Although previous research has demonstrated that social media use (SMU) can influence loneliness, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship among older adults remain insufficiently understood. Specifically, limited research has examined how different purposes of SMU (communication, posting and browsing) may contribute to loneliness through variations in social resources, and for whom these pathways differ as a function of attachment styles. To address these gaps, the present study constructed a moderated mediation model to examine whether perceived social support mediated the relationships between different purposes of SMU and loneliness among older adults, and whether attachment styles moderated the mediation of perceived social support. A total of 538 older adults aged 55 and above participated in this survey. The results revealed that all purposes of SMU (communication, posting and browsing) were significantly and negatively associated with loneliness among older adults. Moreover, perceived social support fully mediated the association between social media communication and loneliness. In addition, attachment anxiety and avoidance moderated this indirect association, such that the protective effect of communication was stronger among older adults with higher attachment anxiety or avoidance, likely due to enhanced perceived social support. These findings emphasize the importance of social media communication in promoting mental wellbeing among older adults and highlight its potential to facilitate their social adaptation in the digital era.

Many academics have used the concept of intersectional discrimination, based on age, gender and sexual orientation, to describe the challenging situation of older lesbians. In contrast, the present study demonstrates that the invisibility of older lesbians can create opportunities for freely expressing their sexual identity. Relying on semi-structured interviews with 21 Israeli lesbian women aged between 50 and 79 years, the research explores how older lesbians experience this invisibility and what coping strategies they use. Using thematic analysis, a broad theme concerning the subversive meaning of invisibility is identified. This is defined as a situation in which an individual becomes noticeable through unconventional behaviours that are not inherently linked to their social status, leading to confusion and surprise among onlookers. The broader theme is subdivided into two sub-themes: (1) interpersonal invisibility, as a source of personal freedom from societal norms; and (2) intrapersonal visibility, as promoting acceptance in experiencing one’s own sexual identity. The findings are analysed through the lens of three theories: intersectionality, the psychology of invisibility and theories of weak resistance. The interpretation of the participants’ narratives indicates that older lesbians employ rebellious and subversive strategies to cope with the consequences of social invisibility.

There is limited scholarly research that broadly examines the representation of older adults and ageing through an ageism lens in print and online newspapers, including national, state and local publications. Drawing on ageism and stereotype theory, this research examines how older adults and ageing are represented in Australian newspapers. Data were collected over a 16-week period, during which 2,652 statements relating to older adults or ageing were extracted from 804 media publications. A summative content analysis approach was employed, involving the quantification of key concepts followed by an interpretive analysis to identify underlying themes and codes. The findings revealed that approximately 42.0 per cent of statements portrayed older adults and ageing negatively, while only 6.5 per cent were positive. Dominant ageist and stereotypical representations centred on themes of vulnerability, frailty, incapacity and injury or illness. As populations continue to age, it is critical that scholars persist in analysing and challenging dominant media narratives that shape how older people are framed. Furthermore, audience reception studies are needed to examine how such representations are interpreted by the public, thereby deepening understanding of the media’s role in shaping societal perceptions of older adults and ageing.

Care-giving comprises everyday tasks that revolve around the home, yet few studies have examined care-giving as practices that shape home as a place of care in Singapore. This article focuses on the choreographed routines that arrange people, activities and things at home for care-giving of older persons with various needs, examining the effects of these socio-material arrangements on the home as a place of belonging, intimacy, safety and control. Building on literature on care assemblages and sociology of home, it examines five case studies that showcase how care-givers appropriated, adapted and improvised in situations of uncertainty, conflict and competing demands while providing care for their ageing loved ones. It highlights different practices and configurations of people and things as well as varying experiences and intensities of care-giving, through three themes: the interplay of physical, social and emotional proximities; socio-economic leverage and inequalities that enable or constrain care-giving; and distributed agencies across spaces. Care assemblages are characterized by tensions, yet held together by ideals and idealization of home, rooted in everyday realities and shaped by socio-economic conditions and government policy directions. This article contributes to understanding the relationship between care-giving and home, highlighting the complexity of ageing in place’ beyond maintaining older adults in existing residences to encompass the dynamic reconfiguration of domestic spaces into viable care environments. It has implications for policy makers seeking to support ageing-in-place initiatives, practitioners working with family care-givers and researchers examining the spatial dimensions of care in multicultural societies with significant migrant domestic worker populations.

