Historical change in midlife health, well-being, and despair: Cross-cultural and socioeconomic comparisons.

Objective Examine whether racial disparities are narrowing or widening with historical time among US middle-aged and older adults, and test the extent to which educational attainment moderates racial disparities over historical time. Method Multilevel models were applied to longitudinal data on middle-aged (ages 40-65) and older adults (ages 66 and older) from the Health and Retirement Study. Historical change was indexed as cohort or birth year. The outcomes of focus were depressive symptoms, episodic memory, health conditions, functional limitations, and self-rated health. Results Results revealed a differential pattern of racial disparities in historical change between midlife and old age. Across midlife and old age, on average, Blacks and Hispanics reported poorer levels of mental and physical health, compared to Whites. In midlife, racial disparities narrowed with historical time; later-born cohorts of Hispanics but not Whites reported fewer depressive symptoms than their earlier-born peers. Likewise, historical improvements in health were stronger among Hispanics and Blacks than Whites. Conversely, in old age, later-born cohorts across race consistently showed historical improvements in each of the outcomes examined. Regarding educational attainment, we observed little consistent evidence that health-promoting effects of educational attainment would differ across race and cohort. Examining questions about heterogeneity, results revealed that in midlife and old age there was greater heterogeneity between race across each of the outcomes. Discussion Our discussion elaborates on reasons behind the documented racial differences in historical changes among US middle-aged and older adults, and how the protective role of education is changing over time.

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This chapter discusses conceptual and methodological considerations for studying post-traumatic growth across adulthood and into old age. Conceptual considerations that the authors focus on include examining character strengths and virtues longitudinally across multiple age groups and also the stability of these strengths and virtues across the life span. Methodological considerations elaborated are the use of convenience sampling in scale development and the importance of measurement invariance when examining character strengths in the context of post-traumatic growth. The authors provide examples from previous research on post-traumatic growth and discuss methods of measurement that could be utilized to enhance the validity of current measures. The chapter highlights the importance of character strengths and virtues and aims to solidify their role in the scientific community. Additionally, it highlights the need for more rigorous lines of scientific inquiry in this area due to its potential to impact healthy aging outcomes for persons across the adult life span.

Middle-aged adults are a central pillar of society because they comprise large segments of the workforce and bridge younger and older generations. Given the significant role that middle-aged adults play for the greater good of society, more research is warranted to evaluate in which ways adversity could accumulate or pile-up to impact pertinent outcomes. We used data from a sample of middle-aged adults (n = 317, age 50-65 at baseline, 55% women) who were assessed monthly for a period of 2 years to examine whether the accumulation of adversity was predictive of depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and character strengths (generativity, gratitude, the presence of meaning, and search for meaning). Greater accumulation of adversity was associated with reporting more depressive symptoms, lower life satisfaction, and the lower presence of meaning and the effects remained for depressive symptoms when accounting for concurrent adversity. More concurrent adversity was associated with reporting more depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction and lower levels of generativity, gratitude, and the presence of meaning. Analyses that targeted specific domains of adversity showed that the accumulation of adversity associated with close family members (i.e., spouse/partner, children, and parents), and financial, and work domains showed the strongest (negative) associations across each outcome. Our findings demonstrate that monthly adversity take its toll on pertinent midlife outcomes and points to future research targeting mechanisms underlying our findings as well as resources that promote positive outcomes. Public Significance StatementMiddle-aged adults lead complex lives, which signifies the importance of identifying the sources of adversity that could exert the strongest impact on pertinent outcomes. We found that adversity that transpires with close family members (i.e., spouse/partner, children, and parents), and in the financial, and work realms show the strongest (negative) associations on mental health, well-being, and connection with others. Our findings showcase the domains that could be the target of interventions to help promote positive outcomes in middle-aged adults and provides impetus for future research targeting mechanisms underlying our findings as well as resources that promote positive outcomes.