In order to understand older adults’ life style, we compared indexes to measure the degree of older adults’ everyday activities and factors associated with the degree in terms of memory performance and memory beliefs among three age groups of Japanese adults: young, middle-aged, and older adults. Participants were asked to rate the frequency of each of 32 everyday activities (i.e., frequency index) and the importance of each of the activities for them (i.e., significance index). The frequency of each activity was multiplied by its significance rating to compute the weighted frequency index. The strongest relationship between the frequency and significance indexes was found for older adults. The statistically significant relationship was found between memory performance and beliefs measured by the Metamemory in Adulthood questionnaire only for older adults. Hierarchical regression analyses on both significance and weighted frequency indexes showed that in all age groups more than 10% of variance was accounted for by Model 3 including the metamemory subscales. However, no models explained any variance for older adults on the frequency index. These results suggest we should take into account not only the frequency but also the subjective significance of everyday activities to investigate older adults’ life style.

  This study examined intra-individual change in subjective well-being during old age. Subjective well-being was assessed using the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale. Data were drawn from the National Survey of the Japanese Elderly over a period of nine years with four measurement occasions (n = 2,169; age 60−94 years at Wave 1). With the estimation of the missing data, latent growth curve modeling revealed that subjective well-being did not change over time, indicating that subjective well-being remained stable. When exploring relevant factors for inter-individual differences in intra-individual change, older age at Wave 1 was related to lower levels and higher rates of change in subjective well-being. Drop-outs including the deceased showed lower levels of subjective well-being relative to continuers of the panel. Our findings replicated age-related stability of subjective well-being, and suggested that appropriate missing data techniques should be applied to longitudinal data. Further research with a longer follow-up period, more measurement occasions, and potential covariates should be able to provide a more detailed description of trajectories in subjective well-being and its covariates.

  The construct of resilience among community-living elderly people was investigated. Resilience is defined as a cognitive and psychological characteristic that promotes recovery and maintaining life functions in the face of health-related adversities, including illnesses. Participants (N=20, mean age 81.45 years, age range 72-92 years) were interviewed about health-related adversities they faced and their efforts and ideas for promoting recovery and maintenance. Transcripts of participants’ responses identified five constructs: Activation (interest in novelty, trust in intuition, sustaining power, and vital force), Natural pose (control, optimism, and take natural course), Purpose in life (how to live in the future, affirmative acceptance, past feelings about overcoming difficulties, and realistic reconstruction), Relationship-orientation (support seeking, willingness to serve, and foundations for relationships), and Management skills (sensitivity to information, using residual functions, industrious attitudes, and assessment). It is suggested that resilience consists of constructs that promote recovery and maintenance in a chain reaction, and that cognitive reserve is allocated to resilience.

  The aim of this study was to clarify factors related to participation in and continuation of a preventive care program for homebound older adults to establish effective measures to prevent homeboundness. We conducted focus group interviews with the participants in the preventive care program for homebound older adults and qualitatively analyzed the results.

  The results showed that the participants originally had their own “backgrounds to consider participation” at the time of the program invitation, and “decisive factors for participation” prompted them to join the program. Even after joining the program, they continued to explore to find the meaning of participation balancing “information in favor of continuation” with “information in favor of discontinuation” and this exploration lasted until the program completion. It is thus evident that program participants feel unsure about whether or not they should participate when invited and whether to continue participation even after they have joined the program.

  These results suggest that in conducting preventive care programs to support homebound older adults, we should give them personal support from the invitation till the completion.