No description available.

Mobility plays an important role in determining quality of life in older adults as it is closely tied to health, participation, and independence in later years. Although much of the literature to date has focused on walking and stair climbing, mobility also encompasses driving and the use of public transportation to access the community. Comprehensive definitions of mobility and techniques for objectively measuring community mobility are generally lacking. This thesis describes a new theoretical framework for mobility that illustrates how impairments can lead to limitations in accessing different life-spaces, and stresses the associations among determinants that influence mobility. The feasibility of using global positioning system (GPS) watches and accelerometers to monitor community mobility in older adults was also examined. Data acquired from the equipment were quite variable. While the technology offers promise for capturing detailed information (e.g., the timing, distances covered, and speeds reached on foot and in-vehicle), new GPS solutions are required to allow for data collection over an extended period of time. In addition, projects were conducted to examine ankle strength and power in older women because these muscle groups are important for physical function and mobility. Test-retest reliability on the dynamometer was found to be generally good for isotonic and isokinetic tests, but relatively poor for isometric rate of torque development. Measures of dorsiflexion (DF) and plantar flexion (PF) strength and power-related variables were significantly correlated with functional performance (gait speed, stair climb power, and foot movement time). An intervention study was conducted to determine the effects of ankle DF and PF resistance training performed concentrically “as fast as possible” on movement time in a brake response task. Power training with elastic bands resulted in the greatest reduction in movement time, which suggests that this low-cost, practical form of exercise may benefit older adults in circumstances when rapid generation of ankle torque is required. This thesis adds to the literature by examining mobility from a number of perspectives. Mobility determinants are comprehensively defined, community and laboratory-based measures are examined, and the effects of an intervention are evaluated to improve mobility assessment and treatment techniques in older adults.

The aim of this study is to better understand age differences in well-being using Ryan, Huta, and Deci’s (2008) theory. According to this theory, four constructs are responsible for living a full and deeply satisfying life (i.e., eudaimonia) and experiencing pleasure and an absence of psychological pain (i.e., subjective well-being): (1) pursuing intrinsic goals and values, (2) behaving in autonomous ways, (3) living mindfully, and (4) behaving to satisfy the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. Results indicate that aging was positively associated with the pursuit of intrinsic goals and values, autonomous behaviour, mindfulness, and mental health. Although age had a positive effect on the basic psychological need for autonomy, it had no effect on relatedness, and a negative effect on competence. The mixed influence of age on basic psychological needs may explain why older adults experienced greater levels of hedonic well-being but lower levels of eudaimonic well-being.

Immigrants, like everyone else, age. Given that well over 13 million immigrants have arrived in Canada since 1901 (Statistics Canada, 2001), it is surprising that researchers have largely failed to examine their mental health in later life. This thesis utilizes data from the Canadian Community Health Survey—Healthy Aging (2010) to compare the mental health of immigrants to that of Canadian-born among the population over the age of 60. Anthony Giddens’ (1984) structuration theory provides a theoretical framework which facilitates examination of the complex relationship among various structural and behavioural independent variables. Findings show that connecting immigrant women with health care providers, encouraging healthy behaviours among immigrant men, ensuring nutritional needs are met in Canada, and boosting opportunities for social support are all ways that we can increase life satisfaction and decrease mood and anxiety conditions in our society.

Graduate

The aim of this study was to examine age-related differences in decision-making competence. The study is a part of the ongoing Betula project (Nilsson et al., 1997; 2004), and the data included test results from (N, 364) corresponding to the questionnaires with complete responses (>80%) to the items addressed. The Swedish version of the Adult Decision-Making Competence (A-DMC) battery was used. An exploratory factor analysis of the A-DMC data yielded a two-component solution: The A-DMC tasks were divided into Factor 1 (Applying Decision Rules, Resistance to Framing and Consistency in Risk Perception tasks), and Factor 2 (Under/Overconfidence, Resistance to Sunk Costs and Recognizing Social Norms). These two factors showed opposite age effects, where Factor 1 (analytic decision making) declined with age, whereas Factor 2 (heuristic decision competence) was not negatively affected by old age. / Betula Project

<p> The purpose of the present stud is to focus on applying two theoretical models, the justification-suppression model and the role congruity theory, to age discrimination in selection occupational decision-making. Participants from varying age demographics evaluated either stereotype-confirming or stereotype-disconfirming Facebook interests of candidates who are applying for a fictitious job opening. The results supported the role congruity theory in that candidates were rated lower on likability ratings when their Facebook interests were congruent with the stereotypical interests of the candidates&rsquo; respective age groups. However, there were no significant differences supporting the justification-suppression model in that perceptions of candidates did not differ in hirability ratings, regardless of their observable Facebook interests. However, the hirability ratings overall decreased after participants viewed Facebook profiles, regardless of the congruence of interests to their stereotypical interests. These results suggest that the presence of Facebook profiles as well as displaying atypical interests regarding respective age groups can result in negative perceptions of likeability or hirability ratings.</p>

No description available.

The increase in the aging population has become one of the most important problems of our society in last few decades. As people grow older, they are at risk of falling and consequent injuries due to the effects of aging. A fall may be the first indication of an undetected illness related to the effects of aging. This study demonstrates the effects of aging on balance, spatio-temporal gait parameters, gaze stability, and cognitive skills under single task conditions and during dual-tasks conditions. In the present study, we included following three groups: Group 1: 30 young healthy adults (aged 20 ± 3 years); Group 2: 30 adults (aged 61.4 ± 4.4 years); Group 3: 30 older adults (aged 75 ± 4.5 years). A computer game based rehabilitation platform has been developed and was used for the single and dual task performance in standing and during treadmill walking. We observed that there was a significant age effect while dual tasking on standing balance, spatial and temporal gait parameters, gaze performance, and cognitive task performance. To conclude, this study shows a vast decline in walking and standing balance and ability to divide attention during dual tasking between the age groups 55-70 years and 71- 85 years and compares both these age groups with the more normative, healthy, young and athletic, 20-30 years old population.

Older adults improve in emotional well-being, and this may be a product of changes in motivation to regulate emotions or emotion regulation effectiveness. However, there are cognitive changes in old age that could make regulation harder in some contexts. The current set of studies sought to determine whether there were age-related improvements or deficits in ability to use distraction in two contexts. The first study examined use of distraction in a recovery context and found no age differences in emotional recovery when 1) using spontaneous self-distraction, 2) intentionally self-distracting, and 3) being distracted by another task. There was, however, evidence that the distracting task was the most effective way to recover from the negative induction. There was also some evidence that cognitive changes with age made it more difficult for older adults to limit negative thoughts in certain conditions. The second study contrasted use of distraction, positive reappraisal, and detached reappraisal by looking at success in terms of emotion regulation and impact on a subsequent cognitive task and later memory for the emotional stimuli. No age differences were found in emotion regulation success in this study either, but interesting differences in consequences of the three regulation strategies did emerge.