Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Among U.S. Asian Older Adults: Findings From the Rutgers Asian RCMAR

Abstract U.S. Asians are the fastest growing group of older adults in the nation, increasing by 68% from 2000-2018. However, research on the psychological wellbeing of this population is limited. Drawing on the research of Rutgers Asian RCMAR Scientists, this symposium will address the impacts of stress, trauma and resilience on the psychological wellbeing of diverse groups of U.S. Asian older adults. Session 1 will assess the prevalence of psychological distress among older LGBT and non-LGBT U.S. Asian older adults, and the role of discrimination in medical care and intimate violence on psychological distress. Session 2 will take a mixed-methods approach to examining caregiver burden and depressive symptoms of Chinese American spouses and adult-children who provided care for their spouse or parents with dementia. Session 3 will explore the risk and protective factors for the mental health of sexual minority U.S. Asian older adults using data from the Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health. Session 4 will identify different patterns of coping repertoires of older immigrants, based on a combination of individual, family, and community coping resources, and the optimal coping repertoire that is associated with the best psychological outcomes. In summation, this symposium describes the psychological wellbeing of diverse groups of U.S. Asian older adults, including sexual minority, caregiver and immigrant groups. The symposium addresses both risk factors and the protective factors and coping mechanisms that mediate and mitigate psychological wellbeing and aims to inform interventions to improve psychological wellbeing outcomes in U.S. Asian older adults.


MIND YOUR LANGUAGE: NEW INSIGHTS ON MEMORY AND COGNITIVE AGING RESEARCH THROUGH REAL-LIFE METHODS
Maximilian Haas, 1 Alexandra Hering, 2 and Matthias Kliegel, 2 1.University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, 2. University of Geneva, Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland In the past decades, the so-called "age -prospective memory paradox"-a phenomenon comparing prospective memory (PM) performance in and outside the lab -has challenged the classical assumption that older adults necessarily evidence a marked decline in PM functioning.In our study, we want to extend established methods for measuring memory through arising technologies, such as the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR;Mehl, 2017).Over the course of three days, 60 younger adults (18-32 years) and 45 older adults (60-82 years) completed an ambulatory assessment with the EAR in order to detect spontaneous speech production related to memory and memory failures.Results reveal that younger and older adults do not differ in the total number of utterances related to different facets of memory and cognition.However, when it comes to failures, older adults talk significantly less about PM failures than younger adults.Possible explanations for these findings will be discussed.

NATURAL, EVERYDAY LANGUAGE USE PROVIDES A WINDOW INTO THE INTEGRITY OF OLDER ADULTS' COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING
Angelina Polsinelli, 1 Suzanne Moseley, 2 Matthew Grilli, 3 Elizabeth Glisky, 3 and Matthias Mehl, 4 1.Indiana University School of Medicine,Indianapolis,Indiana,United States,2. MN Epilepsy Group,St Paul,Minnesota,United States,3. University of Arizona,Tucson,Arizona,United States,4. University of arizona,Tucson,Arizona,United States Language use during structured clinical tasks predicts pathological cognitive aging.However, structured tasks reflect only a narrow band of potential communication contexts, which limits the ability to capture cognitive processes manifested in language use under more natural conditions (i.e., minimal constraints).The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) makes it possible to sample language from the full ecology of individuals' interactions.As interactions are cognitively complex, language use in everyday life might be especially sensitive to the integrity of higher-order cognitive processes, including executive functions (EF).Using the EAR and a standard EF battery, we show that EF, particularly working memory, is reflected in analytic (e.g.articles and prepositions), complex (e.g.longer words), and specific (e.g. more numbers) language.The EAR provides first evidence that the words used in daily life reflect the integrity of EF and that reliance on less complex language could reflect WM variability among cognitively healthy adults.

