Correlates of Psychological Well-being Among Korean Vietnam War Veterans

Abstract Prior research on Veterans’ mental health has largely focused on identifying risk and protective factors for negative psychological symptoms such as PTSD. However, mental health indicates not merely absence of psychopathology, but also the existence of positive psychological well-being (Keyes, 2005). Thus, the current study aimed to examine the correlates of psychological well-being, which is less studied, in an Asian sample, Korean veterans. Data for this 2017 study were from Korean Vietnam War Veterans Study. Participants were 348 male veterans, and their mean age was about 72 years old (SD = 2.7, range = 65-84). Using Keyes’ (2002) classification criteria, psychological well-being was divided into three types: flourishing (9.5%), moderately health (59.95%), and languishing (25.3%). Own-way analyses of variance showed that the groups did not differ in demographic variables (age, marital status, education, and income). Further, there were no differences in combat exposure, negative appraisals of military service, smoking, and alcohol consumption. However, significant group differences were found for resources; Scheffé's post-hoc analyses indicated that optimism, positive appraisals of military service, four types of social support (family, significant others, friend, and military peer), and self-rated health were significantly different among the groups, and highest in the flourishing group. The moderately health group showed higher levels of positive appraisals of military service and four types of social support than the languishing group. Thus, the majority (about 60%) of Korean Vietnam veterans were moderately psychologically healthy in this sample, but those with positive psychosocial resources were more likely to be healthiest.


AGE DIFFERENCES IN EXPERIENCING MEANING IN LIFE: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH
Nicole Long Ki Fung, 1 and Helene Fung, 2 1.The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, Hong Kong Coherence, purpose and significance were defined as the three facets of the presence of meaning in life (Martela & Steger, 2016).This study investigated the age differences in the three facets of meaning in life between younger and older adults.We recruited 241 younger adults (Mage=18.72,SD=1.50, 36.5% male) and 114 older adults (Mage=64.93,SD= 5.94, 52.6% male) from Hong Kong to fill out a onehour online survey.We adapted the Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale, which measured sense of coherence, purpose, significance.In specific, the adapted version measured significance in two sub facets: the naturalistic significance (important to other people) and cosmic significance (impact lasts beyond lifetime and space).The results showed that older adults had higher sense of coherence (t=3.47,p<.001), higher sense of cosmic significance (t=6.29,p<.001) but lower sense of purpose than younger adults (t=-2.02,p<.05).There were no significant differences in naturalistic significance between the two age groups (t=1.24,p=.22).Within both age groups, participants had the highest score in purpose, followed by coherence and naturalistic significance.They had the lowest score in cosmic significance.This study illustrated that younger and older adults have different absolute levels of meaning facets but are similar in the relative levels of meaning facets.Further studies can investigate how changes in absolute levels of meaning facet and preservation of the relative levels may affect well-being across age.

CORRELATES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AMONG KOREAN VIETNAM WAR VETERANS
Hyunyup Lee, 1 Sungrok Kang, 1 Soyoung Choun, 2 and Carolyn Aldwin, 2 1. Korea Military Academy,Seoul,Seoult'ukpyolsi,Republic of Korea,2. Oregon State University,Corvallis,Oregon,United States Prior research on Veterans' mental health has largely focused on identifying risk and protective factors for negative psychological symptoms such as PTSD.However, mental health indicates not merely absence of psychopathology, but also the existence of positive psychological well-being (Keyes, 2005).Thus, the current study aimed to examine the correlates of psychological well-being, which is less studied, in an Asian sample, Korean veterans.Data for this 2017 study were from Korean Vietnam War Veterans Study.Participants were 348 male veterans, and their mean age was about 72 years old (SD = 2.7, range = 65-84).Using Keyes' (2002) classification criteria, psychological well-being was divided into three types: flourishing (9.5%), moderately health (59.95%), and languishing (25.3%).Own-way analyses of variance showed that the groups did not differ in demographic variables (age, marital status, education, and income).Further, there were no differences in combat exposure, negative appraisals of military service, smoking, and alcohol consumption.However, significant group differences were found for resources; Scheffé's post-hoc analyses indicated that optimism, positive appraisals of military service, four types of social support (family, significant others, friend, and military peer), and self-rated health were significantly different among the groups, and highest in the flourishing group.The moderately health group showed higher levels of positive appraisals of military service and four types of social support than the languishing group.Thus, the majority (about 60%) of Korean Vietnam veterans were moderately psychologically healthy in this sample, but those with positive psychosocial resources were more likely to be healthiest.Engagement in a wide array of mental, social, and physical leisure activities confers several health benefits.Indeed, theories of successful aging argue that an active lifestyle serves as an important criterion for maintaining high levels of psychological, functional, and physical well-being in old age.Findings from parallel studies also show that people who hold positive (self-)views of aging exhibit higher and maintained levels of well-being over time.Yet, whether views of aging enhances the link between activity engagement and well-being -and whether they do so on a daily basis -remains unknown.This study therefore sought to extend prior literature by examining the relationship between activity engagement, subjective age, and affective ratings within-person over several days.Old adults (N = 115; Age: Range = 60 -90, M = 64.65,SD = 4.86) in the Mindfulness and Anticipatory Coping Every Day (MACED) study completed an 8-day daily diary.Participants reported on their positive and negative affect, the age they subjectively felt compared to their actual age, and the number and types of leisure activities in which they engaged.Results from multilevel analyses indicate that people felt more positive on days when they also engaged in more activities (total across mental, social, physical types) than usual.Moreover, the effect of activity engagement was most pronounced on days when people felt younger than usual.No effects were found for negative affect.Preliminary findings suggest that people benefit psychologically from daily leisure activities and a positive self-view of aging.

