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Although early studies of executive functioning in children supported Miyake et al.'s (2000) three-factor model, more recent findings supported a variety of undifferentiated or two-factor structures. Using a cohort-sequential design, this study examined whether there were age-related differences in the structure of executive functioning among 6- to 15-year-olds (N = 688). Children were tested annually on tasks designed to measure updating and working memory, inhibition, and switch efficiency. There was substantial task-based variation in developmental patterns on the various tasks. Confirmatory factor analyses and tests for longitudinal factorial invariance showed that data from the 5- to 13-year-olds conformed to a two-factor structure. For the 15-year-olds, a well-separated three-factor structure was found.

Background Recognition of loneliness as a health concern among adults stresses the need to understand the factors associated with loneliness. Research into factors of influence in the various phases of the adult life span (19–65 years) is scarce. Therefore, the associations between demographic, social and health-related factors and loneliness among young (19–34 years), early middle-aged (35–49 years) and late middle-aged adults (50–65 years) were explored. Methods A secondary analysis with a large cross-sectional dataset was performed. Data was collected from September to December 2016 in the Netherlands, by a self-report survey. Loneliness was measured using the De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale. In total, 26,342 adults (19–65 years) participated (response rate: 34%). Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to examine associations between demographic, social and health-related factors as independent variables, and loneliness as dependent variable among the three age groups. Results Prevalence of loneliness among young, early and late middle-aged adults was 39.7, 43.3 and 48.2%, respectively. Living alone, frequency of neighbour contact, perceived social exclusion, psychological distress, psychological and emotional wellbeing were consistently associated with loneliness across the groups. The association between ethnicity and loneliness was stronger among young and early middle-aged adults, compared to late middle-aged adults. Young adults showed the strongest association between contact frequency with friends and loneliness. The strength of association between financial imbalance and loneliness gradually decreased from young to late middle-aged adults. Educational level was associated with loneliness among young adults only, while an association between employment status and loneliness was found solely among early middle-aged adults. For late middle-aged adults only, perceived health was associated with loneliness. Frequency of family contact was associated with loneliness, only among early and late middle-aged adults. Conclusion This study indicates that factors associated with loneliness across the adult life span may be understood from an age-normative life-stage perspective. Accordingly, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to reduce loneliness among adults, suggesting that a variety of interventions or an indirect approach may be necessary. Future research should focus on causal relations between factors and loneliness in different age groups, using a longitudinal research-design with, preferably, an even broader set of factors.

Two experiments addressed the issue of age-related differences and emotion-specific patterns in emotion regulation during adolescence. Experiment 1 examined emotion-specific patterns in the effectiveness of reappraisal and distraction strategies in 14-year-old adolescents (N = 50). Adolescents were instructed to answer spontaneously or to downregulate their responses by using either distraction or cognitive reappraisal strategies before viewing negative pictures and were asked to rate their emotional state after picture presentation. Results showed that reappraisal effectiveness was modulated by emotional content but distraction was not. Reappraisal was more effective than distraction at regulating fear or anxiety (threat-related pictures) but was similar to distraction regarding other emotions. Using the same paradigm, Experiment 2 examined in 12-year-old (N = 56), 13-year-old (N = 49) and 15-year-old adolescents (N = 54) the age-related differences a) in the effectiveness of reappraisal and distraction when implemented and b) in the everyday use of regulation strategies using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Results revealed that regulation effectiveness was equivalent for both strategies in 12-year-olds, whereas a large improvement in reappraisal effectiveness was observed in 13- and 15-year-olds. No age differences were observed in the reported use of reappraisal, but older adolescents less frequently reported using distraction and more frequently reported using the rumination strategy. Taken together, these experiments provide new findings regarding the use and the effectiveness of cognitive regulation strategies during adolescence in terms of age differences and emotion specificity.

