Daniela Jopp

University of Lausanne | UNIL ·  Institut de psychologie (IP)

Background: Given the increasing number of people achieving exceptionally long lifespans, there is an urgent need for a better understanding of mental health in centenarians. This study aimed to understand the prevalence of mental health conditions-depressive symptoms, anxiety, sleep disturbances, disinhibition, and aberrant motor behaviour-among...

Background Despite most centenarians facing age-related declines in functional and cognitive capacities, the severity of these declines varies among individuals, as does the maintenance of good mental health (e.g., depressive symptoms) despite these declines. This study aims to examine this heterogeneity in centenarians from the Second Heidelberg C...

Although the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) scale has been widely used, its French adaptation has not been validated and its psychometric properties have not been tested. Addressing this literature gap, we propose a French validation of the measure, investigating its factorial structure and testing its invariance regarding age, sex, education, and time...

As people age, they tend to spend more time indoors, and the colours in their surroundings may significantly impact their mood and overall well‐being. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to provide informed guidance on colour choices, irrespective of age group. To work towards informed choices, we investigated whether the associations be...

The current study explored Asian Americans’ lay perceptions of successful aging and examined the differences and similarities between Asian Americans and White/Caucasian Americans. One hundred forty-five Asian American adults and 86 White/Caucasian adults were asked how they view successful aging. Open-ended responses were coded for recurring theme...

The very old are the fastest growing population in developed countries, yet research on this age group remains limited. There are, however, specific challenges of very old age that differ from those in earlier late life phases. Very old individuals and their families may thus have unique needs and may require adapted services. In this symposium, we...

Altfhough every second child born after the year 2000 is expected to become a centenarian, little is known about what characterizes life at age 100. This is also the case for Switzerland, one of the countries with the highest life expectancy world-wide. In this presentation, we will report findings from SWISS100, the first nation-wide centenarian s...

Internet use has dramatically increased worldwide, with over two-thirds of the world’s population using it, including the elderly population. Technological resources, such as internet use, have been shown to influence psychological variables, such as stress. According to Hobfoll’s theory, stress perception depends on individual’s resources and thei...

Depressive symptoms (DS) are prevalent among older adults (WHO, 2021). However, data on DS appear to be scarce in centenarians. In addition, DS may have been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in centenarians who may have been more susceptible to the negative consequences of pandemic restrictions. Thus, as part of the SWISS100 study (J...

Research has documented the health consequences of how individuals view their own age-related changes and aging (i.e., self-perceptions of aging) in later life. However, less is known about how individuals’ self-perceptions of aging are shaped by their intergenerational experiences. This study aims to examine very old parents’ and their old childre...

Population aging has given rise to an increasingly common new group of caregivers, older adult children caring for their very old parents. These caregivers often find themselves balancing several other roles and responsibilities on top of caring for their parent, such as navigating their own health issues, caring for grandchildren, or transitioning...

There is an abundant literature on the links between quality of life and neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness. Several studies have even explored how these links are mediated by variables such as self efficacy and openness to emotion. However, less attention has been paid to the influence of the openness and agreeableness, as results ha...

BACKGROUND Internet use has dramatically increased worldwide, with over two-thirds of the world's population using it, including the elderly population. Technical resources, such as internet use, has been shown to influence psychological variables, such as stress. Furthermore, according to Hobfoll’s COR theory, stress perception largely depends on...

Background Internet use has dramatically increased worldwide, with over two-thirds of the world’s population using it, including the older adult population. Technical resources such as internet use have been shown to influence psychological processes such as stress positively. Following the Conservation of Resources theory by Hobfoll, stress experi...

Child undernutrition and later-life non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are major global health issues. Literature suggests that undernutrition/famine exposure in childhood has immediate and long-term adverse health consequences. However, many studies have theoretical and methodological limitations. To add to the literature and overcome some of these...

Some studies show that the protective effect of higher income on health weakens with old age (age-as-leveller pattern), whereas others show that it strengthens with old age (cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Many existing studies are limited in that they use single-country and/or single-timepoint designs. To overcome these limitations and...

This study aims to investigate changes in the income-health gradient over the later life course. We test the age-as-leveler, the cumulative advantage/disadvantage, and the persistent inequality pattern for physical and cognitive health domains, and analyze whether these patterns are gendered. We used HRS data (1992-2016) and Poisson growth curve mo...