As fertility decreases and singlehood increases, research is growing on the spread of ‘kinlessness’ – commonly defined as having neither a partner nor children – and its impact on the wellbeing of middle-aged and older adults. However, the beneficial impact of having partners and children may depend on the quality of those relationships. This study contributes to this research by integrating family structure types with different forms of parent–child contact – face-to-face, phone and digital. Using cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey tenth round (2020–2022) on 24,262 adults aged 50 or over in 30 European countries, we estimate ordered logistic regression models on the likelihood of reporting higher levels of happiness. The results show that men and women without a partner or children have lower levels of happiness compared to those that have both, with unpartnered parents occupying an intermediate position. Kinless men along with unpartnered parents with sporadic contact with children report the lowest level of happiness. Among unpartnered men, having frequent contact with children is associated with higher happiness levels than having infrequent interactions with them. We find no substantial differences between men and women in other family structure types, between different contact types or across European country clusters. The findings highlight the importance of considering both the presence/absence of children and the quality of their relationships in the analysis of middle-aged and older parents’ wellbeing.

Contemporary ageing policy often constructs demographic change as a challenge requiring urgent intervention. While ageing is not seen as a problem per se, in policy debate it is often presented as a crisis. Consequently, countries and institutions have sought to identify solutions to the represented problem. A common policy response in Western nations has been to focus on individual activity as a solution. The implications of such developments are, however, seldom explicitly discussed. This article focuses on Finland, a country often positioned as a Nordic welfare state. Using the post-structuralist approach ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be’ (WPR), it examines problems of and solutions to changing demographics represented in Finnish policy, highlighting the implications for older adults and their care. From an analysis of 42 governmental policy and related documents (2002-2024), 11 documents (2008-2024) were selected for detailed examination concerning the health and social care of older adults. The analysis shows that the predominant responsibility for care of older adults is laid on older adults themselves, their family members and peers, while the responsibility of the state is largely silenced. The article highlights the wider analytical, policy and practice implications of neo-liberal ageing policy and discusses how older adults are governed through policy in the midst of the absent interaction between policy, conceptual debates and everyday life material realities through a three-level conceptual model. This absence is not merely a gap but a mode of governance that reflects broader neo-liberal shifts in welfare policy.

Older adults have long been considered critical actors in developing and implementing age-friendly community (AFC) initiatives. However, there has been limited empirical research on the ways they advance AFC implementation, especially in terms of their participation through AFC leadership roles (e.g. committee chairs, work group members). This study addresses this critical gap by exploring the functions that older adults exhibit in AFC implementation in the United States – namely, the underlying purposes and processes operating through their implementation actions. As one of the few studies exploring AFC implementation processes from the direct perspectives of older adults, this study conducted qualitative interviews with 23 older adult leaders of AFC initiatives across four states. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we identified two overarching thematic categories regarding the functions of their efforts towards AFC change. First, older adults advance AFC programme processes by guiding (e.g. determining priority areas) and carrying out (e.g. handling day-to-day programme logistics) the work. Second, older adults strengthen network capacity through connecting people and organizations to advance AFC implementation and spreading ageing-inclusive mindsets and practices among community actors. The findings support the view of older adults’ participation in AFC implementation as a multidimensional phenomenon wherein they employ multiple co-occurring functions that fluctuate dynamically across organizational roles, activities and tenure with the initiative. This study highlights the importance of continued research on the people enacting age-friendly efforts in their communities to better understand the ways that AFC efforts can catalyze local leaders – including older adults themselves – towards impact on ageing.

This article explores architectural space in residential care in Sweden during the Covid-19 pandemic, when residential care was subject to spatial strategies. Community, which is at the heart of the predominant collective care model and underpins the design of architectural space, was identified as a potential source of contagion and thus restricted by spatial measures. Lefebvre’s spatial triad is the theoretical backbone of this study. The research design is an intuitive enquiry and qualitative data collection methods include interviews, observations and analysis of drawings. The lived space of staff and residents is primarily investigated in semi-structured individual interviews, and there is particular focus on their experiences of spatial strategies. Findings show that the collective care model and residents’ everyday lives changed significantly when the virus entered residential care, creating a different lived space. The most common spatial strategies were isolation, social distance and managing movements in line with existing research. These were enacted in existing spatial conditions. The study findings challenge the value of community in the collective care model. For instance, the staff found it very awkward to isolate the residents in their flats, whereas the residents themselves did not view life during the pandemic as very different from normal, everyday life. The findings also challenge the relevance of the architectural models that are in use today. The article concludes that it is necessary to develop new architectural models, a caring architecture in which handling epidemics is less strenuous, and where residents’ diverse wishes can better be met.