Background The growth in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) cases among couples in Nigeria has been significant in recent years. Victims, which are often females, face numerous health challenges, including early death. I examined the linkages between spousal age differences and IPV in Nigeria. Method The couples recode data section of the 2013 Nigeria Demographic Health and Survey was used ( n  = 6765). Intimate partner violence was measured using 13-item questions. Data were analyzed using the logistic regression model (α = .05). Results The mean spousal age difference was 8.20 ± 5.0 years. About 23.5, 18.0, 13.5 and 4.7% of couples surveyed had experienced some form of IPV, emotional, physical and sexual violence respectively. Also, IPV prevalence was 27.0, 23.7, 22.0 and 18.7% among couples with age differences of 0–4, 5–9, 10–14 and ≥15 years respectively; this pattern was exhibited across all domains of IPV. Among women who experienced physical violence, 20.5% had only bruises, 8.0% had at least one case of eye injuries, sprains and/or dislocations, and 3.7% had either one or more cases of wounds, broken bones or broken teeth. The identified predictors of IPV were: family size, ethnicity, household wealth, education, number of marital unions and husband drinks alcohol. The unadjusted likelihood of IPV was 1.60 (C. I  = 1.30–1.98, p  < 0.001) and 1.35 (C. I  = 1.10–1.64, p  < 0.01) higher in households where the spousal age difference was 0–4 and 5–9 years respectively, than the likelihoods among those with a spousal age difference ≥ 15 years, but the strength of the association weakens when other variables were included in the model. Conclusion The level of IPV was generally high in Nigeria, but it reduced with increasing spousal age difference. This study underscores the need for men to reach a certain level of maturity before marriage, as this is likely to reduce the level of IPV in Nigeria.

The prospect of a reward can enhance cognitive performance. For younger men financial gains, and for older adults and women prosocial rewards, seem particularly motivating. We therefore investigated whether adding a prosocial component to a financial reward enhanced cognitive performance and, if so, whether this depended on age or sex. We randomly assigned 571 participants to one of three reward types (financial reward, prosocial reward, or a combination of both) in a monetary incentive delay task. We used linear effects modelling to examine effects of age, sex, or reward type on trial accuracy, response time, and total performance. The prospect of a combined financial and prosocial reward increased performance in all participants with the increase of response speed particularly pronounced in younger adults. Only in men, a sole financial reward increased performance. Our study highlights the importance of choosing rewards wisely when designing studies that examine their influence on cognitive performance.

The aim of this study was to examine the association of work stress, exhaustion, well-being, and related individual, organizational, and social factors, focusing especially on age differences in Taiwan. The data were from the 2015 Taiwan Social Change Survey. The participants were community-based adults, aged 18 years or older, selected via stratified multistage proportional probability sampling from the Taiwanese population. Well-being was measured by self-rated health and psychological health. Descriptive analysis, one-way analysis of variance, and linear regression analysis were used. Work stresses were related to three types of exhaustion, and exhaustion was related to well-being. Individual working style (being creative and using new methods), organizational factors (job satisfaction, work-family conflict, discrimination against women), and social factors (difficult finding a good job than older cohorts) were related to well-being. Older age was related to worse self-rated health, and age showed a reverse-U-shaped relation with psychological health. The resilience of older workers could be an opportunity for the global active aging trend, and interventions to support older workers in organizations would be beneficial.

Females live longer than males, and there are sex disparities in physical health and disease incidence. However, sex differences in biological aging have not been consistently reported and may differ depending on the measure used. This study aimed to determine the correlations between epigenetic age acceleration (AA), and other markers of biological aging, separately in males and females. We additionally explored the extent to which these AA measures differed according to socioeconomic characteristics, clinical markers, and diseases. Epigenetic clocks (HorvathAge, HannumAge, PhenoAge, GrimAge, GrimAge2, and DunedinPACE) were estimated in blood from 560 relatively healthy Australians aged ≥ 70 years (females, 50.7%) enrolled in the ASPREE study. A system-wide deficit accumulation frailty index (FI) composed of 67 health-related measures was generated. Brain age and subsequently brain-predicted age difference (brain-PAD) were estimated from neuroimaging. Females had significantly reduced AA than males, but higher FI, and there was no difference in brain-PAD. FI had the strongest correlation with DunedinPACE (range r : 0.21 to 0.24 in both sexes). Brain-PAD was not correlated with any biological aging measures. Significant correlations between AA and sociodemographic characteristics and health markers were more commonly found in females (e.g., for DunedinPACE and systolic blood pressure r  = 0.2, p  < 0.001) than in males. GrimAA and Grim2AA were significantly associated with obesity and depression in females, while in males, hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease were associated with these clocks, as well as DunedinPACE. Our findings highlight the importance of considering sex differences when investigating the link between biological age and clinical measures.

