WELL-BEING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A FUNCTION OF PERSONALITY, AGE, AND URBANICITY

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has differentially impacted population sub-groups over the last two years. For example, engagement in social isolation may have been particularly difficult for extroverted adults. The virus spread widely in densely populated regions and is more risky to health with increasing age. This paper explores the ways in which personality, age, and urbanicity are associated with subjective well-being during the pandemic. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 4316; M age = 69.0, Range 31 - 99) investigates Big Five personality characteristics from 2016 and interactions with age on life satisfaction and loneliness during the pandemic. Models are then stratified by Beale Rural-Urban Continuum codes denoting urban, suburban, and ex-urban residence. Results indicate the benefit of high conscientiousness on life satisfaction is weaker among older adults (p<.05) and associations of extroversion and age on loneliness are driven by individuals living in urban areas (p<.05).

nursing home placement exceeded that projected, thereby increasing Medicaid expenditures in Wyoming. Additional impacts on participant well-being and advocacy benefits of GWEP partnership are discussed.

SESSION 3480 (SYMPOSIUM)
WELL-BEING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE ROLES OF DEMOGRAPHICS, PERSONALITY, AND SOCIAL TIES Chair: Lindsay Ryan Co-Chair: Heather Fuller Discussant: Aurora Sherman The COVID-19 pandemic continues to exert widespread impacts on individuals, particularly older adults (Tyrrell & Williams, 2020). This symposium capitalizes on a variety of data sources to advance our understandings of the psychosocial impact of the pandemic on older adults. The first two papers consider the importance of personality characteristics in understanding the effects of social distancing. Fiori et al. highlight the potential for sociability to act as a liability during times of social distancing, finding that sociability exacerbated the effects of social distancing on mental health outcomes in a sample of community-dwelling older adults. Ryan's paper focuses on the Big Five Personality traits, age, and population density as key characteristics explaining differences in subjective well-being during the pandemic. Next, Van Vleet et al. apply a mixed-methods approach to investigate when older adults expect life to go back to normal, finding that expectations about the future became more positive with the passage of time. The final two papers consider the importance of adults' home social context during the pandemic. Newton examines relationships between living alone and well-being outcomes among older Canadian women, finding that perceived COVID-19 impact was significant only at T1 and living alone was linked to poorer well-being by T2. Birditt et al. examine how individuals' and partner's COVID-19 stress and couples' racial composition are related to affective experiences measured via ecological momentary assessments, finding that husbands' stress impacted both partners' well-being, and that associations differed by race. Sherman will lead a discussion to synthesize these new findings.

WELL-BEING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A FUNCTION OF PERSONALITY, AGE, AND URBANICITY Lindsay Ryan, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
The COVID-19 pandemic has differentially impacted population sub-groups over the last two years. For example, engagement in social isolation may have been particularly difficult for extroverted adults. The virus spread widely in densely populated regions and is more risky to health with increasing age. This paper explores the ways in which personality, age, and urbanicity are associated with subjective well-being during the pandemic. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 4316; M age = 69.0, Range 31 -99) investigates Big Five personality characteristics from 2016 and interactions with age on life satisfaction and loneliness during the pandemic. Models are then stratified by Beale Rural-Urban Continuum codes denoting urban, suburban, and ex-urban residence. Results indicate the benefit of high conscientiousness on life satisfaction is weaker among older adults (p<.05) and associations of extroversion and age on loneliness are driven by individuals living in urban areas (p<.05).

OLDER CANADIAN WOMEN'S LIVING ARRANGEMENTS AND WELL-BEING DURING COVID-19
Nicky Newton, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Living alone has been associated with lower COVIDrelated well-being over the course of the pandemic, although the results for women -particularly older Canadian women -depend on myriad factors. This study examines relationships between COVID-19 impact, living arrangement, and two types of well-being -psychological well-being and meaning in life -among Canadian women (N = 106) with Mage = 70.11 in two waves of data (July-September 2020 and March-May 2021). There were no differences in levels of well-being between T1 and T2, although regression analyses showed that correlates differed for type of well-being measured. Surprisingly, COVID-19 impact was only significant for psychological well-being at T1. Additionally, while levels of well-being did not differ by living arrangement at T1, by T2 both were lower for those living alone. Findings suggest adaptation to COVID-19 constraints and highlight changes in factors associated with well-being as well as the necessity of measuring well-being in multiple ways.

