Dynamics of Adaptation in Very Old Age: Within-Person and Across-Partner Processes in the Daily Lives of Couples

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Denis Gerstorf
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 282956531

Understanding how very old individuals adapt to daily life challenges is key given the rapid growth of this segment of the population. Drawing on notions from developmental contextualism (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), we will address the following three sets of questions. First, considering very old age to be an (endogenous) context that constitutes a testing-the-limits situation for adaptive capacities, we propose that the omnipresent physical and mental decrements in very old age allow pinpointing of a variety of individual-level dynamic characteristics and processes (e.g., emotion variability, stress reactivity, emotion regulation, etc.) that support or hinder individuals in their day-to-day functioning. Hence, we will collect and study data from very old persons. Second, considering the micro-system of spouse of older adults as an (exogenous) context that provides affordances and constraints on daily functioning, we propose that proximal environmental factors such as dyad-level processes (e.g., emotional contagion, task collaboration) serve as social resource or risk factors for overcoming challenges. We will thus study and collect data from very old spouses. Third, considering that individual and spousal daily-life contexts are embedded in the broader development in adulthood, we expect that configurations of endogenous and exogenous adaptation processes have been shaped by prior ontogenetic development and will influence future ontogenetic development. To analyze daily-life processes, we will collect ambulatory-assessment micro-longitudinal data. To examine linkages to ontogenetic development, we will integrate the project into an ongoing macro-longitudinal study, namely the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, SOEP, that is located at the German Institute for Economic Research, DIW. Collectively, the insights gained promise to inform our understanding of why some individuals age more successfully than others and to provide a foundation for designing interventions that support the ability of older adults to optimize their final stages of development.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Canada, USA
• Co-Investigators: Professorin Dr. Christiane Hoppmann; Professor Nilam Ram, Ph.D.