Why White, Older Men Are More Likely to Die of Suicide

Newswise, January 6, 2016 — In the United States, older men of European descent (so-called white men) have significantly higher suicide rates than any other demographic group. 

For example, their suicide rates are significantly higher than those of older men of African, Latino or Indigenous descent, as well as relative to older women across ethnicities.

Behind these facts there is a cultural story, not just individual journeys of psychological pain and despair. Colorado State University’s Silvia Sara Canetto has spent a large portion of her research career seeking to uncover cultural stories of suicide.

A professor in the College of Natural Sciences’ Department of Psychology, Canetto adds a new chapter to that story in an article recently published in the journal Men and Masculinities. Among her findings are that older white men have higher suicide rates, yet fewer burdens associated with aging. 

For example, they are less likely to experience widowhood and have better physical health and fewer disabilities than older women. They have more economic resources than ethnic minority older men, and than older women across ethnicities.

White older men, however, may be less psychologically equipped to deal with the normal challenges of aging, likely because of their privilege up until late adulthood, Canetto asserts.

An important factor in white men’s psychological brittleness and vulnerability to suicide once they reach late life, Canetto says, may be dominant scripts of masculinity, aging and suicide.

Particularly pernicious for this group may be the belief that suicide is a masculine response to “the indignities of aging.” This is a script that implicitly justifies, and even glorifies, suicide among men.

As illustrations, in her article Canetto examines two famous cases. Eastman Kodak founder George Eastman died of suicide in 1932, at age 77.

His biographer said Eastman was “unprepared and unwilling to face the indignities of old age.” Writer Hunter S. Thompson, who killed himself in 2005 at age 67, was described by friends as having triumphed over “the indignities of aging.”

Both suicides were explained in the press through scripts of conventional “white” masculinity, Canetto asserts. “The dominant story was that their suicide was a rational, courageous, powerful choice.”

Canetto’s research challenges the notion that high suicide rates are inevitable among white older men.

As additional evidence that suicide in this population is culturally determined, and thus preventable, Canetto points out that older men are not the most suicide-prone group everywhere in the world.

For example, in China, women of reproductive age are the demographic group with the highest suicide mortality.

Among the implications of Canetto’s research is that attention to cultural scripts of suicide offers new ways of understanding and preventing suicide.

As cultural stories, the “indignities of aging” suicide script as well as the belief that suicide is a white man’s powerful response to aging can and should be challenged, and changed, she says.

Study: We Trust in Those Who Believe in God

Newswise, January 6, 2016--It's political season and there's one thing you're sure to hear a lot about from candidates vying for support--religion. Talking directly or subtly about religion has become part of the American way in political campaigns.

A new study suggests including religion in campaign speeches feeds a belief that those who are religious to some extent are trustworthy and viewed more favorably. The study was conducted by Scott Clifford of the University of Houston Department of Political Science and Ben Gaskins of Lewis & Clark College.

"Their religious identification reflects a powerful, widespread, but often subtle and unconscious bias in American society against those who do not believe in God," Clifford said. The researchers note that there has been only one openly atheist congressman (Pete Stark, D-California), who lost in 2012.

Their findings were published in the journal American Politics Research.

Clifford and Gaskins say their study shows the challenges for non-religious candidates vying for public office.

Using national survey polling data, the researchers assessed the willingness of voters to support an atheist candidate, the favorability of candidate Hillary Clinton depending on whether she is viewed as religious, and the view that a religious candidate is trustworthy.

"Our findings suggest that not demonstrating religiousness is a significant roadblock for winning public office in the United States, and being perceived as religious increases the level of trust instilled in politicians by voters," Clifford said. 

"For Republicans (showing religiousness) will reinforce their existing support, but Democrats can expand appeal to moderates and conservatives with displays of religiousness." 

Among their findings:

• Believing atheists are moral increases willingness to vote for such a candidate

• 27 percent of respondents said atheists cannot be moral

• Majority said they would not vote for an atheist

• Mormons were 28 percentage points less likely than those with no religious affiliation to vote for an atheist

• Jewish respondents were no more or less likely than those with no religious affiliation to vote for an atheist

Additionally, they found that candidate Hillary Clinton was viewed more favorably and perceived to be more honest if she also was thought to be religious. That view was held most notably by non-liberals, who also indicated they were more likely to vote for her.

