Behavioral and Social Impacts on Daily Variability in Health and Functioning in Old and Very Old Age

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Location: 125 CC

CE: 1.5

Chair(s)

Anna Jori Lücke, MSc

Research Associate
Psychological Institute
Heidelberg University
Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Co-Chair(s)

OS

Oliver Schilling, PhD

Professor
Psychological Institute
University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Discussant(s)

SH

Scott Hofer, PhD

Professor
University of Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

OS

Oliver Schilling, PhD

Professor
Psychological Institute
University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Anna Jori Lücke, MSc

Research Associate
Psychological Institute
Heidelberg University
Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Gizem Hueluer, PhD

Professor
Developmental and Educational Psychology
University of Bonn
Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Minxia Luo, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher
URPP Dynamics of Healthy Aging & Department of Psychology
University of Zurich
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

In recent years, research has shown that people experience substantial variability in domains such as cognition, health, or social interactions from day-to-day or even moment-to-moment. This variability carries relevant information above and beyond an individual’s mean levels of functioning, revealing, for instance, potential risk factors for healthy aging. Thus, aging research increasingly examined such variations in older adults’ daily lives, aiming to further the understanding of aging processes with insights into short- and long-term predictors of daily health and functioning. In this symposium, we introduce research using repeated daily life assessments from older participants to elucidate behavioral and social impacts on variations in working memory performance, pain and self-rated health, as well as social interaction quality. Luo et al. show that diverse daily activities were linked with higher working memory performance one the same day. Regarding long-term prediction, Schilling et al. found that patterns of alcohol consumption across two decades were only weakly predictive of subsequent short-term variability in daily working memory performance. Turning from cognitive functioning to health, Lücke et al. observed bidirectional links of variations in daily sleep quality with variations in daily pain and health perceptions across several days. Finally, Hülür et al. addressed the role of communication technologies for older persons’ social interactions and found that daily social interaction quality differs with the interaction modalities. Scott Hofer will discuss the implications of the presented findings for our understanding of variability in everyday functioning in old age, considering challenges and opportunities for future research in this field.

Learning Objectives:

After attending this session, participants will be able to describe and consider potential impacts on short-term fluctuations in older persons' cognitive performance, in particular with regard to potential activity-related benefits and alcohol-related risks.
After this session, participants will be able to discuss the mutual impacts between sleep at night and health perceptions across the day in older persons' daily life.
After this session, participants will be able to describe and consider how the use of modern (digital) communication tools might affect the quality of older persons social interactions, in comparison with more customary modes of interaction.

Presentations:

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Long-Term Alcohol Consumption and Stability of Daily Working Memory Performance in Old Age
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Oliver K. Schilling, PhD – University of Heidelberg
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Bidirectional Links of Daily Sleep Quality and Duration With Pain and Self-Rated Health in Old Age
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Anna Jori Lücke, MSc – Heidelberg University
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Perceived Quality of Daily Social Interactions: The Role of Interaction Modality
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Gizem Hueluer, PhD – University of Bonn
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Daily Activity Diversity and Daily Working Memory in Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Minxia Luo, PhD – University of Zurich