David M. Almeida’s research while affiliated with Pennsylvania State University and other places

Background and Objectives The analysis of daily memory lapses is an underutilized approach to understanding daily experiences of cognitive functioning. The present study adopts this approach, with the goals of exploring how the quality of family relationships predicts the frequency of daily memory lapses and moderates the link between daily memory lapses and daily affect. Research Design and Methods We used longitudinal data from the third wave of Midlife in the United States and the National Study of Daily Experiences to assess our research goals. Participants (N = 1,236; Mage= 62.48 years, SD= 10.21, range 43-91; 57% female) completed eight nightly telephone interviews that included reports of prospective and retrospective memory lapses as well as daily positive and negative affect. Results During a separate baseline interview, participants reported the emotional support they received from their family. Latent profile analysis models identified four family relationship types: pleasant, ambivalent, neutral, and unpleasant. Compared to pleasant relationships, ambivalent (b=.23, p<.05) and neutral (b=.35, p<.01) relationships significantly predicted a higher frequency of prospective memory lapses; this effect was not found among retrospective lapses. In addition, relative to pleasant relationships, ambivalent (b=.02, p<.05), neutral (b=.02, p<.05), and unpleasant (b=.07, p<.001) relationships were associated with increased negative affect on days with a retrospective lapse, but not prospective lapse. Discussion and Implications This study contributes to the literature by revealing that family relationships are related to the memory lapses individuals experience in their daily lives, and identifies how lapses might contribute to affective symptom load over time.

Introduction Housing insecurity is a social determinant of health, as evidenced by its associations with mental, physical, and biological outcomes. The scientific understanding of the mechanisms by which housing insecurity is associated with health is still limited. This review adapts existing stress process models to propose a conceptual model illustrating potential pathways linking the specific stressor of housing insecurity to physiological and epigenetic manifestations of stress among aging adults. Methods This narrative review examines literature across multiple fields, including public health, psychology, and sociology. The literature selected for this review was identified through scientific databases including Web of Science, PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Scholar; primarily peer-reviewed empirical studies, literature reviews, and research reports published in English between 1981 and 2024; and principally based in the United States context. A synthesis of this literature is presented in a proposed conceptual model. Results The literature supports the existence of two main predictors of housing insecurity: sociodemographic characteristics and the historical/current context. The main mediating pathways between housing insecurity and manifestations of stress include health behaviors, psychosocial resources, and structural resources. Moderating factors affecting the associations between housing insecurity and manifestations of stress include government assistance, chronic discrimination/unfair treatment, and individual differences. These interdependent mediating and moderating mechanisms affect stressor reactivity, a proximal manifestation of stress, which contributes to the physiological and epigenetic distal manifestations of stress in aging adults. Discussion and implications The prevalence of housing insecurity among aging adults is growing in the United States, with significant implications for public health and health disparities, given the growing percentage of aging adults in the population. Further empirical testing of the mediating and moderating mechanisms proposed in the conceptual model will elucidate how housing insecurity is connected to health and provide insight into preventive strategies to ameliorate the adverse effects of housing insecurity on biological health among aging adults.

Although loneliness and neurocognitive health have been linked, little attention has been given to associations between fluctuations in state loneliness and cognitive performance. This work examines the association between within-person variation in state loneliness and cognitive performance assessed objectively in daily life, focusing on the timing and direction of the relationship. Participants from a wave of the Einstein Aging Study (EAS) were included (N=313, Mage=78 [range=70-90], 68% women, 46% White, 41% Black; average 15 years education). Over a 14-day period, participants engaged in ambulatory ecological momentary assessment burst using mobile phones, completing self-reports (including about feeling lonely at the moment) and mobile cognitive tests up to five times daily. The mobile cognitive tests assessed visual associative memory, processing speed, and spatial memory. Multilevel modeling was employed to examine day-to-day and moment-to-moment changes in loneliness and their relationship with cognitive performance, with a specific focus on concurrent, time-lagged, and reverse-lagged associations. Results revealed that higher daily loneliness negatively correlated with cognitive performance on the same day and predicted worse performance the following day, illustrating a prospective association. Within a single day, momentary loneliness negatively correlated with immediate cognitive performance, but did not predict later decreases; however, lower cognitive performance in a given moment predicted elevated loneliness later in the day. Overall, these findings highlight a complex, reciprocal relationship – loneliness predicting and being predicted by cognitive performance depending on timescale. Deepening our understanding of such temporal dynamics will be important to inform ways to break the cycle between loneliness and cognition.

Longitudinal evidence on the association between sleep and physical frailty is limited, especially using a multidimensional measure of sleep health. In this study, we examined the prospective association between sleep health and physical frailty among U.S. older adults. We also examined how this association differs by age, sex and race. We used data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), with a sample of 929 older adults (65+) who completed a sleep module during 2013 and 2014. Self-reported items on the SATED model (i.e., satisfaction, daytime alertness, timing, efficiency, and duration) were used to create a sleep health composite and Fried’s frailty phenotype was used to assess frailty. Multiple multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for baseline frailty status, socio-demographics, and health correlates revealed that having poorer sleep health increased the risk of onset of frailty at follow-up (RR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.02–1.64). Among specific sleep health dimensions, lack of daytime alertness and short (< 6 hours) or long (≥ 9 hours) sleep duration were significantly associated with frailty, however, poor sleep satisfaction, timing and efficiency were not significantly associated with frailty. Stratified analyses revealed that the association between sleep health and frailty was significant among women, those aged <80 years, and non-Hispanic Whites after adjusting for socio-demographics, but only significant among women (RR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.04–1.98) after adding health correlates. Findings suggest that having poorer sleep health across multiple dimensions is associated with increased risk of frailty among older adults, especially among women.