Cognitive health is a major concern for older adults. Cognitive decline poses risks to individual wellbeing and the public health system; therefore, identifying modifiable social risk factors is crucial. Social exclusion among older adults can occur across multiple domains simultaneously; however, few studies assess the association between multidimensional exclusion and cognitive function. This study investigates the relationship between three domains of social exclusion – economic, social relations and civic participation – and cognitive performance, examining both individual and combined effects among middle-aged and older adults in Europe. The study uses data from 60,726 participants in the ninth wave of the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. It assesses the independent and cumulative associations between social exclusion and cognitive function, while adjusting for socio-demographic and health-related variables. Cognitive function was most strongly associated with civic participation (β = −0.40), followed by social relationships (β = −0.36) and economic exclusion (β = −0.32), all of which were statistically significant (p < 0.001). A cumulative effect was found; individuals excluded from all three domains had the lowest cognitive scores (β = −1.12; p < 0.001), with cognitive performance declining progressively as the number of exclusion domains increased. These results highlight that multidimensional social exclusion is associated with worse cognitive outcomes, even after controlling for other relevant variables. Civic exclusion emerged as the domain with the most significant association, suggesting that encouraging civic participation – such as volunteering or participating in politics – may be a valuable strategy for supporting cognitive health in later life.

The Covid-19 pandemic introduced new challenges for the long-term care (LTC) sector and changed how staff provided care to residents and families. For example, in Canada, LTC staff were required to implement social contact restrictions, while also supporting ‘virtual’ resident and family communication, with video conference visits becoming a primary strategy for this. The objective of this study was to explore Canadian LTC staff members’ experiences supporting virtual communication between residents and family members during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of eight LTC staff with experience supporting or coordinating videoconference visits during this time were interviewed about their experiences. Interview data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results revealed an overarching theme of holding it together – working with the imperfect to support resident and family communication – which encompassed four key subthemes: accepting distanced communication as a new normal, tolerating the discomfort of new roles, needing to rely on each other in difficult circumstances, and disconnect between policy and on-the-ground experience. The social contact policies that were introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic had never been tested over such a long duration of time. This study provides insight into the challenges of adapting some of these policies within LTC and may be valuable to ongoing planning for future outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, especially when considered alongside resident and family experiences.

This study examines how older adults’ support needs influence intergenerational co-residence through two mediating mechanisms: family power and intergenerational solidarity. Drawing on four waves (2005–2014) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), structural equation modelling was used on the pooled data to test the mediation model, while cross-lagged panel models examined the dynamic pathways over time. Results show that support needs increase the overall likelihood of co-residence yet exert a small negative direct effect, indicating a suppressor mediation pattern. Support needs significantly reduce older adults’ family power and modestly enhance intergenerational relationships; in turn, lower family power and stronger ties both promote co-residence. The mediating effect of family power is substantially larger and more stable over time, whereas that of intergenerational solidarity is weaker and context-dependent. These results refine the classical power–bargaining model by revealing a contextual reversal in which weaker parental authority, rather than stronger control, increases the feasibility of co-residence, and extend intergenerational solidarity theory by showing that relational cohesion functions as a conditional mechanism shaping living arrangements.

Despite its significant role in relation to wellbeing among older adults with disabilities, the quality of care from family care-givers is largely understudied. This study aims to (a) investigate the mediating roles of care-giving appraisals in the association between care-giving stressors and quality of care; and (b) examine the moderating role of shared care-giving in the above associations. This study adopted a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected in Changchun, China using stratified sampling. A total of 416 family care-givers of older adults with disabilities were enrolled. Structural equation modelling, including mediation analysis and multiple-group analysis, was performed to examine the proposed hypotheses. Results showed that low levels of care-giving burden and high levels of positive aspects of care-giving were related to higher quality of care. Older adults’ cognitive impairment had direct negative association with quality of care, while impairment in activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living had indirect negative associations with quality of care through care-giving burden. Shared care-giving significantly moderated the association between care-giving burden and quality of care, with the negative association being significant only among sole care-givers. In sum, this study suggested that care-giving stressors and appraisals were important factors associated with quality of care, and shared care-giving could attenuate the negative association between care-giving burden and quality of care. Social services and interventions on both primary care-givers and the family care-giving system should be provided to enhance quality of care for older adults with disabilities.

