SENIOR MODELS: SUCCESSFUL AGING AND SERIOUS LEISURE

Abstract Serious leisure involves productive engagement and commitment in leisure activities. Literature shows that participating in serious leisure is associated with physical and mental health benefits of older adults. The behavior of senior modeling reflects serious leisure engagement that might offer a new insight useful in understanding successful aging. We explored the experience of senior models as a form of serious leisure. Using selective optimization with compensation as well as serious leisure framework, we attempted to identify how senior modeling activity contributes to successful aging. This study used in-depth interviews using purposeful sampling, and data were collected over two months in 2019. The participants were 31 senior models (average age = 67). The analysis resulted in three themes which contained characteristics of serious leisure as well as selective optimization with compensation: identifying new possibilities, serious engagement, and rewards from meaningful experiences. This study demonstrated various experiential characteristics associated with modeling as a form of serious leisure. Through selection, optimization, and compensation process, the participants seemed to achieve successful aging. We found that senior model experiences promoted active lifestyle, health benefits, and interpersonal relationships. To our knowledge, this is the first exploration of the experience of senior modeling activity. Consistent with existing literature, our study provides evidence of the significant role of serious leisure in later life. We suggest that senior modeling program holds promise as an effective way for older adults because it can be used as a self-care approach and community programs not only in Korea, but at various locations.

optimism as a latent variable and four components of successful aging for older adults and their spouses, all from the same wave in 2014. The results of the study revealed that higher dispositional optimism of older adults significantly predicted lower depressive symptoms, lower difficulties with activities of daily living, better cognitive function, and higher subjective health, for older adults and their spouses. The results, in conclusion, support the notion that dispositional optimism not only plays a significant role in well-being for oneself but also benefits the partner's well-being as well. Further research need to include other components of successful aging, such as social engagement, loneliness, and life satisfaction. In addition, including covariates, such as gender, educational attainment, race/ethnicity, and household income, will also further examine the effect of optimism above and beyond the demographic factors.

GRANDPARENTS CARING FOR GRANDCHILDREN: HOW AGE AND AGING IMPACT PROVISION OF CHILDCARE
MaryBeth A. Apriceno, 1 Stacey B. Scott, 1 and Sheri Levy 1 ,

Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
The economic need for dual-income households has contributed to more grandparents providing childcare for their grandchildren. Research on these grandparents has examined their life satisfaction, health, and spare time. Little work to date has examined how cross-sectional differences in grandparents' age may contribute to when they begin providing childcare or how their increasing age while caregiving influences when they reduce or stop providing childcare. Using Health and Retirement Study data, we identified 5.38% of participants (N=516) who reported providing at least one hour of childcare for their grandchildren per wave (range=1-9,996) between 2004 and 2014. The resulting sample ranged from 44-88 years of age (M=59.78, SD=7.75) when they first reported providing childcare; 48.8% were retired during the study period. Using multilevel modeling, we tested age and retirement as predictors of individual differences in initial amount of childcare (intercept) and change in childcare (slope). Cross-sectionally, no significant differences in childcare hours were observed based on the age at which grandparents began caregiving or retirement status. Longitudinally, however, as grandparents got older during the study, hours of childcare decreased by 48 hours per year (B=-48.368, t(1584)=-6.55, p<.0001) relative to when they starting providing childcare. These results suggest grandparent childcare providers represent an age diverse group managing multiple roles and responsibilities who continue caregiving well into older adulthood. Future research on grandparents who provide childcare for their grandchildren should observe these individuals over time to better understand how aging impacts provision of care and to examine how aging may moderate previous cross-sectional findings.

SOCIAL VALUE OF THE ELDER PUMI MINORITY IN CHINA
Meng ran Gao 1 , 1. Peking University, Beijing, China Social status of the elderly nowadays declines rapidly in China. As anthropologist Margaret Mead considered, postfigurative culture leading in contemporary society and the source of knowledge are from youth. The value of the elderly has been overlooked. However, in Pumi, one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in northwestern Yunnan Province of China, it is common that senior residents have high social status. This study examines the social values the Pumi elderly have by systematic analysis and participation observation methods. Based on data collected in a Pumi village during a 6-month fieldtrip, we conclude that Pumi elderly enjoy a high status in the community. They occupy core positions in all important ceremonies, such as religious activities and other daily activities including hospice. Factors behind the special old-age care phenomenon are Pumi's history and its culture. The special culture has united the group members together and enhanced individual development with community social capital. It is clear that respecting elderly does not only contribute the transformation of ethnical knowledge but also enhance community cohesiveness. Evaluating the role of the elderly should not only from economic perspective, but also from the holistic perspective of social culture, so as to reconsider the importance of the elderly to our society.

Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of
Serious leisure involves productive engagement and commitment in leisure activities. Literature shows that participating in serious leisure is associated with physical and mental health benefits of older adults. The behavior of senior modeling reflects serious leisure engagement that might offer a new insight useful in understanding successful aging. We explored the experience of senior models as a form of serious leisure. Using selective optimization with compensation as well as serious leisure framework, we attempted to identify how senior modeling activity contributes to successful aging. This study used in-depth interviews using purposeful sampling, and data were collected over two months in 2019. The participants were 31 senior models (average age = 67). The analysis resulted in three themes which contained characteristics of serious leisure as well as selective optimization with compensation: identifying new possibilities, serious engagement, and rewards from meaningful experiences. This study demonstrated various experiential characteristics associated with modeling as a form of serious leisure. Through selection, optimization, and compensation process, the participants seemed to achieve successful aging. We found that senior model experiences promoted active lifestyle, health benefits, and interpersonal relationships. To our knowledge, this is the first exploration of the experience of senior modeling activity. Consistent with existing literature, our study provides evidence of the significant role of serious leisure in later life. We suggest that senior modeling program holds promise as an effective way for older adults because it can be used as a self-care approach and community programs not only in Korea, but at various locations.

THE UPSIDE OF GETTING OLD: TESTING A MODEL OF OLDER AGE AND BETTER EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING
Jenna Wilson, 1 JoNell Strough, 1 and Natalie Shook 1 , 1. West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States Innovation in Aging, 2019, Vol. 3, No. S1