Background Middle-aged and older adults are more vulnerable to hospitalization and mortality if they are infected with the COVID-19 virus. The present study investigates the longitudinal effects of subjective successful aging on middle-aged and older adults’ emotional and coping responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and explores an underlying mechanism through perceived time limitation during the pandemic. Methods A sample of 311 Hong Kong Chinese middle-aged and older adults (Mage = 64.58, SD = 10.14, Range = 45–90 years) were recruited from an Adult Development and Aging Project and participated in a questionnaire study via an online platform or phone interview. Their levels of subjective successful aging, perceived time limitation, and emotional and coping responses to the pandemic were measured. Results The respondents who perceived themselves as more successful in aging process reported more positive and fewer negative emotions compared with their counterparts with lower levels of subjective successful aging. The mediation analysis showed that perceived time limitation could partially account for the effects of subjective successful aging on emotional and coping responses. Conclusions Findings of this study unveil the beneficial effects of subjective views of successful aging on emotional and coping responses to the pandemic through alleviating their perception of time limitation.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) stresses that future time perspective (FTP) affects one's goals and behaviors. In the work context, older workers' occupational future time perspective (OFTP) also impacts their work-related behaviors. Two studies investigate whether the two components of OFTP, namely, focus on opportunities and on limitations, could account for the age differences in the use of conflict strategies at work. Study 1 comprises 416 Hong Kong Chinese workers aged between 20 and 68 years who completed an online questionnaire measuring their OFTP and habitual use of five conflict management strategies (integrating, compromising, obliging, avoiding, and dominating). In Study 2, 268 managerial employees and professionals were asked to recall a real-life workplace conflict that happened in the past six months and their use of the five conflict strategies in this incident. The results of Study 1 showed a negative indirect effect of age on all five conflict strategies through focus on opportunities, whereas a positive indirect effect of age was observed on obliging, avoiding and dominating strategies through focus on limitations. These age-related patterns are largely replicated in Study 2. These findings suggest that aging workers' increased perception of limitations make them utilize less constructive strategies when facing conflict at work.

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Building on the theoretical framework of socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 2006), this presentation reports the findings of two studies conducted in Hong Kong Chinese workers to examine whether occupational future time perspective (OFTP) can account for the age differences in conflict strategies. Study 1 is a cross-sectional study with 416 working adults completed an online survey on conflict management (Mage=39.1 years, SD=12.1), and Study 2 is a laboratory study with 123 workers (Mage=40.1 years, SD=12.1) indicated their behavioural responses after watching hypothetical workplace conflict videos. In both studies, five conflict strategies (integrating, compromising, obliging, avoiding, and dominating) and OFTP (focus on opportunities and focus on limitations) were assessed. Parallel mediation analyses were performed. The results of Study 1 showed that both focus on opportunities and focus on limitations mediated the effects of age on obliging (b = -.006, SE=.002; and b = .006, SE=.002, respectively), avoiding (b = -.005, SE=.002; and b =.008, SE=.002, respectively), and dominating (b = -.014, SE=.003; and b = .009, SE=.002, respectively). Focus on opportunities could only account for the effects of age on integrating and compromising. The results of Study 2 showed that only focus on limitation could account for the age variations in the use of avoiding (b = .196, SE = .058) when facing intergenerational conflicts. The findings of this project reveal that the age-related focus on limitations increases older workers’ likelihood to utilize maladaptive conflict strategies, such as dominating and avoiding, to deal with conflicts occurred in the workplace.

With higher life expectancy of the aging population, retirees nowadays will spend a prolonged period of time after retirement. Yet, past studies have consistently revealed a lack of retirement savings among working adults, implying an inadequacy to maintain the quality of life in late adulthood. This study therefore aims to identify the factors influencing the working adults’ intention to purchase financial products for retirement (such as deferred annuity and voluntary contribution to retirement fund) and develop an integrated model of financial planning for retirement. A total of 598 Hong Kong Chinese working adults from diverse age and income groups completed an online survey on intentions to save and purchase specific financial products for retirement. The results of MANCOVA reveal that compared to older workers, younger workers had lower intentions to save and purchase financial products for their retirement even after controlling for their monthly income [F(16,1797)=2.24, p=.003, partial n2=.015]. An integrated model of financial planning for retirement is proposed by incorporating the concepts of the interdisciplinary psycho-motivation model and Theory of Reasoned Actions (χ2 = 40.42, p<.001, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .02). In particular, the positive effects of financial literacy, subjective norms, social support, and future time perspective on intention to save and purchase financial products for retirement have been found to be mediated by retirement goal clarity but not attitudes towards retirement. Future direction on promoting younger and older workers’ retirement planning especially in the financial domain will also be discussed in the presentation.