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Geropsychology Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Geropsychology

You've Got A Friend: Social Factors And Depressive Symptoms In Older Adults, Erika A. Fenstermacher Jan 2023

You've Got A Friend: Social Factors And Depressive Symptoms In Older Adults, Erika A. Fenstermacher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Depression in late life has been associated with disability, lower quality of life, increased mortality, and increased risk of suicide (Fiske et al., 2009; Rodda et al., 2011). Research suggests that functional disability, which is often brought about by a medical condition, may precede depressive symptoms and may be a major factor for older adults developing depression (Ormel et al., 2002). Social support can be beneficial for both emotional and physical health (Fiori & Jager, 2021). Numerous studies found evidence that social networks, perceived and subjective social support, and satisfaction with support received moderated the relation between health problems and …


Validity Evidence For The Male Depression Risk Scale-22 (Mdrs-22) In Younger And Older Adult Males, Montgomery T. Owsiany Jan 2022

Validity Evidence For The Male Depression Risk Scale-22 (Mdrs-22) In Younger And Older Adult Males, Montgomery T. Owsiany

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Men are two times less likely to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder than women. However, suicide rates are nearly four times higher in men than women, increasing to six times when comparing older men to older women. Given that affective disorders are present in most individuals who die by suicide, investigators have begun researching the possibility that depression presents differently in individuals who adhere to traditional masculine norms, leading to the conceptualization of masculine depression. Presently, one assessment for masculine depression shows strong reliability and validity evidence: the Male Depression Risk Scale-22 (MDRS-22). Despite burgeoning validity evidence for the …


The Effects Of Dementia Knowledge On Dementia Worry, Attitudes, Social Comfort, Empathic Concern, And Personal Distress, Alexandria Rose Ebert Jan 2021

The Effects Of Dementia Knowledge On Dementia Worry, Attitudes, Social Comfort, Empathic Concern, And Personal Distress, Alexandria Rose Ebert

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The present study examined the effects of different types of dementia knowledge on attitudes and affective reactions towards persons with dementia. Work has demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of personhood-based knowledge have lower levels of personal dementia fear and higher levels of social comfort. However, to our knowledge, work has not examined dementia attitudes more broadly or differentiated causal relations among different forms of dementia knowledge and attitude outcomes. Participants (N = 334) aged 19-78 (M = 44.53, SD = 16.57) were randomized into one of five experimental conditions: (1) biomedical-knowledge (BK; read biological and medical facts about …


Role Centrality And Shared Activities With Grandchildren: Effects On Grandparent Wellbeing, Madeline Marie Marello Jan 2020

Role Centrality And Shared Activities With Grandchildren: Effects On Grandparent Wellbeing, Madeline Marie Marello

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Research shows that physical and mental health are closely linked (Ohrnberger, Fichera, & Sutton, 2017). Further, social role theory states that holding and enacting valued roles, such as grandparenting, can buffer the negative effects of health on depression (Reitzes & Mutran, 2004). Using data from 247 grandparents (Mean age = 66.5; range 42 to 90 years; 46.2% grandfathers), we examined whether grandparent role centrality and engagement with grandchildren altered the effects of physical health on depression. We then explored model differences between 164 custodial and 83 traditional grandparents. We found that for all grandparents the model was of sufficient fit: …


Why Are They Wrong? Exploring Surrogates’ Accuracy When Predicting Patient Treatment Preferences, Rachael Lynn Spalding Jan 2020

Why Are They Wrong? Exploring Surrogates’ Accuracy When Predicting Patient Treatment Preferences, Rachael Lynn Spalding

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Surrogate decision making is common in medical settings, particularly regarding treatment decisions for patients at end-of-life. When making decisions on behalf of patients, surrogates are most often encouraged to use the substituted judgment standard and make the decision that the patient would make if he or she were able to express a choice. A significant body of research, using patient-surrogate pairs and hypothetical vignettes, has documented that surrogates tend to inaccurately predict patient preferences when making these decisions (Shalowitz et al., 2006). This results in treatment decisions that do not match what the patient would have selected. Various factors that …


Longitudinal Associations Between Functional Disability, Depression, And Suicide In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Julie Ann Lutz Jan 2019

Longitudinal Associations Between Functional Disability, Depression, And Suicide In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Julie Ann Lutz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Suicide is a significant public health problem among older adults in the United States and around the world. There has been little research to date on longitudinal change in functional disability and depressive symptoms, both of which have been posited to be associated with suicide risk among middle-aged and older adults, and their association with death by suicide. The aims of this study were to 1) characterize longitudinal change in functional disability and depressive symptoms separately; 2) characterize the directional associations between functional disability and depressive symptoms in bivariate models; and 3) determine how different patterns of change among these …