CHILDHOOD MALTREATMENT AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF IRISH OLDER ADULT SURVIVORS

Abstract Although childhood maltreatment can have lasting effects into later life, positive outcomes have also been observed, including an increased tendency towards prosocial behavior. However, little is known about the link between childhood maltreatment and later life prosocial behavior. Therefore, this study aimed to explore older adult’s experiences of childhood maltreatment and identify mechanisms linked to prosocial behavior in later life. The individual level, but also broader cultural and contextual mechanisms, were considered by comparing two adversity contexts and applying conceptual frameworks (socio-interpersonal framework model of trauma and recovery, motivational process model of altruism born of suffering). Semi-structured interviews (60-120 minutes) were conducted with 29 Irish (older) adult survivors of childhood maltreatment: 17 institutional (welfare care) abuse survivors (mean age: 61 years, range: 50-77), 12 familial abuse survivors (mean age: 58 years, range: 51-72). Interviews were analyzed using Framework Analysis. In both groups at the individual level, enhanced empathy, amelioration, and identity-related mechanisms were linked to prosocial behavior, with connections to caring roles and coping strategies from childhood. On a social contexts level, the limited resources or opportunities for help in childhood, and the social norms and beliefs of that time, influenced participants’ motivation to help others in later life. Group-specific mechanisms were also observed, such as compassion fatigue in the familial sample; and denouncing detrimental societal values in the institutional sample. The identification of individual, adversity-context, and culture-specific mechanisms linked to later-life prosocial behavior can promote a greater understanding of resilience and adaptability in older adult survivors of childhood maltreatment.

Existing studies demonstrate that unplanned births (e.g., unwanted, mistimed) are associated with worse health for mothers in the short-term and-according to some preliminary evidence-in mid-and later-life.Yet as life course and reproductive career frameworks highlight, childbearing experiences often unfold over a number of years, with a considerable amount of diversity in pregnancy and birth experiences even for the same individual.For example, a person may have an unplanned birth in late adolescence followed by only planned births in early adulthood.In order to provide a more holistic understanding of how birthing experiences births are associated with midlife health, we use Sequence Analysis (SA) on the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79; N=3,992) to examine how patterning of planned and unplanned births is associated with physical and mental health at ages 50 and 60 .Preliminary analysis indicates that compared to respondents with only planned births, respondents with unplanned birth(s) followed by planned birth(s) have worse physical and mental health at midlife, but there is no difference in health for respondents with only planned births, only unplanned births, and planned birth(s) followed by unplanned birth(s).Future analysis with SA will consider how more detailed sequences (e.g., timing, number and type, ordering, spacing) are associated with these mid-and later-life health outcomes, taking into account selection factors such as childhood SES and educational attainment.This project demonstrates the need for life course perspectives on the long-term health implications of unplanned births, recognizing diversity within and between individuals.

