Bridging Skipped Generations: Intergenerational Marketing as a Catalyst for Aging Consumer Relationships

Introduction: The use of shared automated vehicles (SAVs) should lead to several societal and individual benefits, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced traffic, and improved mobility for persons who cannot safely drive themselves. We define SAVs as on-demand, fully automated vehicles in which passengers are paired with other riders traveling along a similar route. Previous research has shown that younger adults are more likely to report using conventional ridesharing services and are more accepting of new technologies including automated vehicles (AVs). However, older adults, particularly those who may be close to retiring from driving, stand to greatly benefit from SAV services. In order for SAVs to deliver on their aforementioned benefits, they must be viewed favorably and utilized. We sought to investigate how short educational and/or experiential videos might impact younger, middle-aged, and older adult respondents’ anticipated acceptance and attitudes toward SAVs. Knowing what types of introductory experiences improve different age groups’ perceptions of SAVs will be beneficial for tailoring campaigns aiming to promote SAV usage. Methods: We deployed an online survey using the platform Prolific for middle-aged and older respondents, and our departmental participant pool for younger adults, collecting 585 total responses that resulted in 448 valid responses. Respondents answered questions regarding their demographic attributes, their ridesharing history, preconceptions of technology, as well as their anticipated acceptance attitudes towards SAVs as measured by the dimensions of the Automated Vehicle User Perception Survey (AVUPS). After this, respondents were randomly assigned to an intervention condition where they either watched 1) an educational video about how SAVs work and their potential benefits, 2) an experiential video showing a AV navigating traffic, 3) both the experiential and educational videos, or 4) a control video explaining how ridesharing works. Anticipated acceptance attitudes towards SAVs were measured again after this intervention and difference scores calculated to investigate the effect of the intervention conditions. Prolific respondents were paid at a rate of $9.50/hour and younger adults received course credit. Results: Controlling for preconceptions of technology and ridesharing experience, a MANOVA was run on the difference scores of the dimensions of the AVUPS (intention to use, trust/reliability, perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), safety, control/driving-efficacy, cost, authority, media, and social influence). Both older and middle-aged adults expressed significantly greater increases in PEOU and PU of SAVs than younger adults. We also observed an interaction between age and condition for both PU and PEOU. For PU, older adults’ difference scores were found to be significantly greater than younger adults’ for the control video condition. With PEOU, older adults’ difference scores were significantly greater than both younger adults’ for the control video condition, and middle-aged adults had greater difference scores for the educational-only video condition than younger or older adults. Discussion: The increases in PU observed for older adults in the control condition suggests that educating them on how to use currently available ridesharing services might transfer to and/or highlight the benefits that automated ridesharing might provide. The PEOU interactions also suggest that middle-aged adults might respond more positively than younger or older adults to an educational introduction to SAVs. Conclusion: The positive findings pertaining to PU and PEOU show that exposure to information related to SAVs has a positive impact on these attitudes. PU’s and PEOU’s positive relationship to behavioral intentions (BI) in the Technology Acceptance Model, coupled with the findings from this study, bode well for higher fidelity interventions seeking to inform and/or give individuals experience with SAVs. Providing information on how currently available ridesharing services work helped our older adult respondents recognize the potential usefulness of SAVs. Knowing that different age groups may respond better to educational versus experiential interventions, for example middle-aged adults in this study responding more positively to the educational video condition than younger or older adults, may be useful for targeted promotional campaigns.

Gait characteristics during inadvertent obstacle contacts in young, middle-aged and older adults

