MIDDLE-AGED ADULTS’ BEREAVEMENT RESPONSE TO PARENT DEATH: THE ROLE OF PRE-LOSS RELATIONSHIP QUALITY

Abstract The bereavement literature in adulthood has largely focused on spousal loss. Yet the death of a parent is an influential – and expected – loss experience in middle and later life. This study analyzed prospective data from two waves of the Family Exchanges Study (2008 and 2013) to explore adults’ (N = 192; Mage = 56.76) experience of a recent parent death in the past 5 years, including grief responses and positive memories of the deceased parent. We examined how pre-loss relationships with the deceased parent (e.g., positive and negative relationship quality, relationship importance) are associated with different bereavement responses among the bereaved children. Findings showed that the levels of grief were higher for children who placed more importance on the parent prior to that parent’s death. Positive relationship quality was associated with positive memories after a parent’s death. However, negative relationship quality was not associated with any bereavement responses.

Bereavement is an impactful, often difficult experience for individuals throughout the life course. Moreover, bereavement experiences inherently involve wider family networks: The death of a spouse is often also the death of a parent, grandparent, or sibling, as well. The present symposium investigates a variety of different family loss experiences that individuals are exposed to in adulthood and older age, and situates such bereavement in a larger family context. Stahl explores how daily routines and sleep patterns can be altered by spousal bereavement, and assesses an intervention designed to improve widowed older adults' behaviors and, in turn, reduce their depressive symptomology. Kim and colleagues analyze the death of a parent in adulthood, examining the extent to which pre-loss relationship quality and relationship importance may predict post-loss symptoms of grief. Stokes and colleagues extend this intergenerational perspective, examining the death of a grandparent in adulthood, and whether adult grandchildren's relationships with their middle-generation parents -bereaved adult children themselves -impact their experiences of grief after loss. Focus is also paid to the influence of gender across all three generations. Lastly, Donnelly explores the cumulative consequences of experiencing multiple family deaths throughout the life course for adults' health trajectories. Together, these papers expand the scope of bereavement research to incorporate spousal, multigenerational, and cumulative loss experiences and their repercussions for midlife and older adults. As discussant, Carr will assess the contributions of these papers to theory and the literature, and highlight potential directions for future research concerning aging, families, and bereavement.

FAMILY-MEMBER LOSS AS A CUMULATIVE BURDEN FOR HEALTH AMONG BLACK AND WHITE OLDER ADULTS
Rachel Donnelly 1 , 1. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States The health consequences of multiple family member deaths across the life course has received less attention in the bereavement literature. Moreover, recent research shows that black Americans are more likely than white Americans to lose multiple family members. I analyze longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study  to assess how multiple family member losses across the life course are associated with declines in health among older adults. Findings suggest that multiple family losses prior to midlife are associated with a number of indicators of poor health (e.g., functional limitations, cardiometabolic health) and steeper declines in health as individuals age. Losses after midlife additionally undermine health declines for older adults. Thus, family member loss functions as a cumulative burden of stress across the life course that erodes health in midand later-life. Family loss disproportionately burdens black Americans and serves as a unique source of disadvantage for black families.

DIGITAL MONITORING OF SLEEP, MEALS, AND EXERCISE AS A PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION FOR DEPRESSION IN BEREAVED SPOUSES Sarah Stahl 1 , 1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
The death of a spouse brings profound change to bereaved survivors' lifestyle and daily routine. These changes disrupt circadian rhythms which, in turn, places individuals at high risk for depression. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a 12-week behavioral intervention that targets the timing and regularity of sleep, meals, and physical activity via digital monitoring and motivational health coaching. Participants were 60+ years of age and assessed on intervention acceptability and adherence, depression symptoms (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression) and the rest-activity rhythm, (a downstream indicator of the body's circadian rhythm (via actigraphic technology). The intervention was rated highly by participants (n=55); 88% were compliant in digital monitoring and 95% were retained. Depression symptoms declined from pre-to post-intervention; and the regularity of circadian rhythms increased. An intervention that targets the regularity of day-and nighttime activities may reduce depression in older spousally-bereaved adults. The bereavement literature in adulthood has largely focused on spousal loss. Yet the death of a parent is an influential -and expected -loss experience in middle and later life. This study analyzed prospective data from two waves of the Family Exchanges Study (2008 and 2013) to explore adults' (N = 192; Mage = 56.76) experience of a recent parent death in the past 5 years, including grief responses and positive memories of the deceased parent. We examined how preloss relationships with the deceased parent (e.g., positive and negative relationship quality, relationship importance) are associated with different bereavement responses among the bereaved children. Findings showed that the levels of grief were higher for children who placed more importance on the parent prior to that parent's death. Positive relationship quality was associated with positive memories after a parent's death. However, negative relationship quality was not associated with any bereavement responses.

. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States
Although the death of a grandparent in adulthood is often an expected or "on-time" life event, this loss may still result in grief for adult grandchildren. Structural aspects of relationships, including gender of the grandparent, adult grandchild, and/or middle-generation parent, may affect the response such a loss elicits from adult grandchildren. Further, adult grandchildren's relationship quality and/or coresidence with middle-generation parents may also impact the effect of grandparent loss on adult grandchildren's grief. Using data from Wave 2 of the Family Exchanges Study (2013), we found that (a) grandsons report less grief than granddaughters, irrespective of grandparents' or middle-generation parents' gender; (b) relationship quality with and worry about middle-generation parents matter most for granddaughters and those who lost a maternal grandparent; and (c) worry about middle-generation parents matters most for bereaved grandchildren who coreside with middle-generation parents. Results highlight the intersection of gender and relationship quality in a multigenerational context.

BEYOND REPRODUCTION: EXPLORING DETERMINANTS OF FUNCTIONAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN AGING WOMEN Chair: Cassandra M. Germain, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
The goal of this symposium is to explore the various factors that influence functional health and general well-being in women during late life. We will explore 1) the role of depression on functional impairment in a group of diverse community dwelling women; 2) the relationship between chronic pain and depression, as well as strategies for intervention; 3) the desire for sexual intimacy among older women and it's relationship to wellbeing and 4) the importance of physical appearance in older women and its association with self confidence and wellbeing.

ETHNICITY, DEPRESSION, AND FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES IN OLDER WOMEN Cassandra M. Germain 1 , 1. North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Women continue to have higher prevalence rates of functional impairment and depressive symptoms than men. In addition, women from certain ethnic groups experience disproportionately higher rates of ADL limitation, and are less likely to be screened for depression. The current study examines the association between race/ethnicity and depressive symptoms on functional limitations in Black, White and Hispanic women. We examined prevalence and adjusted odds of ADL limitations by race in n=9,846 women aged 50+ with low (CESD <4) and high (CESD =>4) depressive symptoms from the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Overall, Black and Hispanic women had significantly higher rates of depression (p <.001) and ADL limitations (p<.001) than White women. Among those with high depressive symptoms, Black OR 1.98 [1.17,3.34] and Hispanic OR 2.82 [1.42,5.6] women have significantly higher rates of ADL limitations as compared to White women.

AGING APPEARANCE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE TO WELL-BEING Naomi Woodspring 1 , 1. University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom
Ageing is a profoundly embodied process, yet elder's concerns about appearance are perceived, by many, as trivial. Notions of appearance as a core human concern continues as a significant aspect throughout our lives. Self-presentation choices convey a sense of our identity. This paper is based on a qualitative study which aimed to explore current notions of beauty and age. A diverse group of postwar women (born between 1945 -1955) from the US and the UK were interviewed with a focus on their own self-presentation and the acts of seeing and being seen. This paper explores the some of the findings from this study. The majority of women, and the all women of colour, reported feeling more confident in their appearance and appreciative of other older women's appearance. This led to a more robust sense of well-being and suggests that age and appearance may be significantly linked to well-being.

INTIMACY IN LATER LIFE: A POTENTIAL PATHWAY FOR IMPROVING WELL-BEING IN OLDER WOMEN
Renee J. Flores 1 , 1. UT Houston McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, United States Despite benefits to overall health and well-being, healthcare professionals' knowledge and research is limited in regards to older women's sexuality and intimacy desires. There are barriers that impede fulfilling these desires and lack of understanding hinders ways to address this issue, which negatively affects the well-being of older women. A sexuality and intimacy survey of 29 women between the ages of 60-86 revealed that the majority were having sex at least once a month and expressed the desire to increase the frequency of sexual encounters. These data suggests that later-life sexuality and intimacy encounters are important Innovation in Aging, 2019, Vol. 3, No. S1