Background and Objectives The ubiquity of multimorbidity makes it crucial to examine the intermediary factors linking it with quality of life (QoL). The objective was to examine to what extent the association between multimorbidity and QoL was mediated by functional and emotional/mental health and how these mediation pathways differed by sociodemog...

Introduction: Research on coping in advanced old age is scarce. In the present study, we explored coping patterns in near-centenarians and centenarians, and characteristics associated to using a specific coping pattern. Methods: We analyzed the frequency with which participants (N=87, MAge = 99.05; SDage = 2.6; age range 95-107) reported using s...

The number of families with very old members is growing, and their intergenerational experiences may have significant ramifications for how the family members view their own aging. Using 114 dyads of very old parents (Mage = 93.31) and their “old” children (Mage = 67.78), we investigated whether one’s own (i.e., parents or children) and each other’...

Critical life events, such as partner loss, in the second half of life pose a significant threat to well-being. Divorce and bereavement have negative consequences for mental and physical health, identity, social relationships and financial adequacy, among others, which can lead to loss of resources and trigger vulnerability. The LIVES “Intimate Par...

Introduction: Child undernutrition and later-life non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are major global health issues. Existing literature suggests that undernutrition/famine exposure in childhood has immediate and long-term adverse health consequences. However, many existing studies have theoretical and methodological limitations. To add to the litera...

Increase in very old individuals is observed in all developed countries around the world. The number of centenarians has also been rising, requiring the investigation of the characteristics of these exceptionally long-lived individuals as well as their experience of life at age 100. In the present study, we present findings from the first nation-wi...

Successful aging is a topic of world-wide interest, yet much work focuses on specific and highly industrialized countries, such as the USA. The present study investigated lay perspectives of the concept of successful aging in young, middle-aged, and older adults from Romania. Ninety-three participants aged between 20 and 84 years were asked about d...

Elder abuse by family caregivers is an often-overlooked phenomenon that affects many older adults. Especially, retirement-aged children caring for their oldest-old parents with dementia may be at greater risk of engaging in harmful or abusive behaviors, given their own age-related health issues and other competing caregiving demands. Most of the el...

Coping strategies help individuals face stressful events and adapt to them. During the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic, individuals were confronted with increased governmental restrictions that aimed in impeding the propagation of the virus, but affected, at the same time, the life as we knew it, with negative consequences for mental health. Th...

Over the past decades, centenarians have increasingly attracted the attention of the research community. This development reflects the constant rise of the numbers of very old individuals, but also the need to better understand longevity mechanisms and what characterizes life at age 100. This scoping review provided an overview of trends in centena...

Background. Multimorbidity, defined as two or more chronic conditions, negatively affects quality of life. However, little is known about the underlying pathways leading from multimorbidity to lower quality of life (QoL). Objective. The objective of this paper was to examine multiple potential mediating factors (loneliness, Activities of Daily Livi...

Very old adults (80+) are the fastest growing population worldwide. Children of the very old adults may see their prolonged relationship with parents as a benefit (e.g., longer time together) but also as burden (e.g., prolonged responsibility in their own late life). Using a sample of older children (N = 219) from the Boston Aging Together Study an...

Very old parents and their “old” children are a growing group in industrialized countries worldwide. However, little is known about the nature and implications of this relationship constellation, especially the challenges and/or rewards experienced within the relationship. We therefore examined factors associated with perceptions of challenge and r...

Self-continuity is a central process of identity that connects one’s past and present. Research is limited regarding the life-course determinants of self-continuity and its development in later life. We used multilevel hierarchical models to investigate how the occurrence of life-course adversity (e.g., childhood adversity or partner loss) and the...

Introduction: There are limited data on prevalence of dementia in centenarians and near-centenarians (C/NC), its determinants, and whether the risk of dementia continues to rise beyond 100. Methods: Participant-level data were obtained from 18 community-based studies (N = 4427) in 11 countries that included individuals ≥95 years. A harmonization...

Barker’s fetal origins hypothesis and the critical period theory suggest that early life events have long-term health effects. However, evidence of the famine exposure in early life and its effects on health in later life is scarce and inconsistent. To explore the effects of early-life exposure to the Chinese famine of 1959-1961 on later-life multi...

