In this study, we explored the relationships among gender, age, daily stressors, positive and negative affect, and neuroticism on cortisol outcomes in older men and women. We were particularly interested in whether variation in positive affect would have an effect on variation in negative affect and if this relationship would...
We examined the effect of daily stress, age, and emotional stability/neuroticism on stress reactivity, using cortisol diurnal rhythms. We used data from the Normative Aging Study (Spiro & Bosse, 2001). The 72 men in this study ranged from 67-93 (M =79.29, SD =4.88). Multilevel modeling showed that higher daily stress...
This study contributes to our understanding of positive adult development by examining resilience processes in adulthood. Resilience is often considered to be an individual-level trait. However, the child development literature has consistently shown that support from parents and caring others is a critical component of resilience. Less is known about...
Studies on the positive effects of stress, called stress-related growth (SRG), are increasing, and there are a variety of contradictory theoretical models and findings in the literature. This dissertation compared several of these models in two studies, using two waves of data from the Davis Longitudinal Study, a study of...
The COVID-19 pandemic was thought to be especially difficult for older adults, with high risks for social isolation due to the lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic. This study sought to understand the extent to which these community-residing older adults were receiving and providing social support. Further, we sought to disentangle...