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Dear colleagues,

This past year was a productive one at the Pepper Institute on Aging

and Public Policy -- full of stimulating intellectual exchanges, fruitful

research projects, and enriching engagement with the community.

Our faculty associates wrote dozens of papers (many of them with

our graduate students), received funding from state and national

sources to support their work, and gave presentations at numerous

venues for academic and broader audiences. We also began offering

travel awards to support students traveling to conferences to

present aging research, and we co-sponsored, with the Claude

Pepper Center, a dissertation fellowship and two invited speakers.

Just as much activity occurred within the two organizations supported by the Pepper Institute,

the Safe Mobility for Life Coalition and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at FSU. OLLI

offered dozens of courses in fall, spring, and summer, providing educational experiences to

more than 1000 older adults in Tallahassee and the surrounding area. One of the program’s

highlights was its offering of summer courses in Florence, Italy. Safe Mobility’s Resource

Center, housed at the Pepper Institute, produced and shipped hundreds of information

packets to a variety of groups affected by, and able to affect, later life transportation issues,

like Florida’s aging road users, health care providers, law enforcement agencies, and state

legislators. We also created and distributed our Aging Road Users Survey, a follow-up to the

first survey in 2012-2013. We received over 3,000 responses that will be used to further shape

the program’s goals and strategies aimed at enhancing older adults’ transportation options.

I hope you enjoy reading more about our activities – and that they further spark your curiosity

about our aging society!

Best,

Anne Barrett

Director, Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy

Florida State University

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Faculty Associates’ Research Activities

Publications

Ai, L. A., Appel, H., & Lee, J. (2016). Acculturation factors related to obesity of Latino-American men

nationwide. American Journal of Men’s Health, (A member of the Committee on Publication

Ethics or COPE).

Ai, L. A., Appel, H. B. & Nicdao, E. G. (2016). Differential associations of religious behaviors with the

metal health of Asian-American subgroups: A cultural perspective. Journal of Religion and

Health, 55(6), 2113-2130.

Ai, L. A., Lee, J., Solis, A., & Yap, C. (2016). Childhood abuse, religious involvement, and substance

abuse in lifetime among Latino-American men in the United States. International Journal of

Behavioral Medicine, 23, 764-775. (An official journal of the Society of Behavioral Medicine).

Barrett, A.E. & Toothman, E.L. (forthcoming). Multiple ‘old ages’: The influence of social context on

women’s aging anxiety. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological and Social

Sciences.

Barrett, A.E. & Barbee, H. (forthcoming). Variation in subjective aging by sexual minority status: An

examination of four perspectives. International Journal of Aging and Human Development.

Barrett, A.E., Gumber, C. & Douglas, R. (forthcoming). Explaining Gender Differences in Self-regulated

Driving: What Roles do Health Limitations and Driving Alternatives Play? Ageing & Society.

Barrett, A.E. & Toothman, E. (2016). Explaining Age Differences in Women’s Emotional Well-being:

The Role of Subjective Experiences of Aging. Journal of Women & Aging 28, 285-296.

Barrett, A.E. & Naiman-Sessions, M. (2016). It’s our turn to play: Performance of girlhood as a

collective response to gendered ageism, Ageing & Society 36, 764-784.

Beals, M., Carr, D.C., Deevy, M., & Carstensen, L. (2017). How does survey context impact self-

reported fraud victimization? The Gerontologist, 57 (2), 329-340.

Boot, W., Barajas, K., Mitchum, A., Stothart, C., & Charness, N. (2016). Ensuring the safety and

accessibility of transportation for an aging population. In J Zhou, & G Salvendy (Eds.), Human

aspects of IT for the aged populations: Design for aging. Second International Conference, ITAP

2016, 386-394. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-39949-

2_37

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Boot, W., Sharit, J., Czaja, S., Charness, N., & Rogers, W. (2016). Exploring the Relationship Between

Computer Proficiency and Computer Use Over Time in the PRISM Trial. In J Zhou, & G Salvendy

(Eds.), Human aspects of IT for the aged populations: Design for aging. Second International

Conference, ITAP 2016, 300-307. Retrieved from

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-39949-2_29

Boot, W., Souders, D., Charness, N., Blocker, K., Roque, N., & Vitale, T. (2016). The gamification of

cognitive training: Older adults' perceptions of and attitudes toward digital game-based

interventions. In J Zhou, & G Salvendy (Eds.), Human aspects of IT for the aged populations:

Design for aging. Second International Conference, ITAP 2016 (pp. 290-300). Springer.

Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-39943-0_28

Bottigi Dassel, K., Carr, D.C., & Vitaliano, P. (2017). Does caring for a spouse with dementia accelerate

cognitive decline? Findings from the health and retirement study. The Gerontologist, 57 (2),

319-328.

Bottiggi Dassel, K. & Carr, D. C. (2016). Does dementia caregiving accelerate frailty? Findings from the

Health and Retirement Study. The Gerontologist, 56 (3), 444-450.

Brown, R. L., & Rohlinger, D. A. (2016). The effect of political generation on identity and social

change: Age cohort consequences. Journal of Women and Aging, 96-111.

doi:10.1080/08952841.2014.950138

Burdette, A.M., Needham, B.L., Taylor, M. & Hill, T.D. (In Press). Health lifestyles in adolescence and

self-rated health into adulthood. Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

Burdette, A.M., Webb N.S., Hill, T.D. & Jokinen-Gordon, H. (2017). “Race/ethnic-specific trends in

HPV vaccinations and provider recommendations: Persistent disparities or social progress?”

Public Health, 142: 167-176.

Cagle, J, Carr, D.C., Seokho, H., & Zimmerman, S. (2016). Financial burden among US households

affected by cancer at the end of life. Psycho-oncology, 25(8), 919-926. Doi: 10.1002/pon.3933.

Calvo, R., Carr, D.C., & Matz-Costa, C. (2017). Another paradox? The life satisfaction of older Hispanic

immigrants in the United States. Journal of Aging and Health, 29 (1), 3-24.

Carr, D.C., Kail, B. L., Costa, C., & Shavit, Y. (2017). Does Becoming A Volunteer Attenuate Loneliness

Among Recently Widowed Older Adults? Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

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Carr, D.C., & Gunderson, J. (2016). The third age of life: Leveraging the mutual benefits of

intergenerational engagement. Public Policy and Aging Report, 26 (3), 83-87.

Carretta, H., Seyfullah, T., Pappas, C., & Ai, A. L. (in press). Correlates of keeping post-discharge

appointments at a transitional care center: Implications for medical care disparities. Journal of

Hospital Administration.

Charness, N. (2016). Constraints on adoption of telehealth to support aging populations. In S Kwon

(Ed.), Gerontechnology: Research, practice, and principles in the field of technology and aging

(pp. 271-290).

Charness, N. (2016). Foreword. In S Kwon (Ed.), Gerontechnology: Research, practice, and principles in

the field of technology and aging, 27-29.

Charness, N., Best, R., & Souders, D. (2016). Supportive home health technology for older adults:

Attitudes and implementation. Gerontechnology, 15, 233-242. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.4017/gt.2016.15.4.006.00doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4017/gt.2016.15.4.0

Charness, N., Boot, W., & Czaja, S. (in press). Technology and older workers. In NA Pachana (Ed.),

Encyclopedia of Geropsychology (1-8 pages). Singapore: Springer-Verlag. Charness, N., & Boot, W. (2016). Technology, Gaming, and Social Networking. In KW Schaie, & SL

Willis (Eds.), The Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (8th Ed.), 390-407. Charness, N. (2017). What has the study of digital games contributed to the science of expert

behavior? Topics in Cognitive Science, 9, 510-521. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tops.12259/pdf

Czaja, S. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Rogers, W. A., & Sharit, J. (in press). Improving social support

for older adults through technology: Findings from the PRISM randomized controlled trial. The Gerontologist.

Charness, N., Dunlop, M., Munteanu, C., Nicol, E., Oulasvirtta, A., Ren, X., Sarcar, S., & Silpaswanchai,

C. (2016). Rethinking mobile interfaces for older adults. In CHI EA '16 Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1131-1134. ACM Digital Library. Retrieved from http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2890000/2886431/ea1131-charness.pdf?ip=128.186.188.64&id=2886431&acc=ACTIVE%20SERVICE&key=5CC3CBFF4617FD07%2E9C028E23195BD832%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35&CFID

Evans, J., Papadopoulos, A., Tsien Silvers, C., Charness, N., Boot, W. R., Schlachta-Fairchild, L., &

Crump, C. (2016). Remote health monitoring for older adults and those with heart failure: Adherence and system usability. Telemedicine and e-Health, 22.

