SUMMARYThe main objective of the present study was to examine daily associations (intraindividual variability or IIV) between sleep and affect in older adults. Greater understanding of these associations is important, because both sleep and affect represent modifiable behaviors that can have a major influence on older adults' health and well-being. We collected sleep diaries, actigraphy, and affect data concurrently for 14 days in 103 community-dwelling older adults. Multilevel modeling was used to assess the sleep-affect relationship at both the group (betweenpersons) and individual (within-person or IIV) levels. We hypothesized that nights characterized by better sleep would be associated with days characterized by higher positive affect and lower negative affect, and that the inverse would be true for poor sleep. Daily associations were found between affect and subjective sleep, only and were in the hypothesized direction. Specifically, nights with greater reported awake time or lower sleep quality ratings were associated with days characterized by less positive affect and more negative affect. Gender was not a significant main effect in the present study, despite previous research suggesting gender differences in the sleepaffect relationship. The fact that self-ratings of sleep emerged as the best predictors of affect may suggest that perceived sleep is a particularly important predictor. Finally, our results suggest exploration of affect as a potential intervention target in late-life insomnia is warranted.

We examined sleep complaints, subjective and objective sleep patterns, health, psychological adjustment, and daytime functioning in 103 community-dwelling older adults to identify factors associated with sleep complaints. We collected 2 weeks of sleep diaries and actigraphy. Only health distinguished complaining from noncomplaining sleepers. Noncomplaining good sleepers had poorer objective sleep quantity than complaining poor sleepers. Actigraphy distinguished noncomplaining good and complaining poor sleepers only. Subjective and objective sleep quantities were related for noncomplainers only; this relationship was stronger for women. Implications include a need for research exploring: 1. sleep complaints, sleep perceptions, and health; 2. interventions focusing on older individuals with insomnia secondary to/comorbid with poor health; 3. gender differences in subjective sleep estimates and in "single-shot" versus longitudinal sleep measures.

Unattended wandering is a major problem in cognitively impaired (CI) individuals and can result in those individuals becoming lost in the community. The purpose of this study was to identify important characteristics of unattended wandering and important prevention strategies. Data were compiledfrom registration files and missing and discovery reports collected through the Safe Return (SR) program. These data were analyzed to determine where individuals were found, who found them, from what setting they left, what mode of transportation they used, and what circumstances surrounded the unattended wandering. The study highlights the unpredictable and varied nature of unattended wandering. Recommendations are provided for communities to develop strategies to minimize unattended wandering and to determine effective methods of locating CI individuals when they become lost.