Clifford and Gaskins used data from two polls--2007 Newsweek poll of 1,004 adults, 2007 CBS News poll of 1,282 adults.

Top 10 Tips for a Happier New Year

There's a science to happiness, says positive psychologist

Newswise —December 29, 2015--Wishing family and friends a “Happy New Year” is all well and fine, but if you’re serious about spreading cheer in the New Year, consider passing along more specific advice from a psychologist who studies the science of happiness at Washington University in St. Louis. 

There is no secret to happiness, but there is a science to it, says Tim Bono, PhD, a psychology lecturer in Arts & Sciences who teaches courses on happiness at the university.

Based on his own research and other scientific studies, Bono offers the following tips for getting and staying happier in the coming year.

● Get outside and move around. Research confirms that a few minutes walking around in nature can boost both mood and energy levels. Exercise is key to our psychological health because it releases the brain’s “feel good” chemicals.

● Reach out and connect with someone. Ask people about their happiest memories and most will mention experiences shared with loved ones. People with high-quality relationships are not only happier, they’re also healthier. They recover from illnesses more quickly, live longer and enjoy more enriched lives.

● Limit time on social media. Sites like Facebook often exaggerate how much better off others are compared with how we might feel about ourselves at the moment. Bono’s research on college students shows more time spent on social media usually is associated with less self-esteem, optimism and motivation while leaving people feeling less socially connected to others.

● Spend less of your time checking email. Adults who check email only “in chunks” at designated times during the day — instead of checking and responding to messages continuously — are significantly less stressed and less distracted throughout the day. And they’re still just as accomplished with their work.

● Get more happiness for your money. Studies show little connection between wealth and happiness, but there are two ways to get more bang for your happiness buck — buy experiences instead of things and spend your money on others. The enjoyment one gets from an experience, like a nice dinner or weekend getaway, will far outweigh and outlast the happiness from adding another possession. A different study found adults given $20 to spend were happier when they spent the money on someone else.

● Carve out time to be happy, then give it away. People dream of finding an extra 30 minutes to do something nice for themselves, but using that time to help someone else is more rewarding and actually leaves us feeling less pressed for time. Doing a good deed empowers us to tackle the next project, helps us feel more in control of our lives and leads to higher levels of happiness and satisfaction.

● Delay the positive, dispatch the negative. Anticipation itself is pleasurable and looking forward to an enjoyable experience can make it that much sweeter. Wait a couple of days before seeing a new movie that just came out, plan your big vacation for later in the summer and take time to savor each bite of dessert. On the flip side, get negative tasks out of the way as quickly as possible — anticipation will only make them seem worse.

● Enjoy the ride. People who focus more on process than outcome tend to remain motivated in the face of setbacks. They’re better at sticking with big challenges and prefer them over the easy route. This “growth mindset” helps people stay energized because it celebrates rewards that come from the work itself. Focusing only on the end outcome can lead to premature burnout if things don’t go well.

● Embrace failure. How we think about failure determines whether it makes us happy or sad. People who overcome adversity do better in life because they learn to cope with challenges. Failure is a great teacher, helping us realize what doesn’t work so we can make changes for the better. As IBM CEO Thomas Watson once said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”

● Sweet dreams. Get a full night’s sleep on a regular basis. Our brains are doing a lot of important work while we sleep, including strengthening neural circuits that both consolidate memories from the previous day and that help us regulate our moods when we are awake. Sleep deprivation can lead to cognitive impairment similar to that of intoxication, and often is the prelude to an ill-tempered day.

Still a Champion Runner at 80: Do Elite Athletes Have an Anti-Aging Secret in Their Muscles?

Newswise, December 29, 2015--Elite runners do not experience the muscle weakening associated with aging as non-athletes do. A new study published in American Journal of Physiology—Cell Physiology examines if their superb fitness is because their muscles have not aged.

Movement and strength come from the muscle fibers that make up a muscle group contracting and generating tension. Muscle weakening happens when the fibers contract slower and with less force. 

