This research explored the differential association of everyday stress with the episodic memory test performances of young, mid-life, and older adults. Participants included 98 community-dwelling adults ranging in age from 19-89 years. Everyday stress was assessed via the Perceived Stress Scale and the Elder Life Stress Inventory. A brief battery of episodic memory tasks was administered which included tests of Logical Memory, Verbal Paired Associates, Digit Symbol Substitution, and Digit Symbol Incidental Learning. Results suggest that everyday hassles and irritations as well as the accumulation of challenging life events may exacerbate age-related decline on episodic memory tests that require greater executive resources and more integrated and elaborative processing. The functional relationship between affective status and risk for dementia is discussed, and consideration of individual differences in everyday stress is suggested so as to allow more sensitive interpretation of episodic memory tests commonly used to discern mild cognitive impairment.

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This research integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with aspects of social support and explores the utility of variables within each model in predicting the attainment of important health goals. Incorporating an idiographic methodology, 290 respondents ranging in age from 27 to 87 years were administered a postal survey and completed a brief follow-up telephone survey months later. The postal survey included measures of respondent's most important health goals, attitudes, motivation to comply with subjective norms, control beliefs, behavioral intention, and plan-of-action for attaining the health goal, as well as aspects of social support. The follow-up telephone survey inquired into respondents' successful goal attainment and health. Results indicate association, between TPB components and aspects of social support. Further, the emotional and instrumental support provided by a family member or friend and size of social support network were found to be unique predictors of health goal attainment after controlling for TPB components. The importance of personalized goals and social support in designing health interventions for older adults is discussed.

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A very special thanks to survey respondents and to Amanda Loewen and Elaine Tabordan for their assistance in this research. Thanks are also extended to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.