CHILDHOOD MALTREATMENT AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF IRISH OLDER ADULT SURVIVORS
Shauna Rohner 1 , Aileen Salas 2 , Alan Carr 3 , and Myriam Thoma 4 , 1. University of Zürich,Zürich,Zurich,Switzerland,2. University of Zürich,Zurich,Zurich,Switzerland,3. University College Dublin,Dublin,Dublin,Ireland,4. University of Zurich,Zurich,Zurich,Switzerland Although childhood maltreatment can have lasting effects into later life, positive outcomes have also been observed, including an increased tendency towards prosocial behavior.However, little is known about the link between childhood maltreatment and later life prosocial behavior.Therefore, this study aimed to explore older adult's experiences of childhood maltreatment and identify mechanisms linked to prosocial behavior in later life.The individual level, but also broader cultural and contextual mechanisms, were considered by comparing two adversity contexts and applying conceptual frameworks (socio-interpersonal framework model of trauma and recovery, motivational process model of altruism born of suffering).Semi-structured interviews (60-120 minutes) were conducted with 29 Irish (older) adult survivors of childhood maltreatment: 17 institutional (welfare care) abuse survivors (mean age: 61 years, range: 50-77), 12 familial abuse survivors (mean age: 58 years, range: 51-72).Interviews were analyzed using Framework Analysis.In both groups at the individual level, enhanced empathy, amelioration, and identity-related mechanisms were linked to prosocial behavior, with connections to caring roles and coping strategies from childhood.On a social contexts level, the limited resources or opportunities for help in childhood, and the social norms and beliefs of that time, influenced participants' motivation to help others in later life.Group-specific mechanisms were also observed, such as compassion fatigue in the familial sample; and denouncing detrimental societal values in the institutional sample.The identification of individual, adversity-context, and culture-specific mechanisms linked to later-life prosocial behavior can promote a greater understanding of resilience and adaptability in older adult survivors of childhood maltreatment.The neighborhood contexts in which older adults live are increasingly being recognized for their role in influencing disease processes and risk of death among the U.S. population.However, few studies have focused on neighborhood impacts among older populations residing in Puerto Rico-a U.S. territory -who are especially vulnerable to the effects of the environment as they "age in place" in the context of a budget crisis, the great recession, the debt crisis, and Hurricanes Irma and María.The combination of these events can obstruct access to neighborhood resources, services, and contexts considered necessary for promoting healthy aging.Thus, it is warranted to understand the effects of place on mortality in Puerto Rico, whose social and economic contexts differ from the U.S. and are more similar to that of other Latin American and Hispanic-Caribbean countries.We used 2000 U.S. Census data at the block-group level linked to the 2002 Puerto Rican Elderly Health Conditions Project with mortality follow-up to 2021 to examine neighborhood characteristics that are conceptualized as influencing mortality (e.g., residents without a high school degree; households receiving public assistance income; residents living below the poverty level; unemployed residents; residential stability; age structure).Multilevel mixed-effects parametric survival models with a Weibull distribution were estimated.Overall, results show that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with an increased risk of mortality among older Puerto Ricans.This suggests that older Puerto Ricans clustered in disadvantaged communities are more likely to experience a cumulative burden of social disadvantages that adversely impacts their longevity.

IS THE HEALTH OF OLDER AMERICANS WITH A GED EQUIVALENT TO THEIR PEERS WITH A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA?
Esme Fuller-Thomson, Robin Grossman, and Andie MacNeil, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Previous research has found higher levels of educational attainment to be strongly associated with better health outcomes in later life, such as better cognitive functioning and fewer functional and sensory impairments.However, most studies have grouped General Educational Development (GED) recipients with high school graduates, neglecting potential differences in socioeconomic status, health behaviours, and health outcomes among these two groups.The aim of the current study is to identify differences in the age-sex-racepoverty adjusted prevalence and odds of cognitive impairment, hearing impairment, vision impairment, limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs), and ambulation limitations among three groups of older American adults: high school dropouts, GED recipients, and high school graduates with no post-secondary education.The present study uses secondary analysis of the 2017 American Community Survey, a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling and institutionalized older adults aged 65 years and older, of whom 20,489 were GED recipients, 154,892 had a high school diploma and 49,912 had finished grade 8 but had not completed high school.Our findings indicate that there is a gradient in health outcomes among Americans aged 65-84, with the highest prevalence and odds of cognitive impairment, hearing impairment, vision impairment, ADL limitations, and ambulation limitations occurring among high school dropouts, followed by GED recipients, and the lowest prevalence among high school graduates.These findings suggestion that although GED recipients have better health outcomes than high school dropouts, there is still a significant disparity in health status between GED recipients and high school graduates.

