for emotional stimuli and investigate the potential relationship between biased attention and emotion regulation/dysregulation in Chinese older adults. 46 older adults and 46 younger adults participated in an attention task, which measured their reaction time towards negative and neutral facial stimuli, and a questionnaire survey, which elicited self-reports of their levels of emotion regulation and dysregulation. Results showed that there was a biased attention for negative faces in older adults, but not in younger adults. There were also differences between emotion regulation/dysregulation measures in the two age groups. When associating the attentional bias score with the emotion dysregulation measures, significant correlations were found between biased attention and overall difficulty in emotion regulation and lack of emotional clarity. The data supported the age-related bias of emotional attention, and revealed potential relationship between biased attention and emotion regulation in older adults. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The lifespan developmental framework views aging as a time of continued personal change and development. Death is perhaps the most salient developmental challenge older persons face. The relationship of self-transcendence, spirituality, and hope to personal death perspectives was the focus of this research. A descriptive correlational approach was used to study the relationships between these variables. Interviews were conducted with forty healthy adults aged sixty-five and older. Findings revealed that self-transcendence and spirituality were significantly correlated with positive death perspectives in this sample. Findings also revealed significant relationships between age and death perspectives, gender and self-transcendence, and gender and spirituality. No significant relationships were found between hope and death perspectives and hopelessness and death perspectives.