STRESS, TRAUMA, AND RESILIENCE AMONG U.S. ASIAN OLDER ADULTS: FINDINGS FROM THE RUTGERS ASIAN RCMAR
Chair: XinQi Dong Co-Chair: Melissa Simon Discussant: Bei Wu U.S. Asians are the fastest growing group of older adults in the nation, increasing by 68% from 2000-2018.However, research on the psychological wellbeing of this population is limited.Drawing on the research of Rutgers Asian RCMAR Scientists, this symposium will address the impacts of stress, trauma and resilience on the psychological wellbeing of diverse groups of U.S. Asian older adults.Session 1 will assess the prevalence of psychological distress among older LGBT and non-LGBT U.S. Asian older adults, and the role of discrimination in medical care and intimate violence on psychological distress.Session 2 will take a mixed-methods approach to examining caregiver burden and depressive symptoms of Chinese American spouses and adult-children who provided care for their spouse or parents with dementia.Session 3 will explore the risk and protective factors for the mental health of sexual minority U.S. Asian older adults using data from the Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health.Session 4 will identify different patterns of coping repertoires of older immigrants, based on a combination of individual, family, and community coping resources, and the optimal coping repertoire that is associated with the best psychological outcomes.In summation, this symposium describes the psychological wellbeing of diverse groups of U.S. Asian older adults, including sexual minority, caregiver and immigrant groups.The symposium addresses both risk factors and the protective factors and coping mechanisms that mediate and mitigate psychological wellbeing and aims to inform interventions to improve psychological wellbeing outcomes in U.S. Asian older adults.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG OLDER LGBT AND NON-LGBT ASIAN AMERICANS: THE INFLUENCE OF MINORITY STRESS
Chien-Ching Li, 1 Alicia Matthews, 2 and XinQi Dong, 3 1.Rush University, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 2. University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 3. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States Emerging data from epidemiological studies have confirmed elevated prevalence rates for mental health conditions among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations.An estimated 2.8% of Asian Americans identify as LGBT and 26% of Asian LGBT are 40 years or older.This study analyzed the California Health Interview Survey to examine differences in psychological distress between LGBT and non-LGBT older Asian Americans, and further evaluated the role of discrimination in medical care and intimate violence on psychological distress.Regression results showed older LGBT Asians had a higher psychological distress score compared to non-LGBT Asians.After adjusting for discrimination or violence, this association no longer existed.Experiencing discrimination in medical care and intimate violence were associated with higher levels of psychological stress.This study increases our knowledge of mental health among older Asian LGBT, enhancing our ability to design culturally-targeted and trauma-informed psychosocial interventions to improve outcomes in this population.

ARE SPOUSES MORE LIKELY TO BE DEPRESSED THAN ADULT CHILDREN IN DEMENTIA CARE? A MIXED-METHODS STUDY Jinyu Liu, Weatherhead East Asian institute, New York City, New York, United States
Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examines caregiver burden and depressive symptoms of Chinese American spouses and adult-children who provided care for their spouse or parents with dementia.Quantitative data were collected from a questionnaire-based survey in 124 Chinese caregivers in New York City and narrative data were gathered from in-depth interviews with 27 of these caregivers.The results of linear regression show that there was no difference in objective burden (caring tasks) between spousal and adult-child caregivers, but spousal caregivers reported significantly higher levels of subjective burden and depressive symptoms.Based on the structural equation modeling, it was found that subjective burden significantly mediated the association between being a spousal caregiver on depressive symptoms.The narrative data show that, compared to the adult-child caregivers, spousal caregivers were more likely to express their worries about the sequence of death (what will happen if they die earlier than their care receiver?).

EXPLORING THE RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS FOR THE MENTAL HEALTH OF SEXUAL MINORITY ASIAN AMERICANS
Jason Flatt, 1 Rachel Whitmer, 2 and Paola Gilsanz, 3 1.University of Nevada, Las Vegas, School of Public Health, Las Vegas, California, United States, 2. University of California Davis,Davis,California,United States,3. Kaiser Permanente,Oakland,California,United States This study characterizes the mental health of Asian American older adults (aged 60+) who identify as sexual minorities (SM or lesbian, gay, bisexual) and compare to their non-Asian American and non-SM counterparts.Data were from the Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health (Aged 60+; N=185,478), a representative sample of healthcare members from Northern California.It includes SM (N=447) and heterosexual/non-SM (N=15,772) older adults who identify as Asian American (Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and South Asian) and non-Asian American SM (N=3,890).Rates of dementia, anxiety, and PTSD were similar for both SM and non-SM Asian Americans.However, older lesbian and gay Asian Americans were more likely to have a depression diagnosis (30% vs. 18%, p=0.002) compared to non-SM.Overall, mental health outcomes were lower for Asian American SM compared to non-Asian American SM.We discuss need for understanding protective factors for mental health and implications for future interventions.Using data from 2,923 Chinese older immigrants in Chicago, this study aims to identify different patterns of coping repertoires of older immigrants, based on a combination of individual, family and community coping resources, and the optimal coping repertoire that is associated with the best psychological outcomes.The results of Latent Class Analysis revealed four types of coping repertoires: lowresource (43%), spouse-oriented (32%), community-oriented (15%), and multi-source coping repertoire (10%).Overall, immigrants who had multi-source coping repertoire reported the best psychological outcomes.However, the influence of coping repertoires varied based on specific adversities.Having community-oriented coping repertoire was more protective for widowed immigrants, whereas spouse-or communityoriented coping repertoire was more protective for those with poor health.For less-acculturated older immigrants, having community-oriented coping appears most beneficial to their well-being; and for older immigrants who perceived low filial support from their children, having multi-source coping was associated with better psychological well-being.

SUICIDE PREVENTION IN OLDER ADULTS: EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACHES FOR CARE Chair: Luming Li
Suicide in older adults is a major public health concern.Data of suicide rates of older adults from the Centers for Disease Control suggests that suicide is more frequent in older adults and warrants further examination of treatment and public health prevention approaches.Risk factors for suicide in the elderly include functional disability, multiple Man Guo, 1 Yi Wang, 1 Jinyu Liu, 2 Meredith Stensland, 3 and XinQi Dong, 4 1.University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States, 2. Weatherhead East Asian institute, New York City, New York, United States, 3. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States, 4. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States