Personal money management is an important part of a self-determined life. When assistance needs increase, many care recipients require help with bills, purchases, paperwork or budget planning. Third-party money management (TPMM) is thus a prevalent care-giving task in long-term care (LTC), essential to care recipients’ wellbeing and financial security. However, research on this phenomenon is scarce, scattered over time and research locations, and lacks consistent terminology. This article sheds light on the under-explored topic of TPMM for care-dependent people. It explores the scope and characteristics of TPMM, develops dimensions to characterize practices and mechanisms of TPMM and identifies aspects of good TPMM practice to balance personal autonomy and support by care-giving. In this scoping review (PRISMA-ScR), we analysed 35 scientific and non-scientific publications, retrieved from multiple databases and via citation searching. We found reports on various TPMM practices ranging from occasional help to official substitute decision-making. To grasp the complexity of support arrangements, we synthesized four dimensions, by which TPMM practices can be characterized: (1) degree of formalization, (2) degree of collaboration, (3) type of care provision and (4) degree of digitalization. We furthermore identified six aspects constituting good practices of TPMM, from collaborative decision-making to adequate fintech design. Future key research areas include the collection of comprehensive data on money management assistance needs and related care tasks, an exploration of TPMM issues in formal care settings, the role and responsibility of financial institutions, (digital) solutions to support TPMM, and detailed insights into the support needs of informal (financial) care-givers.

Care provided to individuals not living in the same household is an important part of the transmission of support to dependent persons, but there are methodological variations in how this is measured. This study compares reported time caring for adults or children living in other households by caregivers aged 50 and older using two surveys among seven European countries: the Harmonized Time Use Survey (HETUS) and the Survey of Health and Aging in Europe (SHARE). Descriptive analysis revealed significant disparities in reported care time, with SHARE consistently indicating higher values for averages of the total population. These differences between surveys are larger for women and childcare, and smaller for men providing care to adults. When looking at the intensity of time provided by caregivers, it is HETUS that reports greater averages, especially for adult care for men in several countries. Therefore, methodological variations in survey data collection impact estimates of the amount of interhousehold care. While time diary surveys (HETUS) offer detailed frequencies of routine care-giving activities, stylized questionnaires (SHARE) capture broader and occasional participation but may underestimate intensity. Integrating diverse measurement approaches in one survey is crucial for accurately evaluating caregiving dynamics and informing policy interventions. This study provides valuable insights into methodological differences in measuring interhousehold transfers, and offers recommendations for policymakers and researchers to improve the measurement of caregiving activities affecting the wellbeing of caregivers and dependent individuals.

The bulk of past research has been conducted in Western societies, and the patterns of family connection breakdowns in East Asian countries are mostly unstudied. Also, most prior analyses used a cross-sectional approach, despite the possibility of relationship recovery over the lifecourse. To bridge the gap in the literature, this study explores the extent and the socio-economic variations of parent–adult children estrangement in Korea. This article draws data from eight rounds of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (N = 28,038 parent–child dyads) and uses random-intercept logistic regressions to estimate patterns. The overall level of parent–adult child estrangement in Korea is lower than that observed in Western cultures. Also, a higher level of socio-economic achievement for the adult child was negatively associated with the odds of estrangement. A parent’s gender and marital status emerged as important determinants for intergenerational estrangement. Though the prevalence of parent–child estrangement is comparatively lower in Korea, its likelihood varies substantially according to the socio-economic standing of family members. Both parents and adult children with lower socio-economic position are particularly vulnerable to losing family bonds, and more refined policy measures should be provided for them.