Trans-fatty acid (TFA) consumption is associated with risk of coronary heart disease, and trans-18:2, but not trans-18:1, in red blood cell membranes has been associated with sudden cardiac arrest. Abnormal heart rate variability (HRV) reflects autonomic dysfunction and predicts cardiac death. Relationships between TFA consumption and HRV remain understudied. We determined whether total TFA consumption, as well as trans-18:1 and trans-18:2 TFA consumption, was independently associated with HRV in 2 independent cohorts in the United States and Portugal. In 2 independent cohorts of older US adults (Cardiovascular Health Study [CHS], age 72±5 years, 1989/1995) and young Portuguese adults (Porto, age 19±2 years, 2008/2010), we assessed habitual TFA intake by food frequency questionnaires in CHS (separately estimating trans-18:1 and trans-18:2) and multiple 24-hour recalls in Porto (estimating total TFA only, which in a subset correlated with circulating trans-18:2 but not trans-18:1, suggesting that we captured the former). HRV was assessed using 24-hour Holters in CHS (n=1076) and repeated short-term (5-minute) ECGs in Porto (n=160). We used multivariate-adjusted linear regression to relate TFA consumption to HRV cross-sectionally (CHS, Porto) and longitudinally (CHS). In CHS, higher trans-18:2 consumption was associated with lower 24-hour SD of all normal-to-normal intervals both cross-sectionally (-12%; 95% CI, -19% to -6%; P=0.001) and longitudinally (-15%; 95% CI, -25% to -4%; P= 0.009) and lower 24-hour SD of 5-minute average N-N intervals and mean of the 5-minute SD of N-N intervals calculated over 24 hours (P<0.05 each). Higher trans-18:1 consumption in CHS was associated with more favorable 24-hour HRV in particular time-domain indices (24-hour SD of all normal-to-normal intervals, SD of 5-minute average N-N intervals, mean of the 5-minute SD of N-N intervals calculated over 24 hours; P<0.05 each). In Porto, each higher SD TFA consumption was associated with 4% lower 5-minute 24-hour SD of all normal-to-normal intervals (95% CI, -8% to -1%; P=0.04) and 7% lower 5-minute square root of the mean of the squares of successive N-N differences (95% CI, -13% to -1%; P=0.04). Trans-18:2 consumption is associated with specific, less favorable indices of HRV in both older and young adults. Trans-18:1 consumption is associated with more favorable HRV indices in older adults. Our results support the need to investigate potential HRV-related mechanisms, whereby trans-18:2 may increase arrhythmic risk.

Background: Aging increased the risks of cognitive impairment and depression. Then, these conditions can lead to poor quality of life by reducing one’s ability to perform activities of daily living. Recently, it is established that physical activity can decrease the cognitive decline and the risk of depression in older adults. Moreover, regular physical activity can improve physical and mental functions in populations of all ages. However, level and speed of cognitive decline occurs varies greatly among individual especially the difference between middle-aged and older adults. Objective: This study aimed to focus on the comparison of physical activity, cognitive function and depression between older and middle-aged adults, which has never been done before. Moreover, the associations of physical activity with cognitive impairment and depression were also investigated in older and middle-aged adults. The information in this study will provide an understanding regarding the design of physical activity program for different age groups. Methods: All participants were divided into two groups of 50 middle-aged adults and 50 older adults. The assessments of physical activity, cognitive function, and level of depression were conducted for all participants. Results: The total level of physical activity and cognitive function in older adults was decreased when compared with middle-aged ones. Moreover, each work and transportation domain of physical activity in older adults also was decreased when compared with that in middle-aged ones. However, the leisure domain of physical activity in older adults was increased via a decreasing depression level. In addition, the level of physical activity associated with both cognitive function and depression and depression alone in middle-aged and older adults, respectively. Conclusion: We suggested that total level of physical activity in older adults can increase via stimulating work and transportation activities in physical activity program. Moreover, the level of physical activity associated with both cognitive function and depression and depression alone in middle-aged and older adults, respectively.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global health threat of unprecedented magnitude and had a devastating impact on the world’s economy. Accordingly, the riskiness of decisions related to health and finance may have increased. However, health and financial threats have differentially affected different age groups. For example, COVID-19 posed a greater health threat to older adults (65+ years) than younger or middle-aged adults, whereas financial threat due to the pandemic affected younger and middle-aged adults more than older adults. This study examined differences in the levels of health and financial risk-taking propensity by time of the pandemic and age group: young (18-39 years), middle-aged (40-64 years), and older adults (65+ years). A sample of 488 individuals residing in the US (245 Woman; Mage = 51.07, SD = 15.99) completed three waves of surveys in March, April, and May 2020. We found that risk-taking propensity for both health and financial decisions decreased over time. The risk-taking propensity was significantly lower in April and May than March, but risk-taking propensity in April and May did not significantly differ. The three age groups were all significantly different than each other in both health and financial risk-taking propensity at all three waves. Younger adults reported higher risk-taking propensity than older and middle-aged adults, and middle-aged adults reported higher risk-taking propensity than older adults. The findings indicate that the pandemic may have influenced all individuals to take less risks in the fields of health and finance regardless of their age.