OLDER PORTUGUESE AND MEXICAN ADULTS AND SEXUAL WELL-BEING? A CROSS-CULTURAL QUALITATIVE STUDY
Sofia von Humboldt, 1 Neyda Ma.Mendoza-Ruvalcaba, 2 José Alberto Ribeiro-Gonçalves, 1 Gail Low, 3 and Isabel Leal, 1 1.Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA), Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal, 2. Universidad de Guadalajara CUTONALA,Guadalajara,Jalisco,Mexico,3. University of Alberta,Edmonton,Alberta,Canada Objectives: Sexual well-being (SWB) refers to the subjective emotional and cognitive evaluation of the quality of the individual's sexuality, it plays a relevant role in quality of life and health promotion on old age and has cross-cultural implications.The aim of this study is to analyse comparatively the perspectives of older adults on their SWB in Portugal and Mexico.Methods: Data were collected from 86 Portuguese and 80 Mexican community-dwelling participants aged 65 years and older, using a semi-structured interview protocol.Older adults were inquired about their perceptions on what contributes to their sexual well-being.Socio-demographic data were also enquired.Content analysis was used to identify key themes.Results: Outcomes indicated eight themes: eroticism, supportive relationship, positive self-concept, health and self-care, romance, active life, tenderness and care, and no pain and no pregnancy restrictions, for both samples.Eroticism was the most frequent theme reported by Portuguese participants (31.4%) and health and self-care were the most frequent theme reported by Mexican participants (26.5% We examined the consequences of both chronic and lifeevent stressors for older adults, as well as antecedent strategies, such as proactive coping and mindfulness, that may mitigate stress.Given the potential negative outcomes associated with stress in older adulthood, exploring strategies to reduce or mitigate the negative impact of stress may be useful in promoting well-being in adulthood.Proactive coping involves an accumulation of resources that leads to reduced or avoided stressors in the future (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997).Mindfulness calls an individual's attention to the present moment, or may be characterized as an open, accepting attitude (Brown & Ryan, 2003).Using data from the Mindfulness and Anticipatory Coping Everyday study (English et al., 2019;Neupert & Bellingtier, 2017), 296 older adults in the United States, aged 60-90 years (M = 64.67,SD = 4.36), participated in relevant online survey measures.Results from multiple regression analyses suggested that people high in both chronic stress and life event stress had worse health, and that people high in proactive coping and mindfulness reported less stress.Study results underscore the impact of stress on health outcomes, and provide support for the use of antecedent strategies to address negative impacts of stress.

RECALLING MEMORIES OF LIFE'S CHALLENGES WITH PURPOSE AND REDEMPTION: RESOURCES TO FOSTER RESILIENCE?
Shubam Sharma, 1 Joshua Perlin, 2 and Susan Bluck, 3 1.Kennesaw State University , Kennesaw, Georgia, United States, 2. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States, 3. University of Florida, University of Florida, Florida, United States Erica O'Brien, 1 and Shevaun Neupert, 2 1. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, 2. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

PROACTIVE COPING AND MINDFULNESS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH LESS STRESS IN OLDER ADULTS Lyndsey
). Conclusions: The empirical results of this study indicated that SWB is strongly influenced by socio-cultural and psychosocial values.This cross-cultural comparison between Portugal and Mexico contributes to understand this concept in old age with different perspectives and place a scenario for future culture-adapted interventions and comprehensive policies.Keywords: Mexican, older adults; Portuguese; qualitative study; sexual well-being Graham, and Shevaun Neupert, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States