Biometry of eyes in type 1 diabetes

This is a comprehensive study of a large range of biometric and optical parameters in people with type 1 diabetes. The parameters of 74 people with type 1 diabetes and an age matched control group were assessed. Most of the people with diabetes had low levels of neuropathy, retinopathy and nephropathy. Marginal or no significant differences were found between groups for corneal shape, corneal thickness, pupil size, and pupil decentrations. Relative to the control group, the diabetes group demonstrated smaller anterior chamber depths, more curved lenses, greater lens thickness and lower lens equivalent refractive index. While the optics of diabetic eyes make them appear as older eyes than those of people of the same age without diabetes, the differences did not increase significantly with age. Age-related changes in the optics of the eyes of people with diabetes need not be accelerated if the diabetes is well controlled.

Straylight, lens yellowing and aberrations of eyes in type 1 diabetes

Straylight, lens yellowing and ocular aberrations were assessed in a group of people with type 1 diabetes and in an age matched control group. Most of the former had low levels of neuropathy. Relative to the control group, the type 1 diabetes group demonstrated greater straylight, greater lens yellowing, and differences in some higher-order aberration co-efficients without significant increase in root-mean-square higher-order aberrations. Differences between groups did not increase significantly with age. The results are similar to the findings for ocular biometry reported previously for this group of participants, and suggest that age-related changes in the optics of the eyes of people with well-controlled diabetes need not be accelerated.

A lifespan perspective on emotion regulation, stress, and well-being in the workplace

Researchers in the field of occupational stress and well-being are increasingly interested in the role of emotion regulation in the work context. Emotion regulation has also been widely investigated in the area of lifespan developmental psychology, with findings indicating that the ability to modify one's emotions represents a domain in which age-related growth is possible. In this chapter, we integrate the literatures on aging, emotion regulation, and occupational stress and well-being. To this end, we review key theories and empirical findings in each of these areas, summarize existing research on age, emotion regulation, and stress and well-being at work, and develop a conceptual model on how aging affects emotion regulation and the stress process in work settings to guide future research. According to the model, age will affect: (1) what kinds of affective work events are encountered and how often; (2) the appraisal of and initial emotional response to affective work events (emotion generation), and; (3) the management of emotions and coping with affective work events (emotion regulation). The model has implications for researchers and practitioners who want to understand and facilitate successful emotion regulation and stress reduction in the workplace among different age groups.

A lifespan perspective on psychological contracts and their relations with organizational commitment

The current study investigated the influence of age-related constructs on the psychological contract and its relationships with continuance and normative commitment. It was proposed that as people age, their future time perspective (FTP) decreases. Consequently, it was expected that contract fulfilment would be positively related to continuance commitment for workers with short FTP, while it would be positively related to normative commitment for workers with long FTP. Conversely, it was argued that, with age, workers’ perceived work-related expertise increases, resulting in stronger reactions to obligation fulfilment on normative commitment. A study among 334 employees showed that FTP and work-related expertise indeed moderated the relationships between contract fulfilment and organizational commitment. The results showed that the influence of age on the relations between contract fulfilment with outcomes is dependent upon FTP and occupational expertise. The study shows the value of a lifespan perspective on psychological contracts and their relations with organizational commitment.

Successful aging at work

The expression successful aging at work and related terms such as active, healthy, and productive aging at work are frequently used by organizational researchers and practitioners. However, there are no concrete definitions or theoretical frameworks that explain their meaning, assumptions, and underlying processes. In this paper, I first review conceptualizations of successful aging in the fields of gerontology and life span psychology. Second, I propose a working definition of successful aging at work based on four key elements: criteria, explanatory mechanisms, facilitating and constraining factors, and temporal patterns. I distinguish successful aging at work from usual and unsuccessful aging and from other age-related developments in the work context. Third, I introduce a theoretical framework organized around 5 principles on intraindividual age-related change over time, person and contextual mediators and moderators, and work outcomes. Fourth, I review theoretical and empirical research on age in the workplace published in the past decade through the lens of the proposed theoretical framework. Finally, I conclude this paper by outlining suggestions for future research on successful aging at work, including methodological considerations.

A lifespan perspective on leadership

In this chapter, we present a lifespan model of leadership that outlines how leader and follower age as well as age-related changes in leader traits and characteristics, leader behaviors, and follower attribution and identification processes may influence leadership effectiveness. First, we describe how leader traits and characteristics change with age and how these developmental changes may impact on leader behaviors and, subsequently, leadership effectiveness. Specifically, we discuss age-related changes in leaders’ task competence, interpersonal attributes, and motivation to lead. We particularly focus on how generativity – a set of interconnected motives pertaining to establishing and guiding future generations – may emerge as an important concern among older leaders. Second, we review theoretical approaches that help explain how and why leader age and age-related traits and characteristics, follower age, as well as leader-follower age differences may influence follower attribution and identification processes. Third, we outline a number of boundary conditions of the effects proposed by our lifespan model of leadership, including leader-follower relationship duration, situational characteristics, as well as the cultural, social, and historical context. We conclude the chapter by discussing our model’s implications for future research and organizational practice.

Older Australians: Structural barriers to learning in later life

Learning in older age is associated with a wide range of benefits including increases in skills, social interactions, self-satisfaction, coping ability, enjoyment, and resilience to age-related changes in the brain. It is also recognized as being a fundamental component of active ageing and if active ageing objectives are to be met for the growing ageing population, barriers to learning for this group need to be fully understood so that they can be properly addressed. This paper reports on findings from a study aimed at determining the degree that structural factors deter older people aged 55 years and older from engaging in learning activities relative to other factors, based on survey (n=421) and interview (n=40) data. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that factors related to educational institutions as well as infrastructure were commonly cited as barriers to participation in learning. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.

Action regulation across the adult lifespan (ARAL): A metatheory of work and aging

The goals of this article are to integrate action regulation theory (ART) with the lifespan developmental perspective and to outline tenets of a new metatheory of work and aging. The action regulation across the adult lifespan (ARAL) theory explains how workers influence, and are influenced by, their environment across different time spans. First, the basic concepts of ART are described, including the sequential and hierarchical structure of actions, complete tasks and actions, foci of action regulation, and the action-regulating mental model. Second, principles of the lifespan developmental perspective are delineated, including development as a lifelong and multidirectional process, the joint occurrence of gains and losses, intraindividual plasticity, historical embeddedness, and contextualism. Third, propositions of ARAL theory are derived by analyzing workers’ action regulation from a lifespan developmental perspective (i.e., effects of aging on action regulation), and by analyzing aging and development in the work context from an ART perspective (i.e., effects of action regulation on age-related changes in cognition and personality). Fourth, we develop further propositions to integrate ART with lifespan theories of motivation and socioemotional experience. Finally, we discuss implications for future research and practice based on ARAL theory.