PANDEMIC-RELATED STRESS AND DAILY WELL-BEING AMONG MIDDLE-AGED AND OLDER COUPLES: RACE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES Kira Birditt, Angela Turkelson, and Akari Oya, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Pandemic-related stress may have important implications for well-being among middle-aged and older couples and these effects may vary by race. Participants included 30 married/cohabiting couples (10 Black, 23 White, 2 Mixed race) ages 44 to 84 who completed baseline interviews and 5 days of ecological momentary assessment (EMAs) 6 times a day. Every three hours individuals reported how stressed they felt about COVID-19 and negative affect. Actor-partner interdependence models revealed that greater pandemic stress among Black husbands was associated with their own and their wives greater negative affect (b = 0.22, SE = 0.08, p < .01; b = 0.16, SE = 0.08, p < .05). Greater pandemic related stress among White husbands was associated with wives' lower negative affect (b = -0.15, SE = 0.07, p < .05). Findings are consistent with structural racism theory indicating that Black individuals may be more negatively affected by pandemic-related stress than White individuals.

THE ROLE OF SOCIABILITY IN OLDER ADULTS' ADAPTATION TO COVID-19
Katherine Fiori 1 , Amy Rauer 2 , Christina Marini 1 , Christine So 1 , and Amna Khan 1 , 1. Adelphi University,Garden City,New York,United States,2. University of Tennessee Knoxville,Knoxville,Tennessee,United States Some older adults may be particularly sensitive to the negative effects of social disruptions due to COVID-19 (Tyrrell & Williams, 2020). For example, the unique circumstances of the pandemic may have made greater sociability a liability (Wijngaards et al., 2020). The current study used a community sample of 136 older adults (M age = 67.77, range 50-91; 69.3% females; 93% White) to explore whether sociability moderated links between disruptions to contact with friends and family and indicators of mental health. Using a series of hierarchical linear regressions, we found that sociability moderated the association between disruptions in family interactions and depressive symptoms. For more sociable individuals, disruptions in family interactions were more strongly positively associated with depressive symptoms. Given the potential for future social disruptions due to COVID-19, our findings point to the importance of considering the role of sociability in developing interventions targeting older adults.

"IT'S GOING TO BE A NEW NORMAL": OLDER ADULTS' FUTURE PERCEPTIONS DURING COVID-19
Bryce Van Vleet, Heather Fuller, Brittany Hofmann, and Andrea Huseth-Zosel, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, United States This study explores older adults' perceptions of the future related to COVID-19. Participants (N=76) of a larger study aged 70-97 were asked four times throughout the first year of the pandemic when they thought life would return to normal. Their open-ended responses were coded, and themes were identified at each timepoint. A resilient future perspective was identified at each timepoint; themes of a negative or unstable view of the future emerged over time. Additionally, responses were quantified into a 5-point scale for perceived timescale of a return to normal (5 = very long time) and attitude towards the future (5 = very positive). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that perceived time to normal increased between the beginning and six months into the pandemic, then decreased by 12 months. Attitudes towards the future became more positive over time. These findings indicated that older adults were largely resilient, if uncertain, about the future. Humans are social beings, and as we age, meaningful and close relationships become increasingly important. However, the literature on older adults' subjective views of aging (VoA) tends to focus on the link between such views and health outcomes, overlooking important interpersonal correlates. This symposium consists of four presentations that focus on various concepts, study designs, and populations, and offers novel insights regarding how VoA operate in the social domain. The first presentation (Bergman et al.) establishes, using a diary study, the mediating role of understanding others' emotional states (i.e., Theory of Mind) in the connection between VoA and positive social relationships. The second presentation (Mejía & Hooker) examines, through daily assessment, how VoA differentiate the processes by which older adults construct interactions with their closest social