Reframing Expectations About Aging - Physical Activity and Inclusive Reappraisal

Awareness of Age-Related Change

This 10-item measure assesses self-perceptions of aging. More specifically, it assesses perceived age-related gains and losses. Each of the items of the perceived age-related gains and losses subscales represents one of the five AARC behavioral domains that are health and physical functioning; cognitive functioning; interpersonal relations; social-cognitive and social-emotional functioning; and lifestyle and engagement. Respondents rate how much each item applies to them on a five-point Likert scale (1= not at all; 2= a little bit; 3= moderately; 4= quite a bit; 5= very much). Higher scores indicate higher perceived age-related gains and losses, respectively (range: 5-25).

Felt Age

This measure assesses self-perceptions of aging. Felt age (FA) will be assessed with a single-item question asking participants to write the age (in years) that they feel most of the time. A proportional discrepancy score will be calculated by subtracting the participants' chronological age from their felt age, and by dividing this difference score by participants' chronological age. A positive value indicates an older felt age, whereas a negative value indicates a younger felt age. Typically, in western countries the majority of older individuals feel between 13% and 18% younger than their age, and a younger felt age is used as indicator of more positive self-perceptions of aging.

Subjective Nearness to Death

This measure assesses self-perceptions of aging. Subjective Nearness to Death will be assessed with the one-item question: I have a feeling that my life is approaching its end. Answer options range from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much).

International Physical Activity Questionnaire

This measure assesses self-reported physical activity. Participants are asked to refer to the past seven days and to report how much time they spent sitting during a day; how many days they walked for at least ten minutes at a time; how many days they did moderate physical activities like gardening, cleaning, and bicycling; and how many days they did vigorous physical activities like heavy lifting, heavier garden or construction work, and aerobics. Separate scores can be obtained for walking, moderate intensity physical activities, and vigorous physical activities as follows: (1) Walking metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-minutes/week = 3.3 \* walking minutes \* walking days. (2) Moderate MET-minutes/week = 4.0 \* moderate-intensity activity minutes \* moderate days. (3) Vigorous MET-minutes/week = 8.0 \* vigorous-intensity activity minutes \* vigorous-intensity days. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire total score derives from the sum of the scores for walking, moderate-inten

World Health Organization - Ageism Scale

Experienced ageism will be assessed with 15-items covering self-directed ageism: self-stereotypes (two items), self-prejudice (one item), self-discrimination (two items; interpersonal ageism: interpersonal stereotypes (two items), interpersonal prejudices (two items), interpersonal discrimination (three items) and institutional ageism: institutional discrimination (three items). Answer options for all items are 1= strongly disagree; 2= disagree; 3= neither agree nor disagree; 4= agree; 5= strongly agree. The total score is obtained from the sum of items scores. Higher scores indicate greater ageism. Other directed-ageism will be assessed with 23 additional questions developed by the Word Health Organization. Answer options for all items are 1= totally agree; 2= agree; 3= neither agree nor disagree; 4= disagree; 5= strongly disagree. The total score is obtained from the sum of items scores. Higher scores indicate less other-directed ageism.

Subjective Views of Couple's Joint Aging

The 14-item Subjective Views of Couple's Joint Aging (SVoCJA) scale will be used to assess positive and negative subjective views of couple's joint aging. Seven items capture positive subjective views of couple's joint aging and a sample item is the thought that our time together is limited will make us want to love each other more. The remaining seven items capture negative subjective views of couple's joint aging and a sample item is Dealing with health issues will take a heavy toll on our relationship. Each item is answered on a five-point Likert scale: 1= strongly disagree; 2= slightly disagree; 3= neither agree nor disagree; 4= slightly agree; 5= very much agree. Subscales scores are obtained by summing up the scores of their respective items. In the validation sample, Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.77 for positive and 0.78 for negative subjective views of couples' joint aging.

Patient Health Questionnaire - 4

This measure assesses core symptoms of depression and anxiety over the past two weeks. A sample item is Over the last two weeks, how often have you felt little interest or pleasure in doing things? Answer options are on a four-point Likert scale: 1= not at all; 2= several days; 3= more than half the days; 4= nearly every day. The total score is obtained from the sum of items scores. Higher total scores (range: 4-16) indicate more non-specific mood problems. Cronbach's alpha was above 0.80 for both depression and anxiety subscales in the validation sample, indicating good internal reliability.

Body Mass Index

Participants will self-report their height in cm and weight in kg.