Attributions for events with information varying on age relevance (teen, young, middle-aged, and older main characters) and context (family, work) were examined in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Participants rated the degree to which the causes of a negative outcome were a function of three dispositional dimensions of the primary character, two dimensions of situational factors, and a combination of these. They also wrote essays justifying their ratings. Overall and in support of previous research, older adults were more likely than younger adults to attribute the cause of the negative outcome to the primary character (Blanchard-Fields, 1994). This bias was not attenuated by the age-relevance factor. Instead, in the work context, older and middle-aged adults placed greater blame on main characters relevant to their age group for negative outcomes than did young adults. However, older adults were also more likely than middle-aged or young adults to attribute the cause of a negative outcome to situational factors. Age relevance and context influenced attributional ratings for all participants in that: (a) older characters were rated higher on external attributions and younger characters were rated higher on internal attributions; and (b) higher internal attributions were made for work situations than for family situations. Finally, young and middle-aged adults were more dialectical in justifying their causal attributions than older adults. Findings are discussed in terms of the degree to which a dispositional bias in older adults is influenced by the developmental relevance of one’s everyday context.

This study aimed to examine older adults' physical activity intentions and preferred implementation intentions, and how intentions and preferred implementation intentions differ between older, middle aged and younger adults. A cross-sectional Australian wide telephone survey of 1217 respondents was conducted in 2016. Multiple and ordinal regression analyses were conducted to compare intentions and preferred implementation intentions between older (65+), middle aged (45-64) and younger adults (<45). A higher percentage of older adults had no intentions to engage in regular physical activity within the next 6months (60%) compared to younger adults (25%). Older adults' most popular preferences included being active at least once a day and for 30min or less and were more likely to prefer more frequent and shorter sessions compared to younger adults. Both older and middle aged adults were more likely to prefer slower paced physical activity compared to younger adults who preferred fast paced physical activity. Physical activity interventions for older adults should address the high percentage of older adults with no intentions and public health campaigns for older adults should promote 30min daily sessions of slow paced activity.

Advances in human microbiome research have highlighted its influence on host health. This study aimed to characterize the oral microbiome (OM) and gut microbiome (GM) and to examine their relationships with systemic fatty acid and cytokine profiles across different age groups in healthy adults. Participants aged 18-76years without diagnosed diseases were grouped into young (18-29years), middle-aged (30-49years), and older adults (≥50years). Blood, dental plaque, and fecal samples were collected. OM and GM composition were evaluated using 16 rRNA sequencing. Circulating free fatty acids (FFAs) were quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and serum cytokines were assessed using flow cytometry. In the OM, Fusobacterium and Haemophilus were notably abundant in young adults, while Haemophilus and Neisseria predominated in middle-aged adults. In older adults, Neisseria and Capnocytophaga were the most prevalent oral genera. In the GM, Bacteroides was the most prevalent genus across all age groups, followed by Faecalibacterium, Blautia, and Prevotella_9. Additionally, circulating levels of decanoic, hexadecanoic, and octadecanoic acids, as well as the cytokine IP-10, were higher in young adults compared with the other age groups. To our knowledge, this study is the first to characterize and correlate the diversity of both the OM and GM with systemic FFA and cytokine profiles in a cohort of healthy adults, highlighting the critical role of age in shaping microbiome composition and associated metabolites. Integrating microbial profiling with serum FFA and cytokine measurements enhances our understanding of how the microbiome may influence health and disease risk across the adult lifespan.