A team of Canadian researchers hypothesized that the constant physical training of older elite runners preserved their muscle fibers such that the fibers behaved like those of young adults.

Muscle fiber samples were taken from the quadriceps of older elite runners and non-athlete adults in the same age range. 

“One of the most unique and novel aspects of this study are the exceptional participants,” says lead author Geoff Power of University of Guelph in Canada.

 “These are individuals in their 80s and 90s who actively compete in the world 

masters track and field championships. In the study, we had seven world champions, and everyone placed in the top four of their respective events.”

The fibers’ contraction speed and force were compared to fibers from 23-year-old non-athlete adults. 

Muscle fibers from older non-athletes contracted considerably slower and weaker than fibers from young non-athletes. To the researchers’ surprise, the muscle fibers of masters athletes contracted at a speed and force similar to those of older non-athlete adults, not the young adults. 

Success in high-performance sports in old age does not appear to be due to maintained contraction capability of the fibers, Power says.

This study suggests that aging is associated with decreased muscle quality regardless of physical activity status, according to Power. 

However, other studies have shown that muscle fibers can be arranged in a variety of ways to optimize strength, speed and power of the whole muscle, Power says, so there are many structural ways to compensate for the reduced performance at the fiber level to maintain performance at the whole muscle level.

Researchers from McGill University, University of Calgary and University of Quebec at Montreal were also involved in the study. The article “Reduction in single muscle fiber rate of force development with aging is not attenuated in world class older masters athletes” is published ahead-of-print in American Journal of Physiology—Cell Physiology.

About the American Physiological Society
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. Established in 1887, the American Physiological Society (APS) was the first U.S. society in the biomedical sciences field. The Society represents more than 10,000 members and publishes 15 peer-reviewed journals with a worldwide readership. 

Forgetfulness or Alzheimer's? How to Tell the Difference When Visiting Elderly Loved Ones This Holiday Season

Newswise, December 29, 2015-- The holidays are a time when families get together -- sometimes after long periods apart.

"If you haven’t seen your elderly loved one in a while, you might be more likely to notice changes in their memory and behavior that worries you," said Gregory Jicha, M.D., Ph.D., of the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.

Look for these early signs of dementia in an elderly loved one:

• It's normal for someone to forget a date or a name but suddenly remember it later. However, pay attention if they ask for the same information repeatedly, or struggle to recall important dates (like their own birthdate).

• Are they having trouble following a recipe? Problem-solving skills can deteriorate in someone with Alzheimer's.

• Do they get lost when driving to a familiar location? If they have difficulty completing familiar tasks, it might be a sign of AD.

• Healthy people occasionally struggle to find the right word, but using the wrong word -- particularly if they call something by the wrong name -- merits further scrutiny.

• Poor judgment: are they giving lots of money to telemarketers or charities?

• Poor hygiene.

• Personality changes: are they suddenly irrational, fearful, or suspicious?

If you see any behavior that worries you, talk to your doctor.

There Is No One Size Fits All for Aging: New Study Reveals New Measurements for Aging

Newswise, December 18, 2015 — Conventional measures of population aging are “biased and misleading” because they are only based on one factor, chronological age, assert Warren Sanderson, a Professor of Economics at Stony Brook University, and Sergei Scherbov, a project leader at an Austrian research institute.

Rather, they present in a new study four different measurements – economic dependency ratio, healthcare cost dependency ratio, pension dependency ratio, and prospective dependency ratio – that offer a more dynamic and effective determination of aging. Their findings are being published in the journal Population and Development Review, today, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2016.

“21st Century will be known as the era of aging,” declares Sanderson. “We should start discussing it using 21st Century tools -- not using the antiquated ‘old age’ dependency ratio (defining people as becoming old age dependents when they reach age 65) but rather those that fully account for the expected number of years people have left to live. Aging is not one static number; it is a multidimensional phenomena." 

