Notre Dame Study of Resiliency in Later Life

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然有一个很好的理论研究机构，以建立新的理解，在老龄化研究的问题仍然越来越复杂，错综复杂，和多样化。全面了解这些途径需要一个广泛的综合框架，以解决（a）需要可靠和理论驱动的健康和福祉措施，（B）需要对生活挑战的概念和经验公式，（c）需要将不同层次的分析信息联系起来的研究设计，（d）需要对复杂动态变化敏感的创新统计方法，以及（e）需要制定综合定量和定性数据来源的战略。拟议的研究旨在通过三种机制收集此类数据：（1）调查数据-每年收集五次波浪（在300名受试者中收集）;（2）“数据突发”-在56天内每天收集三次日记数据（第1、3和5年，300名受试者）;以及（3）对25名参与者收集两次（第2年和第4年）的生活故事访谈数据。个体内变异和变化的建模过程有助于：（a）揭示不同个体之间合理一致的收益和损失的长期轨迹如何在个体内显著不同（目标1）;（B）阐明这些复杂的个体内变化轨迹如何被选择性个体差异变量勾勒出来（目标2）;（c）将发育生长中的个体内差异与随时间表现出短期变异性的时间现象的各个方面区分开来（目标3）;（d）证明如何利用个体间差异的各个方面来解释重要的、适应性的个体内过程（目标4）;以及（e）通过使用生活故事（目标5），澄清个人发展如何植根于多种背景（例如，生物的、家族的、历史的、社会的和文化的）。拟议研究的结果将提供一个综合的复原力和晚年福祉模型，这将有助于为干预工作提供信息，以将无残疾年延长到更多的人口群体。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although there is a good body of theoretical research to build new understanding, questions in aging research remain increasingly complex, intricate, and diverse. Comprehensive understanding of these pathways requires a broad integrative framework that addresses (a) the need for reliable and theory-driven measures of health and well-being, (b) the need for conceptual and empirical formulations of life challenges, (c) the need for study designs that link information at different levels of analysis, (d) the need for innovative statistical methodologies that are sensitive to complex dynamic changes, and (e) the need for strategies that integrate quantitative and qualitative sources of data. The proposed research is designed to collect such data through three mechanisms: (1) survey data-five waves collected on a yearly basis (collected on 300 subjects); (2) "data bursts"-daily diary data collected three times for a 56-day period (years 1, 3, and 5 on 300 subjects); and, (3) life story interview data collected twice (years 2 and 4) on 25 of the participants. Modeling processes of intraindividual variability and change can help to (a) reveal how long-term trajectories of gains and losses that are reasonably consistent across different individuals may differ dramatically within individuals (Aim 1); (b) elucidate how these complex trajectories of intraindividual changes are contoured by selective individual differences variables (Aim 2); (c) separate intraindividual differences in developmental growth from aspects of temporal phenomena that exhibit shorter-term variability over time (Aim 3); (d) demonstrate how dimensions of interindividual differences may be used to explain important, adaptive intraindividual processes (Aim 4); and (e) clarify, through the use of life stories (Aim 5), how individual development is embedded in multiple contexts (e.g., biological, familial, historical, social, and cultural). The results of the proposed research will provide an integrated model of resilience and well being in later life that will help inform intervention efforts to extend disability-free years to larger segments of the population.