The present study investigated autobiographical memories of younger, middle-aged and older adults for the events that made them the happiest and the saddest in their lives. Participants generated these memory types and provided ratings about how positive and how negative the memory makes them feel when they currently think about it, and the positivity of the emotional content of the memory. Participants provided the age at which the event happened and rated the importance and effectiveness of the event in who they have become presently, and their perceived control over the event. Results provided supporting evidence for the positivity effect, by showing that older adults felt more positive about their memories. Middle-aged adults’ ratings resembled older adults’ for the happiest and younger adults’ for the saddest memories. Two young independent raters rated all descriptions of older adults’ memories. Results showed that young raters’ positive emotion ratings were lower than older adults, for both the happiest and the saddest memories. This result indicated that older adults do not access less negatively emotional memories or describe the memories more positively, but they just evaluate these memories more positively. Results showed a reminiscence bump for the happiest but not for the saddest memories, supporting the predictions of the Life Script Account. Additionally, results provided partial and rather weak support for the Life Story Account in younger and middle-aged adults, but not in older adults. The results indicate that older adulthood may be characterized by a more positive evaluation of life experiences.

In this study, I examine how young adult indebtedness has changed across three cohorts of young adults in the 1970s, 1980s, and 2000s. I pool data from four National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth cohorts—the NLS-M 1966, NLS-W 1968, NLSY 1979, and NLSY 1997. I have three key findings. First, debt burdens (debt relative to economic resources) have increased substantially across the three cohorts of study. Despite the fact that the most recent cohort of young adults are earlier along in their debt accrual career and have yet to hit many of the major adult milestones that often lead to debt, they are burdened with more debt than previous cohorts of young adults who achieved these milestones earlier. Second, young adult debt portfolios have shifted towards noncollateralized (unsecured) and student loan debt over time, the latter replacing home mortgage debt as the primary form of wealth-building debt among young adults. Third, cohort changes in debt have occurred unequally across social class lines. Young adults from lower social class backgrounds have disproportionately taken on more unsecured debt over time, relative to their more advantaged counterparts. The growth in debt burden across cohorts, however, has been most pronounced among college-educated young adults. Keywords: debt; social class; cohorts; transition to adulthood; life-course perspective. The economic crisis of 2008 called attention to the risks associated with rising household and consumer debt. Over the last 40 years, inflation adjusted household debt has increased dramatically, and debt has become more difficult to repay for American families (Campbell and Hercowitz 2009, 2010; Maki 2002). More recently, rising debt has stoked popular and scholarly concern that young adults are increasingly at risk for starting their adult careers buried under a mountain of debt with no hope of repayment (Draut 2005; Draut and Silva 2004; Kamenetz 2006). Little is known, however, about how young adult indebtedness has changed over time. In this article I examine how credit use and debt burdens have shifted across three cohorts of young adults. For many, young adulthood is the beginning of the debt accrual career. It is a stage of life when individuals and households have relatively low incomes and few assets (Haveman and Wolff 2005; Wolff 2001). Yet it is also a time when young people make significant decisions and investments in their future—such as completing their education, purchasing a home, and getting married—most of which lead them to acquire debt. On the one hand, access to credit and taking on debt provides young adults with the financial resources necessary to achieve many of these milestones. On the other hand, recent literature on debt in the transition to adulthood suggests that becoming overburdened with debt at this critical life stage is likely to diminish young adults’ ability to attain economic independence, increase their risk of bankruptcy, and have consequences for their economic and psychological well-being (Atkinson 2010; Drentea 2000; Dwyer, McCloud, and Hodson 2011, 2012). But despite a growing focus on the consequences of youth indebtedness, surprisingly little research has investigated cohort differences in credit use and debt burdens in the early young adult years. Nearly all debt research focuses on historical trends in debt across the entire population

Age-related mobility research often highlights significant mobility differences comparing neurotypical young and older adults, while neglecting to report mobility outcomes for middle-aged adults. Moreover, these analyses regularly do not determine which measures of mobility can discriminate groups into their age brackets. Thus, the current study aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis for commonly performed aspects of mobility (walking, turning, sit-to-stand, and balance) to determine which variables were significantly different and furthermore, able to discriminate between neurotypical young adults (YAs), middle-aged adults (MAAs), and older adults (OAs). This study recruited 20 YAs, 20 MAAs, and 20 OAs. Participants came into the laboratory and completed mobility testing while wearing wireless inertial sensors. Mobility tests assessed included three distinct two-minute walks, 360° turns, five times sit-to-stands, and a clinical balance test, capturing 99 distinct mobility metrics. Of the various mobility tests assessed, only 360° turning measures demonstrated significance between YAs and MAAs, although the capacity to discriminate between groups was achieved for gait and turning measures. A variety of mobility measures demonstrated significance between MAAs and OAs, and furthermore discrimination was achieved for each mobility test. These results indicate greater mobility differences between MAAs and OAs, although discrimination is achievable for both group comparisons.