Many factors may influence adaptation to critical life events such as divorce and bereavement in the second half of life, including having faced childhood adversity. However, pathways to reduced adaptation success are poorly understood. Self-continuity, an identity mechanism that incorporates life changes into a coherent life story, may contribute...

Introduction Depression is one of the most frequent mental health problems in older populations. ¹ To the best of our knowledge, the prevalence of depressive symptomatology (DS) among centenarians in Switzerland is unknown. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic may have had a negative impact. As part of the study SWISS100 ² , we intend to provide key...

Social isolation and loneliness have been recognized as problems older people face due to their adverse effects on health and mortality, but very few researchers have analyzed their co-occurrence, which might be particularly prevalent and critical among the very old. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of combinations of social isolation...

Background and Objectives: Very old parents and their “old” children are a growing group in industrialized countries worldwide. Care needs of very old parents can be substantial, while children may also face their own age-related issues. Continued mutual support represents an important pathway to addressing emerging care needs. This study aimed to...

In early pandemic waves, when vaccination against COVID-19 was not yet an option, distancing and reduced social contact were the most effective measures to slow down the pandemic. Changes in frequency and forms of social contact have reduced the spread of the COVID-19 virus and thus saved lives, yet there is increasing evidence for negative side ef...

Very old parents and their “old” children are a growing group in industrialized countries worldwide. However, virtually nothing is known about the nature and implications of this relationship constellation. To fill this gap, this study explored the challenges and rewards of the very old parent–child relationship. In-depth interviews were conducted...

Loss of personal resources is expected to have a negative effect on well-being in all ages, however, in very old age, this effect may be exacerbated. Centenarians, who are confronted with accumulated age-related losses, may be at higher risk of experiencing depressive symptoms. This study investigated the link between basic resources (i.e., health,...

With the rise of the novel coronavirus, family caregivers of persons with dementia have been tasked with adapting to an entirely new caregiving landscape. Adult children caring for parents in the ‘oldest old’ age group bear an additional burden. Namely, children that are older adults themselves are navigating the joint vulnerability of both their o...

Very old parents and their “old” children are a growing group in industrialized countries worldwide. Care needs of very old parents can be substantial, while children may also face their own age-related issues. However, little is known about support exchanges within very-old parent-child dyads. This study aimed to identify patterns of support excha...

Very old parents and their “old” children are a growing group in industrialized countries worldwide. Since most very old persons have outlived spouses and friends, their children, many of whom have reached old age themselves, are likely to become their primary social contact and to shoulder the care provision role. However, virtually nothing is kno...

Coping strategies are a source of resilience, yet little is known about their use in centenarians. We examined patterns in coping strategy use and determined how these patterns were associated with characteristics such as personality, cognitive status, quality of life, and health. We analyzed data from the Fordham Centenarian Study (N = 119), where...

Although loneliness and social isolation are often discussed together, they are mainly examined separately. The few studies examining both concepts simultaneously focus usually on the wider category of older people (65+), with no or little attention to very old age. Our main aim was to investigate loneliness and social isolation in combination amon...

Being considered as individuals with elevated risk of severe health reactions to the COVID19 infections, governments around the world have put in place wide-ranging measures to protect very old individuals from the virus. In the present study, we investigated centenarians’ experience of the COVID19 pandemic, to reach a better understanding of their...

Scholars are divided as to how the protective effect of SES on health (the SES-health gradient) varies over the later-life course: The age-as-leveler perspective suggests that the SES-health gradient weakens with age, whereas the cumulative (dis)advantages perspective suggests that it strengthens with age. To clarify this, we used SHARE 2004-2017 (...

Given their exceptional longevity, centenarians have long been considered as examples of successful aging. Yet, with increases in empirical studies, findings suggest that they may show vulnerability and resilience at the same time. This symposium offers a more in-depth perspective on both constructs in centenarians. Zaccaria and colleagues investig...

Intimate partner loss in later life can be one of the most stressful events in adulthood. Individuals who struggle to adapt to the new life conditions may need support from a mental health professional. However, less is known about the likelihood to seek professional help after separation, divorce, or bereavement in later life and associated factor...

In this paper, we highlighted links between personality traits and successful ageing through a systematic review of recent empirical studies. Particularly, we addressed the question of whether personality traits are related to successful ageing and, if so, why and how? Answers to this question provided, for example, arguments that supported persona...