COHORT DIFFERENCES IN EARLY-LIFE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND LATE-LIFE COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN MEXICO
Brian Downer 1 , Mariela Gutierrez 1 , Silvia Mejia Arango 2 , and Rebeca Wong 1 , 1. University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States, 2. Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Socioeconomic characteristics over the life course are associated with late-life cognitive impairment.However, evidence is lacking from countries like Mexico where population aging is occurring in the context of rapidly changing socioeconomic conditions.We used the Mexican Health and Aging Study to investigate differences between participants aged 60-76 in 2001 (n=5085) and 2018 (n=5947) in childhood (home with indoor toilet, parents' education) and midlife (education, longest held occupation) socioeconomic characteristics and late life cognitive impairment.Cognitive impairment was defined as a low score on >2 out of five assessments.Most participants in the 2018 cohort lived in a home with an indoor toilet as a child (58.1%) and 36.9% had parents who both completed at least some education compared to 41.9% and 28.7% of participants in the 2001 cohort, respectively.Men and women in 2018 had on average 2.34 and 1.83 more years of education than men and women in 2001, respectively.The percentage of women with no main job and men who worked in agriculture were lower in 2018 than 2001 (women: 27.0% vs. 34.6%;men: 23.3% vs. 30.4%).The 2018 cohort had lower odds for cognitive impairment when adjusting for age, sex, marital status, and living in a rural/urban community (OR=0.67 95% CI=0.56-0.81).This difference was reduced after adjusting for childhood socioeconomic measures (OR=0.7695% CI=0.67-0.86)and was no longer statistically significant after adding midlife socioeconomic measures (OR=0.98 95% CI=0.86-1.12).These findings suggest that improved early-life socioeconomic conditions in Mexico contribute to birth-cohort differences in late-life cognitive impairment.

COVID-19 AND MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF OLDER ADULTS AN ACTION PLAN FOR ORGANIZATIONS SERVING OLDER ADULTS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS DURING PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES
Alycia Bayne 1 , Lauren Isaacs 2 , Jessica Fox 1 , Rachel Singer 1 , Roy Ahn 3 , Desirae Leaphart 2 , Felicia Cerbone 4 , and Madeleine Liotta 1 , 1. NORC at the University of Chicago, Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 2. NORC at the University of Chicago,Chicago,Illinois,United States,3. NORC,Chicago,Illinois,United States,4. NORC,Bethesda,Maryland,United States During public health emergencies, it is critical to maintain the continuity of services and resources essential to health and safety.Public health emergencies can disproportionately affect older adults and their caregivers.Organizations, including community-based, faith-based, rural, and tribal organizations, can play a vital role during a public health emergency response given their familiarity with the community's unique needs and resources.With support from the CDC Foundation and technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NORC at the University of Chicago conducted a study to identify public health interventions to meet the needs of older adults and their caregivers during public health emergencies.Methods included an extensive search of peer-reviewed and grey literature in Spanish and English to identify interventions on six topics: deconditioning; deferral of medical care; elder abuse and neglect; management of chronic conditions; social isolation; and caregiving.NORC identified 300 public health interventions to support older adults and their caregivers during public health emergencies with a focus on underserved populations, including programs to support racial and ethnic minority populations, people with disabilities, and rural and tribal communities.NORC developed Search.Find.Help., a virtual resource library, and an Action Plan to support organizations in using these interventions.Search.Find.Help., which houses the Action Plan, has had 34,000 unique users.This session focuses on how organizations that serve older adults and caregivers can use the Action Plan's four phases to select, adapt, implement, and evaluate public health interventions before or during a public health emergency.

OLDER ADULT PERSPECTIVES ON AGEISM DURING COVID-19: A QUALITATIVE STUDY
Carson De Fries 1 , Pilar Ingle 2 , Matthew Schilz 1 , Andrew Steward 3 , Emma Baker 1 , and Leslie Hasche 1 , 1. University of Denver,Denver,Colorado,United States,2. University of Denver,Lakewood,Colorado,United States,Milwaukee,Wisconsin,United States Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has been a reported surge of ageism toward older adults.Research demonstrates that events perpetuating negative attitudes towards older adults can increase ageism and associated negative outcomes.The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore how older adults navigated experiences of ageism and their social relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic.Semi-structured interviews with adults ages 60 and older were conducted between February and April of 2021 Catherine Garcia 1 , Mary McEniry 2 , and Michael Crowe 3 , 1. Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, United States, 2. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 3. University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States