Objectives How people reflect on their own age may influence their well-being in the face of COVID-19 related disruptions. Subjective aging was operationalised in terms of one’s awareness of age-related change (AARC), specifically, the gains and losses associated with aging. We developed a measure assessing disruptions to daily life associated with the COVID-19 pandemic across three dimensions (i.e., Social and Lifestyle Disruption, Work and Health Disruption and Others Contracting COVID-19). We hypothesised that COVID-19 disruption would be positively associated with both AARC-losses and AARC-gains. Greater COVID-19 disruption would also be associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes (higher perceived stress and negative affect (NA) and lower positive affect (PA)) and these associations would be stronger for those reporting greater AARC-losses and weaker for those reporting greater AARC-gains. Method Cross-sectional questionnaire data was collected from 263 participants from the United States (aged 40 to 83; mean age: 62.88 years, SD = 9.00; 56.3% females). Results After controlling for age, gender, education, employment, socio-economic status, and physical functioning, greater Work and Health Disruption was associated with greater AARC-losses. Greater Social and Lifestyle Disruption was associated with both greater AARC-gains and AARC-losses. Moderation effects showed an exacerbating effect of AARC-losses on NA in the face of Work and Health Disruption and a protective effect of AARC-gains on PA in the context of Social and Lifestyle Disruption. Discussion We extend research detailing antecedents of AARC and highlight the need for longitudinal research that considers the everchanging nature of the pandemic.

The multitude of definitions, models, and measures of positive mental health has hindered definitional precision and therefore the ongoing scientific evolution of this important area. This review aimed to synthesize the theoretical and measurement landscape of positive mental health. We extracted measures capturing umbrella concepts of positive and adaptive states of mental health (i.e., well-being, quality of life, and resilience/coping), the underlying dimensions (e.g., vitality, autonomy) and design features (e.g., response scales). Our search identified 155 measures of positive mental health with a total of 410 constituent dimensions. Using thematic analysis, we consolidated these 410 original dimensions into a set of 21 themes. These themes were transformed into a concept map to illustrate their inter-relationship with the umbrella concepts of positive mental health. Our results demonstrate minimal consensus on the underlying dimensions and measurement approaches for investigating positive mental health, resulting in an unwieldy situation for ongoing scientific study.