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He, Z., Charness, N., Bian, J., & Hogan, R. (2016). Assessing the Comorbidity Gap between Clinical Studies and Elderly Patient Populations. In 2016 IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) (pp. 136-139). Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7455853

Hill, T.D., Ellison, C., Burdette, A.M., Taylor, J. & Friedman, K. (In Press). Dimensions of Religious

Involvement and Leukocyte Telomere Length. Social Science & Medicine. Hill, T.D., Burdette, A.M., Angel, J.L. & Taylor, J. (2016) Religious attendance and the mobility

trajectories of older Mexican Americans: An application of the Growth Mixture Model. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 57:118-134.

Hill, T., Ellison C., Taylor. J., & Burdette, A.M. (In Press). A Response to a commentary on 'Dimensions

of Religious Involvement and Leukocyte Telomere Length.' Social Science & Medicine. Hill, Terrence D., Bradshaw, M., and Burdette, A.M. (2016) Religious Involvement and Biological

Functioning across the Life Course in the Handbook of Religion and Social Institutions edited by D Yamane. New York: Springer, 11-28

Jason, K., Carr, D. C., Washington, T., Hilliard, T., & Mingo, C. (2017). Multiple chronic conditions,

resilience, and workforce transitions in later life: A Socio-Ecological Model. The Gerontologist, 57 (2), 269-281.

Kaskie, B., Carr, D.C., & Ewen, H. H. What does the emergence of a critical mass of doctoral

gerontologists mean to the field? Gerontology and Geriatrics Education. Manning, L. K., Carr, D. C., & Kail, B. L. (2016). Do higher levels of resilience buffer the deleterious

impact of chronic illness on disability in later life? The Gerontologist, 56 (3), 514-524. Matz-Costa, C., Carr, D., McNamara, T., & James, J.B. (2016). Physical, cognitive, social, and emotional

mediators of activity involvement and health in later life. Research on ging, 38 (7), 791-815. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/0164027515606182

Mitzner, T. L., Rogers, W. A., Fisk, A. D., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Czaja, S. J., & Sharit, J. (2016).

Predicting older adults' perception about a computer system designed for seniors. Universal Access in the Information Society Journal, 1. doi:DOI 10.1007/s10209-014-0383-y

Prost, S., Lemieux, C. M., & Ai, L. A. (2016). Social work students in the aftermath of Hurricanes

Katrina and Rita: Correlates of post-disaster substance abuse as a negative coping mechanism. Social Work Education: The International Journal.

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Reynolds, J., & Bamford, M. (2016). School gender culture and student subjective well-being. Sex Roles, 74(1), 62-77.

Rohlinger, D., & Bunnage, L. (2017). Did the Tea Party movement fuel the Trump-Train? The role of

social media in activist persistence and political change in the 21st century. Social Media + Society, 3(2), 1-11. doi:10.1177/2056305117706786

Rohlinger, D. A., & Proffitt, J. (2016). Covering controversy: How ownership, news format, and

geography affect newspaper coverage of the Terri Schiavo case. Journalism, 1-18. doi:10.1177/1464884916665404

Rohlinger, D. A. (in press). New Media and American Society. New York: New York University Press. Rohlinger, D. A., & Earl, J. (Eds.). (in press). New Media, Politics, and Political Change. Emerald. Rohlinger, D. A., & Gentile, H. (in press). Sociological perspectives on social movements. In Bert

Klandermans, & Conny : Roggeband (Eds.), Springer Handbook of Social Movements across Disciplines (50 pages). New York: Springer.

Rohlinger, D. A., & Corrigall-Brown, C. (in press). Social movements and mass media in a global

context. In David Snow, Sarah Soule, Hanspeter Kriesi, & Holly McCammon (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Movements. New York: Blackwell.

Rohlinger, D. A., & Gaulden, S. (in press). Overcoming Obstacles to Activism: An Analysis of MoveOn.org and the Florida Tea Party Movement. In New Media and Social Inclusion. New York: Routledge.