La littérature documente assez bien le lien entre le névrosisme, l'extraversion, le caractère consciencieux et la qualité de vie. Plusieurs recherches abordent même le rôle médiateur de certaines variables dans ce lien comme le sentiment efficacité personnel (SEP) ou l'ouverture émotionnelle (DOE). Dans ces recherches, la place des traits d'ouvertu...

Paranormal beliefs (PBs) are common in adults. There are numerous psychological correlates of PBs and associated theories, yet, we do not know whether such correlates reinforce or result from PBs. To understand causality, we developed an experimental design in which participants experience supposedly paranormal events. Thus, we can test an event's...

Engagement in leisure activities has been claimed to be highly beneficial in the elderly. Practicing such activities is supposed to help older adults to preserve cognitive function, physical function, and mental health, and thus to contribute to successful aging. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the impact of leisure activities...

How individuals develop perceptions of their own aging process is receiving increasing attention. While own age-related experiences are important, the aging of close others, such as parents, has been also found to play a role. Of particular interest may be parental health, yet relationship quality aspects may influence the extent to which health re...

Self-continuity is an identity mechanism that inter-connects past and present experiences with future expectations, creating a coherent whole. However, research is limited regarding inter-individual differences and life course determinants of change in self-continuity. Using a life-course perspective on vulnerability, we investigate how the accumul...

One consequence of modern longevity is the growing number of older adults with very old parents. While family members are often interdependent in their development and aging, less is known about how intergenerational relationships may influence individuals’ attitudes toward their own aging in later life. Using 70 dyads of oldest-old parents (Mage =...

Studies on support exchanges in older parent-child dyads have so far not used observational approaches. Rather, they have mostly relied on self-report/questionnaire approaches. However, support exchanges represent a dyadic phenomenon that goes beyond individual perspectives on the quality of support; thus, self-reports offer only a part of the pict...

While having a role model for successful aging may have a beneficial influence and promote successful aging throughout the course of one’s life, very little empirical research has examined role models for successful aging, particularly among Asian Americans. The current study examined Asian Americans’ role models for successful aging and their link...

Objectives: This study examined the measurement invariance and longitudinal trajectories of multidimensional self-perceptions of aging (SPA) and factors that predict between-person variability in the level and change of SPA in middle-aged and older adults. Method: Data were drawn from the German Ageing Survey spanning four waves, covering a 15-y...

This study aims to analyze the wish to reach 100 years old in a sample of centenarians’ family members and explore the main reasons for supporting or refuting such a desire. Answers to an open question on the wish to reach 100 years old were analysed via thematic coding and further explored in relation to personal characteristics (age, gender, kins...

This study examined how common thinking of and planning for the end of life (EOL) is among German and Portuguese centenarians, and whether patterns of EOL views are shaped by cultural and individual characteristics. A significant portion of centenarians in both countries reported not thinking about the EOL, not believing in the afterlife, and not h...

Background: Critical events in the second half of life, such as divorce, pose a significant threat to well-being. Individuals undergoing divorce often experience feelings of social loneliness and may benefit differently from available resources depending on how much time has passed since the event. Personality traits have been found to be related...

The number of older adults is increasing dramatically, and their children are often their primary social contacts. This means that the older parent-child relationship is of vital importance. Our aim was to examine how relationship quality of older parent-child dyads is reflected through language in an interaction task. We selected two parent-child...

The current study examined positive and negative aspects of adult children’s relationships with aging parents and the extent to which the relationships are related to adult children’s views on aging in a sample of 167 adults between the ages of 18 and 73 (Mage=31.6; SD=14.8). Open-ended responses about adult children’s relationships with aging pare...

In old age, children often become the central go-to person of their parents. Yet, little is known about support exchanges within older parent-child dyads, and new methodology may be useful that goes beyond self-report. We will present findings from 50 older parent-child dyads of the Swiss multi-method study “Aging together.” We used a laboratory ta...

Previous research has consistently shown that subjective aging, defined as how individuals perceive their own aging, has long-term effects on various indicators of developmental outcomes, such as health and longevity. In the recent literature, self-perceptions of aging (SPAs) have been conceptualized and assessed in a multidimensional way, recogniz...