This study examined the associations of cannabis use, alcohol use and alcohol problems with probable anxiety and mood disorders (AMD) in young, middle-aged and older adults. Method: Data are based on the CAMH Monitor, an ongoing cross-sectional telephone survey of Ontario adults aged 18 years and older. For the purposes of the current study, a merged dataset from the years 2001 through 2009 inclusive was separated into three individual datasets: 18-34 year olds (n=4,211), 35-54 year olds (n=7,874), and 55 years of age and older (n=6,778). The survey included the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire, which provides a measure of probable AMD for the general population. Logistic regression analyses examined the odds of probable AMD in three age groups associated with alcohol measures (number of drinks per day and alcohol problems (AUDIT 8+)) and cannabis use, while controlling for self-reported physical health, religious service attendance, and demographic factors. Due to listwise deletion, the logistic regression models were based on reduced samples. Results: Lifetime cannabis use and past year cannabis use predicted probable AMD in young and middle-aged adults, but only lifetime cannabis use predicted probable AMD among older adults. Alcohol problems predicted probable AMD among middle aged and older adults, but not among younger adults. No consistent link between recent alcohol consumption and probable AMD was observed. Conclusion: These analyses suggest that the impact of alcohol and cannabis use and problems on probable AMD may differ across age groups.

Adjuvant system AS02V enhances humoral and cellular immune responses to pneumococcal protein PhtD vaccine in healthy young and older adults: Randomised, controlled trials

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the depression level among US adults has significantly increased. Age disparity in depression during the pandemic has been reported in recent studies. Delay or avoidance of medical care is one of the collateral damages associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and it can lead to increased morbidity and mortality.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and delayed care among US middle-aged adults and older adults during the pandemic, as well as investigate the association of delayed care with depression among those 2 age groups.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used data from the 2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) COVID-19 Project (Early, Version 1.0). Univariate analyses, bivariate analyses, and binary logistic regression were applied. US adults older than 46 years were included. Depression was measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Short Form (CIDI-SF). Delayed care was measured by the following 4 items: delayed surgery, delayed seeing a doctor, delayed dental care, and other delayed care.ResultsA total of 3246 participants were identified. More than half of the participants were older than 65 years (n=1890, 58.2%), and 274 (8.8%) participants had depression during the pandemic. Delayed dental care was positively associated with depression among both middle-aged adults (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.04-4.03; P=.04) and older adults (OR 3.08, 95% CI 1.07-8.87; P=.04). Delayed surgery was positively associated with depression among older adults (OR 3.69, 95% CI 1.06-12.90; P=.04). Self-reported pain was positively related to depression among both age groups. Middle-aged adults who reported higher education levels (some college or above) or worse self-reported health had a higher likelihood of having depression. While perceived more loneliness was positively associated with depression among older adults, financial difficulty was positively associated with depression among middle-aged adults.ConclusionsThis study found that depression was prevalent among middle-aged and older adults during the pandemic. The study highlighted the collateral damage of the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying the association of delayed surgery and dental care with depression during the pandemic. Although surgery and dental care cannot be delivered by telehealth, telehealth services can still be provided to address patients’ concerns on delayed surgery and dental care. Moreover, the implementation of telemental health services is needed to address mental health symptoms among US middle-aged and older adults during the pandemic. Future research that uses more comprehensive measurements for delayed care is needed to decipher the path through which delayed care is associated with depression.

The authors examined the experimental effects of social context on everyday problem–solving performance by older, middle-aged, and younger adults. Participants were presented with six everyday problems constructed by framing two behavioral challenges in social contexts representative of the lives of older, middle-aged, and younger adults. As predicted, participants performed best when problems were situated in contexts representative of their own age group. Older adults also outperformed the other age groups on problems set in older adult contexts, suggesting that when problems are set in ecologically relevant contexts, one may not observe previously reported age-related declines in performance.