Both childhood and adulthood socio-economic status (SES) are associated with the health of older adults. However, how lifetime SES shapes older adults’ disability trajectories has not been fully explored. This study aims to investigate whether there are distinctive disability trajectories (encompassing physical and cognitive function) among older adults, and whether lifetime SES accounts for their distinctiveness. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) spanning 2011–2020, we included 6,119 respondents aged 60 and above. We applied the group-based trajectory model (GBTM) to identify distinct disability trajectories and used multinomial logistic regression to examine the association between lifetime SES and disability trajectories. The findings reveal three physical trajectories (low, middle and high risk) and two cognitive trajectories (low risk and high risk) among older adults. Older adults with higher childhood or adulthood SES were more likely to be classified into low-risk physical and cognitive trajectories. Compared to older adults with downward social mobility, those with stable or upward mobility were more likely to be classified into low-risk physical and cognitive trajectories, and these effects exhibit gender and regional heterogeneity. These findings indicate that SES can predict the distinctive disability trajectories of older adults. We should attach great importance to the long-term impacts of lifetime SES on the health of older adults.

To assist with living independently, older adults are often faced with the decision to accept passive in-home monitoring technologies to ensure safety and security. Their use, however, is frequently accompanied by concerns about privacy, an area that remains poorly understood in the context of ageing. This scoping review identifies current research on older adults’ privacy perceptions regarding in-home passive monitoring technologies, assesses the conceptual frameworks and methods used to examine privacy concerns and attitudes, and explores contextual factors that may influence privacy considerations. A total of 34 studies were reviewed. Findings revealed that privacy, while an important consideration for older adults when using passive monitoring technologies, is often not incorporated into technology acceptance frameworks. Moreover, privacy concerns are often generalized by researchers, failing to distinguish between privacy concerns that are horizontally oriented and those that are vertically oriented, and consequently do not highlight whether they involve monitoring technology, data collection infrastructure or individuals monitoring the subject. Finally, the reliance on privacy conceptualizations that regard individuals as independent and autonomous may limit understanding of an older adult’s privacy experiences. Findings from this study can serve as guidance when exploring the use of passive monitoring technologies to enable ageing in place and will be useful for designing interventions that enable older individuals to remain in their homes longer independently.

Older adults hold various social roles that are assumed to change over time due to life transitions. The (relative) importance assigned to these roles is proposed as a distinct and relevant component of later-life social functioning, yet longitudinal research is lacking. This exploratory study examined the stability and change in the (relative) importance of various social roles, as well as potential predictors of individual differences in change. It used three waves (2019, 2020, 2023) of the Health, Aging, and Retirement Transitions in Sweden (HEARTS) study and comprised 3,935 older adults (mean age 66.9 years, 54% female) who rated the importance of nine social roles across the three waves, along with baseline questions on demographics, social support and personality. Latent growth curve models showed that, over time, older adults had fewer roles, fewer important roles and rated their roles as less important, although effects were generally small. While family roles remained consistently highly valued, the relative importance of friend roles increased, whereas the importance of care-giving and work-related roles declined. Generally, individuals with characteristics facilitating role accumulation and maintenance (i.e. supportive network, good health and higher levels of extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness) identified more (important) roles. No predictors explained individual differences in the change in role importance over time. These findings provide a comprehensive view of the stability and slight change in the personal centrality of social roles early in older adulthood, offering a foundation for future confirmatory research on the impact of social roles on later-life social functioning and wellbeing.

Living in a nursing home can provide essential support for older adults, yet may also give rise to existential challenges that may contribute to the elevated prevalence of depressive symptoms among nursing home residents (NHRs). Existing research largely emphasizes bio-psycho-social risk factors, paying comparatively limited attention to existential concerns relating to depressive symptoms – and whether they represent meaningful targets for mental health interventions in nursing homes. This study examined the longitudinal associations between two existential concerns – meaning in life (MIL) and existential loneliness (EL) – and depressive symptoms in 243 residents from 22 Belgian nursing homes assessed annually over three years. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models were used to disentangle between-person and within-person effects. At the between-person level, residents with higher MIL and lower EL reported fewer depressive symptoms. At the within-person level, associations were more complex and reversed: depending on the model, increases in EL predicted fewer depressive symptoms over time, and higher depressive symptoms predicted subsequent increases in MIL. These findings diverged from conclusions based on classical cross-lagged models, indicating that existential concerns relate to depressive symptoms among NHRs differently depending on analysis level. While the between-person findings suggest the existence of a vulnerable subgroup of residents with persistently elevated existential concerns and concurrent depressive symptoms, it remains unclear whether changes in existential concerns will consistently translate into reductions in depressive symptoms within individuals over time. This highlights the need for further research on within-person existential dynamics, potentially on shorter timescales, to inform evidence-based intervention development in nursing homes.