Existing research on spending time for others yields inconsistent findings regarding its effects on well-being. Some studies report positive effects, while others find negative effects. To address this inconsistency, our study explored whether spending time for others differentially impacts overall eudaimonic well-being and day-to-day hedonic well-being, considering potential differences across sociodemographic groups. 665 participants (Mage=48.27) in the Midlife in the United States Study completed both monthly survey and eight-day diary survey. Monthly and daily time spent for others, overall eudaimonic well-being (psychological and social domains), and daily hedonic well-being (positive affect, negative affect, daily stressors) were measured. OLS regression and multilevel models evaluated the associations of time spent for others with eudaimonic and hedonic well-being at the two time scales, adjusting for sociodemographic and health covariates (e.g., age, gender, education, self-reported physical health, marital status, day of week, and number of missed diary). Results indicated that, at the monthly level, participants who spent more time for others reported higher overall psychological and social well-being. However, at the daily level, they experienced more negative affect and stressors, with these effects more pronounced in men and adults under 56-year old. This study clarifies inconsistencies in prior research, highlighting differential associations of spending time for others with individual well-being across different time scales and sociodemographic groups. While short-term responses tend to be negative, particularly among men and younger individuals, long-term outcomes appear to be positive.

As intensive longitudinal data collection becomes more widespread, innovative methods to quantify daily and momentary experiences are needed to advance theoretical understanding of daily life and its implications for successful aging. A particularly promising area of advancement is in quantitative summaries of rich categorical data regarding daily experiences (e.g., types of activities including physical activity, chores, volunteering, etc.; types of stressors including work stressors, arguments, social network stressors, etc.; types of social engagements, including with church groups, neighbors, family, etc.). This symposium will discuss a framework for understanding antecedents and outcomes of diversity of daily experiences and provide exemplary studies within this framework. First, Koffer will present a new X-versity theoretical perspective, an innovative approach to understanding the richness and balance inherent in diverse daily experiences and its significance in the context of healthy aging. Three domains of daily experiences (activities, stressors, and social interactions) will then be represented in empirical presentations to discuss socioeconomic and psychological correlates of diversity of daily experiences. Santos finds higher income relates to higher activity diversity between 2011-2022, with differences by race/ethnicity. Surachman finds more financial hardship relates to higher stressor concentration (narrow and unbalanced stressor experiences in daily life), particularly for older adults. Jeon finds COVID-19 pandemic-driven decreases in social activity diversity related to increased loneliness. The Discussant, Almeida will provide an overview of the advancements in daily diary and intensive longitudinal study of everyday life and discuss implications of diversity of daily experiences for health and well-being across the adult life span. Health Behavior Change Interest Group Sponsored Symposium

Background: Stress plays a pivotal role in physical health. Although many studies have linked stress reactivity (daily within-person associations between stress exposure and negative affect) to physical health outcomes, we know surprisingly little about how changes in stress reactivity are related to changes in physical health. Purpose: The current study examines how change in stress reactivity over 18 years is related to changes in functional health and chronic health conditions. Methods: Three measurement bursts from the National Study of Daily Experiences (N = 2880; 55% female) each included daily measures of stressor exposure and negative affect across 8 consecutive days, yielding 33 944 days of data across 18 years of adulthood. At each wave, participants reported their functional health limitations (ie, basic activities of daily living [ADL] and instrumental activities of daily living [IADL]) and chronic health conditions. Multilevel structural equation models simultaneously modeled stress reactivity at Level 1, longitudinal changes in stress reactivity at Level 2, and the association between changes in stress reactivity and changes in functional limitations and chronic conditions at Level 3. Results: Higher levels of stress reactivity at baseline were associated with more functional health limitations 18 years later (ADLs: Est. = 0.90, P = .001; IADLs: Est. = 1.78, P < .001). Furthermore, individuals who increased more in their stress reactivity across the 18-year period also showed greater increases in their functional health limitations (ADLs: Est. = 4.02, P = .017; IADLs: Est. = 5.74, P < .001) and chronic conditions (Est. = 11.17, P = .008). Conclusions: These findings highlight the strong connection between health and stress in daily life, and how they travel together across adulthood.

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) pose a massive public health challenge, affecting over 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older—a number projected to double by 2050. Despite advances in pharmacological treatments, there remains no cure or method to reverse the disease. This paper highlights the role of psychological stress as a critical yet underappreciated risk factor for cognitive decline and reviews its complex interplay with behavioral, social, and biological mechanisms. Chronic psychological stress drives physiological and behavioral changes that are linked to accelerated cognitive deterioration, particularly in older adults. Early interventions can target stress management and behavioral prevention strategies, which include physical activity, healthy diet, and social engagement. Further, key barriers to meaningful policy change to prevent and slow ADRD include lack of public awareness, stigma around mental health and aging, and misaligned funding incentives. Policy initiatives can improve brain health literacy, increase equitable access to services, and enhance community-level and environmental factors to promote healthy aging. Prioritizing stress reduction and promoting early detection and prevention can meaningfully reduce ADRD risk and progression, improving public health broadly.