The purpose of this study was to clarify factors that promote participation in social activities, and the current level of associated study and to determine a future research theme by investigating multiple articles concerning factors associated with the social participation of middle-aged and older adults.

  Through database retrieval from the CiNii Articles website and the DiaL website, we collected articles on the social participation or social activities of middle-aged and older adults published between 1990-2018. A total of 34 articles, chosen according to the adopted criteria among 4,414 articles, were examined.

  The results were as follows: (1) Most of the existing literature is targeted toward the elderly, indicating that an accumulation of research for middle-aged individuals is required; (2) It is necessary to review the types of social activities and their contents and to develop a new social activity indicator suitable for the current situation in Japan; (3) Research that adopts an evaluation method of activities while also considering the degree and frequency of participation is required; and (4) It is our future research theme to further and more deeply study the actual utilization of information sources by middle-aged and older adults.

  The purpose of this study was to elucidate characteristics of recognition about instances of forgetting in everyday life for older adults using a composite questionnaire. A total of 310 adults (197 younger, 20-23 years; 113 older, 60-86 years) participated in the study, in which participants were instructed to answer questionnaire items relating to characteristics of recognition about instances of forgetting. Items were drawn from the Metamemory in Adulthood and the Meta-cognitive Beliefs about Thought Suppression Questionnaire, as well as the Self-rating Scales for Memory in the elderly. In addition, only old adults were asked to answer a set of open-ended question about everyday forgetting. Through a correlation analysis, the results revealed that recognition about forgetting had a positive relationship with anxiety about memory behavior in young adults and old adults. Furthermore, feeling of out-of-control in forgetting had a positive relationship with confidence in paradoxical effects of thought suppression on young adults. The answers to open-ended questions suggested that old adults are not pessimistic about forgetting.

  In order to create a community in which it is easy to live even after having dementia, understanding of dementia and neighborhood relationships are required. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between attitudes toward people with dementia (PWD) and the neighborhood environment. A self-administered mail survey questionnaire was conducted with 9,099 participants aged 40 and older, and 2,530 valid responses were obtained. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted for an attitude toward PWD scale. As a result, three factors were extracted: “acceptance of dementia,” “shield from neighborhood,” and “refusal of caring for PWD.” Comparison between the mean values of the subscales of the attitude toward PWD scale and neighborhood relations by one-way analysis of variance revealed that people who indicated a high score for neighborhood relations also indicated a high score for acceptance of dementia, and low scores for shield from neighborhood and refusal of caring for PWD. The results of this study suggested that building friendly neighborhood relations is necessary so that PWD and their families are not socially isolated.