Rohlinger, D. A., & Claxton, E. (2017). Mobilizing the faithful: Conservative and right wing women's

movements in America. In Holly McCammon, Lee Ann Banazak, Vert Taylor, & Jo Reger (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Women's Social Movement Activism (pp. 150-171). Oxford University Press.

Rohlinger, D. A., & Latinsky, A. (2016). Gender socialization. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), Encyclopedia of

Sociology (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Rohlinger, D. A., & ~Latinsky, A. (2016). Privilege. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Sociology (2nd ed.).

Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Rohlinger, D. A. (2016). Field theory. In Craig Carroll (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation (p.

5). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Roque, N., Boot, W., Charness, N., Barajas, K., Dirghalli, J., & Mitchum, A. (2016). The flashing right

turn signal with pedestrian indication: A human factors study to assess driver comprehension. In J Zhou, & G Salvendy (Eds.), Human aspects of IT for the aged populations: Design for aging.

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Second International Conference, ITAP 2016 (pp. 417-427). Springer. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-39949-2_40

Roque, N. A., & Boot, W. R. (in press). A new tool for assessing mobile device proficiency in older

adults: The Mobile Device Proficiency Questionnaire. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 1-26 pages.

Salerno, S., & Reynolds, J. (2017). Latina/o students in majority white schools: How school ethnic

enclaves link ethnicity with success. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 3(1), 113–125. Simons, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Gathercole, S. E., Chabris, C. F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Stine-

Morrow, E. A. L. (2016). Do "brain-training" programs work? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17, 103-186.

Sims, T., Reed, A., & Carr, D. C. How does technology use benefit the oldest-old? An application of

socioemotional selectivity theory. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. Souders, D., & Charness, N. (2016). Challenges of older drivers' adoption of advanced driver

assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. In J Zhou, & G Salvendy (Eds.), Human aspects of IT for the aged populations: Design for aging. Second International Conference, ITAP 2016 (pp. 428-440). Springer. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-39949-2_41

Souders, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., & Moxley, J. (2016). Older adult video game preferences in

practice: Investigating the effects of competing or cooperating. Games and Culture, 11, 170-200.

Souders, D., Best, R., & Charness, N. (in press). Valuation of active blind spot detection systems by

younger and older adults. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 1-10 pages. Souders, D., Boot, W., Blocker, K., Vitale, T., Roque, N., & Charness, N. (2017). Evidence for Narrow

Transfer after Short-Term Cognitive Training in Older Adults. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 9: 41, 1-10. Retrieved from http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00041/full doi:10.3389/fnagi.2017.00041

Souders, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., & Moxley, J. H. (2016). Older adult video game preferences in practice: Investigating the effects of competing or cooperating. Games and Culture, 30.

Stothart, C., Boot, W., Simons, D., Charness, N., & Wright, T. (2016). Age effects on inattentional

blindness: Implications for driving. In J Zhou, & G Salvendy (Eds.), Human aspects of IT for the

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aged populations: Design for aging. Second International Conference, ITAP 2016 (pp. 441-448). Springer. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-39949-2_42

Tope, Daniel, Brittany Rawlinson, Justin Pickett, Amy M. Burdette, and Christopher G. Ellison. (2017). Religion, Race, and ‘Othering’ of Barack Obama. Social Currents 4: 51-70. Uecker, Jeremy E., Christopher G. Ellison, Kevin J. Flannelly, and Amy M. Burdette. Belief in Human Sinfulness, Belief in Experiencing Divine Forgiveness, and Psychiatric Symptoms. Review of Religious Research. 58: 1-26. Weissert, Carol S., and Weissert, William G. Medicaid waivers and negotiated

federalism in the US: Is there relevance to other federal systems?” Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 1-4.

Yamashita, T. Keen, J. Lu, Chi-Jung, & Carr, D.C. Underlying motivations of volunteering across life stages: A study of volunteers in non-profit organizations in Nevada. Journal of Applied Gerontology.