He and Scherbov explain these four new tools:
1.Economic Dependency Ratio: This ratio doesn't assume that everyone at the age of 65 retires. It also doesn't assume that anyone younger than 65 is working. It determined that people are working past 65 years old; therefore, changing their economic status. The old age ration assumes everyone at 65 retires.
2. Healthcare Cost Dependency Ratio: This ratio determined that healthcare costs sky rocket during the last few years of your life. The old age dependency ratio suggested that healthcare increased at 65 - because that's the assumed retirement age.
3. Pension Dependency Ratio. The assumption is that people get public pensions at 65; however, this is not the case. In most wealthy countries, normal public pensions are rising. A number of countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Italy, have pension payouts linked to life expectancy.
4. Prospective Dependency Ratio: This suggests that we should be looking at how many birthdays the person will have, rather than how many the person has had. People are assumed to become old age dependent at 65 but that is not the case as life expectancy is rising. 

WashU Expert: Five Holiday Talking Points for Families Facing Aging, End-of-Life Decisions

Don’t put off discussions about death and dying, says family relations expert

Newswise, December 18, 2015 —Few things are as certain as the end of life, so why is it so hard to talk about?

That’s the question many families will be grappling with as they get together over the holidays with extended families, including close relatives who are getting on in years or those battling a serious health issue.

While it’s easy to put off dark discussions during festive times, it’s best to have them sooner than later, said Brian Carpenter, a psychologist who studies family relations in later life at Washington University in St. Louis.

“These conversations bring up the possibility that someday these important people in your life are going to be sick or frail and eventually, one day, die,” said Carpenter, PhD, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences.

“For people to imagine that, first of all, is uncomfortable. People don’t like to think about people they care about being infirm or more dependent than they are right now.”

Carpenter, who teaches courses on death and dying and the psychology of aging, says most families wait until some sort of crisis or emergency to talk about necessary topics like healthcare, housing preferences, financial planning, general values, and final wishes for family members who are older or ill.

At that point, difficult decisions have to be made quickly, and families experience a huge amount of stress. This heartbreak could be avoided if expectations and preferences were communicated earlier on, but many families avoid the topic, he says.

As part of his research, Carpenter has been building tools to help families talk about aging and end-of-life care. His laboratory recently completed a pilot study with about 55 families meant to evaluate an online tool for generating these types of discussions. Having the process online meant that families with children scattered around the country, and even the world, could still participate.

Based on his research, he offers advice on five topics that families facing aging or end-of-life situations should be sure to discuss. According to Carpenter, it’s helpful to start with four big categories: housing, medical care, finances, and end-of-life.

Whether the conversations happen over dinner, online, over the phone, or on the couch, families should get comfortable discussing a range of questions from these four areas. Here are a few examples.

• Housing. Are you happy where you live? If you couldn’t live here any longer, where would you want to go? Would you want to live with family? With friends? Nearby? Far away? What type of housing would you prefer?
• Medical care. If you were in a difficult medical situation, what treatments would you not want at all? How do you feel about your ability to tolerate pain versus taking medication that might help you feel less pain, but also less alert?
• Finances. What are your investments, assets, and liabilities? Where are your financial records located? Who would you like to have involved in managing your finances if you couldn’t do that for yourself?
• End-of-life decisions. What do you want to have happen to your body after you die? Do you want to donate your organs? What kind of service do you want? While these details provide helpful and necessary information about a person’s wishes, Carpenter has found that a fifth, more abstract category is equally important to discuss.
• The big picture. In order to have a meaningful conversation about death, it really helps to discuss what makes life itself meaningful. How do you think your life is playing out? What would be important to you as you approach the end of your life, in terms of how, with whom, and where you spend your time? What do you want to try to accomplish before you die?

“If talking meaningfully with your family and friends are a really high priority for you, and if you can’t do that any longer and that changes how you think about the quality of your life, people need to know about that,” Carpenter said.

“The idea is that people can’t talk about every possible scenario, because we can’t predict everything. Barring that, it’s better if people just know who you are and what you want, so down the road they can make choices for you that are consistent with what you would want.

While it’s not possible to predict everything that’s important to be discussed in these conversations, it’s important that family members know who you are and what you want.

“At the end of these interventions, people say that they feel, in some cases, more knowledgeable about what their family members want and what they prefer,” Carpenter said. “But more important to us, they say they feel better prepared to talk about them in the future. That’s really the outcome that we care most about. That’s what we’re hoping for.”