The Relative Age Effect (RAE) in sport is defined as the age difference in the same sport group. This chronological difference implies a different level of sport experience and performance due to developmental and maturational processes. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relative age effect in elite u-18 basketball according to playing positions. The variables analyzed were: date of birth, playing position and technical-tactical performance indicators in basketball (TTPI). A descriptive analysis was carried out to characterize the sample, a lineal regression was used to analyze the influence of the date of birth on basketball performance and finally an ANOVA and discriminant analysis were performed to identify the differences among different playing positions. The results show the existence of the RAE in the top European Under-18 basketball competition (S1 = 67%; S2 = 33%). Performance indicators which are predictors of the birth quarter (p< .05) were only found in the small forwards (defensive rebounds (β: -.463) and fouls received (β: -.140)) and in the centers (three point throws scored (β: -.321) and tried (β: .342)). These results may be of use for coaches and clubs when recruiting players for each playing position. Older forwards and centers are capable of performing at a higher level. Therefore, clubs have to sign up those players born at the beginning of the year.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder of gut-brain interaction, characterized by symptoms of abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits. It often co-occurs with extraintestinal somatic and psychological symptoms. However, the nature of the interrelationships among these symptoms is unclear. Although previous studies have noted age differences in IBS prevalence and specific symptom severity, it remains unknown whether specific symptoms and symptom relationships may differ by age. Symptom data were collected in 355 adults with IBS (mean age 41.4 years, 86.2% female). Network analysis was used to examine the interrelationships among 28 symptoms and to identify the core symptoms driving the symptom structure between young (≤45 years) vs older (>45 years) adults with IBS. We evaluated 3 network properties between the 2 age groups: network structure, edge (connection) strength, and global strength. In both age groups, fatigue was the top core symptom. Anxiety was a second core symptom in the younger age group, but not the older age group. Intestinal gas and/or bloating symptoms also exerted considerable influences in both age groups. The overall symptom structure and connectivity were found to be similar regardless of age. Network analysis suggests fatigue is a critical target for symptom management in adults with IBS, regardless of age. Comorbid anxiety is likely an important treatment focus for young adults with IBS. Rome V criteria update could consider the importance of intestinal gas and bloating symptoms. Additional replication with larger diverse IBS cohorts is warranted to verify our results.

Background: The fast-growing literature suggests that the Chinese famine of 1959–1961 drives current and future type 2 diabetes (T2D) epidemics in China. This conclusion may be premature, as many Chinese famine studies have major methodological problems. We examine these problems, demonstrate how they bias the study results, and formulate recommendations to improve the quality of future studies. Methods: We searched English and Chinese databases for studies that examined the relationship between prenatal exposure to the Chinese famine and adult T2D from inception to 8 February 2022. We extracted information on T2D cases and study populations of individuals born during the famine (famine births), before the famine (prefamine births), and after the famine (postfamine births). We used random-effects models to compare the odds of T2D in famine births to several control groups, including postfamine births, combined pre- and postfamine births, and prefamine births. We used meta-regressions to examine the impacts of age differences between comparison groups on famine effect estimates and the role of other characteristics, including participant sex, age, and T2D assessments; famine intensity; residence; and publication language. Potential sources of heterogeneity and study quality were also evaluated. Results: Twenty-three studies met our inclusion criteria. The sample sizes ranged from less than 300 to more than 360,000 participants. All studies defined the famine exposure based on the participants’ dates of birth, and 18 studies compared famine births and postfamine births to estimate famine effects on T2D. The famine and postfamine births had an age difference of three years or more in all studies. The estimates of the famine effect varied by the selection of controls. Using postfamine births as controls, the OR for T2D among famine births was 1.50 (95% CI 1.34–1.68); using combined pre- and postfamine births as controls, the OR was 1.12 (95% CI 1.02–1.24); using prefamine births as controls, the OR was 0.89 (95% CI 0.79–1.00). The meta-regressions further showed that the famine effect estimates increased by over 1.05 times with each one-year increase in ignored age differences between famine births and controls. Other newly identified methodological problems included the poorly assessed famine intensity, unsuitable study settings for famine research, and poor confounding adjustment. Interpretation: The current estimates of a positive relationship between prenatal exposure to the Chinese famine and adult T2D are mainly driven by uncontrolled age differences between famine births and postfamine births. Studies with more rigorous methods, including age-balanced controls and robust famine intensity measures, are needed to quantify to what extent the famine exposure is related to current T2D patterns in China.