Contracts and Grants

Ai, Amy Principal Investigator (PI). “A collaborative study with Tallahassee Memorial Hospital on

Missing Appointments at the Transitional Care Center”, funded by The Council on Research and

Creativity, FSU Office of the Vice President for Research: Planning Grant ($6,000) [12/01/14 –

11/30/16]

Barrett, Anne E. Florida Department of Transportation, Safety Office. “Comprehensive Older Driver

Program.” ($229,000), 2016-2017.

Barrett, Anne E. Florida Department of Transportation, Safety Office. “Comprehensive Older Driver

Program.” ($141, 499), 2015-2016.

Charness, Neil H (Co-PI), Joiner, Thomas E (Co-PI), Schmidt, Norman B (PI), Borovsky, Arielle Ann (Co-

PI), & Conway, Paul (Co-PI). (Jan 2017–Jan 2018). “EIEG:Virtual Reality Equipment for

Advancing Psychological Study.” Funded by FSU EIEG Award. Total award $35,041.

Charness, Neil H (Co-PI), & Boot, Walter (PI). (May 2016–Nov 2016). “Comparing Countermeasures

for Mitigating Wrong-Way Entries onto Limited Access Facilities.” Funded by University of

South Florida. (2117-1715-00A). Total award $115,006.

Charness, Neil H (Co-PI), Sobanjo, John O (Co-PI), Weingarden, Lauren (Co-PI), Patrick, Christopher J

(Co-PI), Tenenbaum, Gershon (PI), Boot, Walter (Co-PI), Folstein, Jonathan R. (Co-PI), & Li, Wen

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(Co-PI). (Jan 2016–Jan 2017). “EEG Dry-Cap Technology for Testing Underlying Mechanisms in

Performance.” Funded by FSU EIEG Award. Total award $34,373.

Charness, Neil H (PI), Arpan, Laura M (Co-PI), Kaschak, Michael P (Co-PI), & Boot, Walter (Co-PI). (Nov

2015–Jun 2017). “Human Factors Guidelines To Develop Educational Tip Cards For Aging Road

Users.” Funded by Florida Department of Transportation. (BDV30 TWO 977-15). Total award

$215,000.

Charness, Neil H (PI), & Souders, Dustin Joshua (Co-PI). (Oct 2015–Oct 2016). “Dwight David

Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program Grants for Research Fellowship.” Funded by

United States Department of Transportation. (DTFH6415G00178). Total award $60,000.

Charness, Neil H (PI), & Boot, Walter (Co-PI). (Apr 2015–Mar 2017). Center for Research and

Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE IV). Funded by University of Miami.

(665084-666692). Total award $775,611.

Charness, Neil H (Co-PI), & Blomberg, Thomas G (PI). (Jan 2015–Oct 2016). Exploratory Study of Elder

Financial Exploitation. Funded by Merrill Lynch Bank of America Corporation. Total award

$117,418.

Charness, Neil H (Co-PI), & Boot, Walter (PI). (Jun 2014–Feb 2016). Driving Simulator Studies of the

Effectiveness of Countermeasures to Prevent Wrong Way Crashes. Funded by Florida

Department of Transportation. (BDV30 TWO 977-10). Total award $220,838.

Charness, Neil H (Co-PI), Spainhour, Lisa K (Co-PI), Sobanjo, John O (PI), Ping, Wei-Chou V (Co-PI),

Brown, Jeffrey (Co-PI), Horner, Mark W (Co-PI), Boot, Walter (Co-PI), Duncan Jr, Michael

Douglas (Co-PI), & Ozguven, Eren Erman (Co-PI). (Oct 2013–Sep 2018). Center for Safe and

Accessible Transportation for an Aging Population. Funded by United States Department of

Transportation. (DTRT13-G-UTC42). Total award $4,209,600.

Charness, Neil H (PI). (Feb 2011–Dec 2021). Charness - PI Research Support. Funded by FSU. Total

award $1,098.

Ozguven, Eren, Arda Vanli, Ren Moses, Anne Barrett, and Thobias Sando. Travel Time and Roadway

Capacity Reliability for an Aging Population: The Development of a Model Integrating Roadway

Traffic with Aging Adults’ Driving Behavior, Funded by ASAP Center (Center for Safe and

Accessible Transportation for an Aging Population). Florida State University, in partnership with

Florida A&M and University of North Florida ($329,605), 2015-2016.