Loss of resources is a key factor associated with stress experience and depression according to Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resource Theory, yet, only few studies have examined this theory with older adults. This study investigated resource perception in 1838 individuals aged 39 to 95 years (39–59: n=704; 60–74: n=699; 75–95: n=435; 60% women). The o...

Centenarians approach the end of their lives with certainty. Yet, little is known about their thoughts about the end of life (EOL). Comparing centenarians from Germany and Portugal, this study examined common thinking of and planning for the EOL among centenarians, and whether views on EOL are shaped by cultural contexts and individual characterist...

Centenarians are per definition very close to the end of their lives. Yet, little is known about their end-of-life (EOL) thoughts and plans, and even less is known about to what extent their primary contacts are aware of these thoughts. Using 78 dyads of centenarians and their proxies from the Second Heidelberg Centenarian Study, we examined dyadic...

Divorce in later life is a critical life event that can affect well-being through changes in self-continuity and multiple important group memberships (MIGM), two mechanisms that enhance identity-stability. This study investigates how changes in self-continuity and MIGM may explain changes in social and emotional loneliness after divorce. Data deriv...

Resilience, defined as an individual’s ability to withstand critical life events and other negative developments, represents a key construct in aging research. Resources are often discussed as underlying mechanisms, including basic (e.g., health, social network) and psychological (e.g., personality, coping) resources. Research also points to the im...

Resources are essential in old and very old age, but with advancing age, resource loss becomes more likely, putting individuals at risk for poor quality of life. Loss may be particularly harmful for individuals with poor resource levels. According to Hobfoll’s COR Theory, the effect of loss could be buffered by gains, yet these tend to becomes less...

This mixed-method study identified patterns of support exchanges occurring in very old parent-child dyads. Twenty parent-child dyads (parent age ≥ 90; child age ≥ 65) living in Greater Boston participated in separate one-on-one interviews. Interviews included both standardized relationship and support assessments as well as an open-ended section, g...

While a fair amount of research has investigated the impact of sensory impairments on the mental health of young older adults (65–79 years of age), only a few studies have focused on the associations of sensory impairments with mental health outcomes in the oldest-old (80 years and older). To close this gap, this study examined the separate and com...

Contexte de la communication : Le nombre de personnes très âgées augmente rapidement dans la plupart des pays industrialisés et cette tendance a de fortes probabilités de se poursuivre (par exemple, Teixeira, Araujo, Jopp et Ribeiro, 2018). En conséquence, les Nations Unies s’attendent à 3,2 millions de centenaires en 2050. Cependant, on sait peu d...

Vulnerability and resilience in centenarians Although centenarians are often considered as prime examples of successful aging, research indicates that they are highly vulnerable, given that they face substantial losses and very low resource levels. More particularly, centenarians are characterized by multimorbidity, are at risk of cognitive decline...

Background Self-perceived uselessness is associated with poorer health in older adults. However, it is unclear whether there is a difference in self-perceived uselessness between centenarians and non-centenarians, and if so, which factors contributed to the difference. Methods We used four waves of a nationwide longitudinal dataset from 2005 to 20...

Engagement in leisure activities has been claimed to be highly beneficial in the elderly. Practicing such activities is supposed to help older adults to preserve cognitive function, physical function, and mental health, and thus to contribute to successful aging. We built an SEM model analyzing the impact of leisure activities on these constructs i...

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a newly described mental disorder characterized by extensive mental fantasy activity featuring addiction-like longing for fantasizing, accompanying repetitive movement, and feeling hindered in everyday life. This study describes the first validation of a non-English version of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS)...

Objectives To explore how centenarians think about and plan for the end of life (EOL) and to what extent their primary contacts (proxy informants) are aware of these thoughts. Design Population‐based study with semistructured in‐person interviews. Setting Defined geographical region approximately 60 km around Heidelberg, Germany. Participants Su...

Background: While a fair amount of research has investigated the impact of sensory impairments on the mental health of young older adults (65-79 years of age), only a few studies have focused on the associations of sensory impairments with mental health outcomes in the oldest-old (80 years and older). To close this gap, this study examined the sep...

Background and Objectives Valuation of life (VOL) represents a construct capturing individuals’ active attachment to their life. The majority of studies on VOL were conducted in North America and Europe where personal autonomy and independence are highly valued, leaving open the question about the relevance of this construct in interdependence-orie...