Rohlinger, D. A. (Jul 2017–Jul 2018). Conversations During Crisis: (In) Civility on Social Media after

School Shootings. Funded by National Institute for Civil Discourse.

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GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (GSA) FELLOWS

Three Pepper associates were elected this year as fellows of the Gerontological Society of America

(GSA), the world’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education

and practice in the field of aging.

The institute announced May 11, 2017 the GSA election of Associate

Professor Miles Taylor and Assistant Professor Dawn Carr. Earlier this year,

Associate Professor of Pyschology Walter Boot was also named a fellow of

the organization.

The majority of Taylor’s work to date focuses on racial and economic

variations in health among older adults and on outcomes with broad

demographic and population health relevance, including functional health,

chronic conditions and mortality. She received the 2017 Busse Research award given to one social

behavioral and one biomedical scientist per year, to recognize

significant contributions to research on aging.

Carr’s election as a GSA fellow is especially noteworthy at such an

early stage in her career. This recognition of her research on social

engagement and healthy functioning in later life signifies her as a

leading expert in this area.

Boot has been an integral part of the

Pepper Institute’s multidisciplinary work,

contributing his expertise on cognitive aging and transportation, an

important focus of the institute.

Taylor, Carr, and Boot join four other

Pepper-affiliated faculty members as

GSA fellows: Neil Charness, Director of

FSU’s Institute for Successful Longevity; Anne Barrett, Director of

Pepper Institute; William Weissert, Director of the Master of

Public Health program; and Professor of Social Work Amy Ai, who

was selected in late 2016 as a fellow of the American

Psychological Association.

Miles Taylor Ph.D.

Dawn Carr Ph.D.

Walter Boot Ph.D.

Carr, Taylor, and Boot

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Conference Travel Award Recipients

The Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy provides conference travel

support for undergraduate or graduate students working on research

addressing aging issues. This year, the Institute supported two graduate

students in attending the 2017 International Association of Gerontological and

Geriatrics (IAGG) conference on aging held in San Francisco July 23 – 27.

Doctoral Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant, Ashley Carter, used the

travel award to present her research examining the effectiveness of an 18-

month longitudinal church-based intervention to reduce cardiovascular risk in

mid-life and older African-Americans, over a six month period. Using descriptive statistics and t-tests, the

findings showed improvements in selected health behavior, clinical and biomarker outcomes, possibly

attributed to the church-based intervention.

Stephanie Ureña Salas, along with Pepper Associates Miles G. Taylor

and Dawn C. Carr, used the Health and Retirement Study and linked

data files to conduct research on how combat and exposure to death

during military service influences later life depressive symptom

trajectories among male veterans. She also explored the moderating

role that psychological resilience plays in the connection between

exposure to death and mental health in later life.

Stephanie Ureña Salas, Award Recipient

Claude and Mildred Pepper Dissertation Fellowship The Claude Pepper Center and Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy

sponsored the 2016-2017 Claude and Mildred Pepper Dissertation

Fellowship. This year’s recipient was sociology graduate student, Justine

Gunderson.

Using the 2005-2006 wave of the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG),

Justine's dissertation research focuses on exploring variation in grandparent-

grandchild relationships and examines their effects on grandparent emotional

well-being. Latent class analysis was performed to uncover three underlying

grandparenting types that vary according to distance lived from

grandchildren and amount of grandparent-grandchild interaction: Geographically Close/High Contact,

Geographically Close/Low Contact, and Geographically Distant/Low Contact. Several social factors predict

membership in the various types -- with older, lower-income grandparents and those with more

grandchildren being less likely to belong to the Geographically Close/High Contact class and more likely to

belong to the Geographically Distant/Low Contact class -- but no significant effects of membership on

well-being were found.

Ashley Carter, Award Recipient

Justine Gunderson, Fellowship Recipient

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INVITED SPEAKERS

Dr. Johnathan Oberlander - Health Care Reform and the 2016 Elections: What Happens to

Obamacare After Obama?

On October 27, 2016, The Pepper Institute and The Claude

Pepper Center sponsored a talk presented at Pepper’s

Broad Auditorium by Dr. Johnathan Oberlander, a

professor and chair of Social Medicine and professor of

Health Policy and Management at the University of North

Carolina-Chapel Hill. His research and teaching interests

include health care politics, policy, health care reform,

Medicare and American politics and public policy.

Dr. Oberlander is the author of The Political Life of Medicare (University of Chicago Press) and co-

editor of the 3-volume series, The Social Medicine Reader, 2nd ed., (Duke University Press). His recent

work explores ongoing political fights over and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, health

care cost control, Medicare reform, and the fate of the Children’s Health Insurance Program and

Independent Payment Advisory Board.

Dr. Jean Accius – Pressures, Policies, and Politics: The Endless Possibilities of an Aging Society

On November 30, 2016, The Pepper Institute sponsored a talk at

Pepper’s Broad Auditorium led by Dr. Jean Accius, a nationally

recognized expert on aging policy, livable communities, and long-term

services and supports (LTSS). He currently serves as Vice-President of

the Long-Term Services & Supports and Livable Communities Group

within the AARP Public Policy Institute.

Dr. Accius holds a Master’s in Aging Studies from Florida State

University and Ph.D. in Public Administration from American University.

Dr. Johnathan Oberlander

Dr. Jean Accius

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SAFE MOBILITY FOR LIFE COALITION

Since 2009, The Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy at FSU with

the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), working through the

Safe Mobility for Life Program in the State Traffic Engineering and

Operations Office, has collaborated to address the specific needs of

Florida’s aging road users.

Program highlights for the 2016-2017 fiscal year included an increase in efforts to reach all of the

coalition’s high priority Florida counties and to engage with partners at local, state, and national

events. Some events of note included the “You Hold the Keys to Your Transportation Future”

workshop series, an “Age Friendly Tallahassee” presentation at the Tallahassee Senior Center, the

Coral Gables Aging Wellness Seminar, FSU’s Transportation Day, Government Day at Villages,

events at Older Driver Safety Awareness Week, and the Safety is Golden Mobility Fair. Research

Manager, Gail Holley, was also invited to speak at the national AARP Age-Friendly Community

Conference in Chicago, IL to promote the work of the program.

Safe Mobility for Life was also featured as an exhibitor at the Florida Crime Prevention Conference

where 80+ survey responses were obtained from local and state law enforcement that will be used to

produce training materials to assist them in assisting older drivers.

Additionally, program representatives, Dennis McCarthy and Sandra Winter presented “Health Care

Needs Assessment: Addressing Older Adult Drivers”, at the Florida Occupational Therapy

Association annual conference.

Safe Mobility staff also participated in two new annual conferences, including the Symposium on

Traffic Safety conference and the Area Agency on Aging Regional Training Symposium. Both of

these events proved useful in making contact with both local law enforcement, as well as aging

service providers.

One of the most ambitious achievements of the year was the distribution of the Aging Road Users

Survey to assess older adults’ driving behaviors and attitudes. The program received over 3,000

completed surveys from Florida residents 50 and older, representing 57 counties.

14

OLLI at FSU

OLLI – short for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute – is a network of programs that partner with universities such as Florida State. OLLI at FSU is supported by the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy with its offices located and most classes held at the Pepper Building. It receives funding through membership dues, class fees, private donations, and endowments from the Bernard Osher Foundation. Administered by university staff, OLLI at FSU is supported through a 16-member volunteer board and a multitude of member volunteers for various special interest groups, clubs, and activities. OLLI has been recognized by the Florida Legislature for its leadership in “engaging older Floridians and enriching lives.” Over the past year, OLLI offered more than 100 courses between fall, spring, and May terms. Topics included art, local and world history, literature, film, music, current events, philosophy, writing, genealogy research, language, religion, health, food and wine, computers, and science. In addition, there were 18 special interest activities and field trips held locally and regionally. OLLI continued to celebrate 25 years of lifelong learning at Florida State University, nearly all of it as an affiliate of the Pepper Institute. As part of the celebration, NPR Commentator on Aging Ina Jaffe presented a lecture at FSU’s Ruby Diamond Auditorium reaching many interested residents in the Tallahassee community. A spectacular Anniversity Gala was held at the University Center Club highlighting the achievements of the Institute and its members over the years. OLLI members traveled to Cuba on a rewarding People to People mission this year, as well as to Italy for the OLLI Abroad Program to study art history and architecture in Rome, Florence, and Venice.