This year, the APA Convention was held virtually with a combination of live and pre-recorded sessions and opportunities to interact with presenters during office hours or discussion hours. The pre-recorded content from the convention will remain available on-demand for one year. Div. 20 participated in several collaborative sessions that were pre-recorded and are still available on-demand: “Aging Gracefully: There’s an App for That!,” “Non-Pharmacological Methods for Health Promotion,” “Growing Older with HIV,” and “NIH Toolbox Assessment Across the Lifespan.”
In addition to collaborative sessions, Div. 20 held a live symposium titled “Personality Development Across the Lifespan.” Several pre-recorded/on-demand sessions are also still accessible, including the following: “Technology to Support Successful Aging,” “Life Course Mechanisms and Moderators of Associations between Social Relations and Cognitive Aging,” “Broad Effects of Early-Life Risk and Resilience on Later Adult Development,” and “Education and Neighborhood Disadvantage in African-American Older Adults.”
The Baltes Distinguished Research Achievement Award Presentation was by Becca Levy, PhD, and her pre-recorded presentation was “When the Impersonal Becomes Personal: Impact of Assimilated Age Beliefs on Health.” Over 65 research posters are still available on-demand. The Div. 20 live hour included a presidential address by Jennifer Margrett, PhD, titled “Adult Development and Aging: Looking Back and Moving Forward,” a brief business meeting, and the awards ceremony that highlighted our seven award recipients. We are working to get the zoom recording of this live session available to all Div. 20 members.
Highlights of the 2020 program were posted on the Div. 20 Facebook Page (APA Division 20) and Twitter Handle (@apadiv20). Overall, the programming for Div. 20 at the APA 2020 Virtual Convention was successful and reflected innovative findings in the field of adult development and aging. The program chairs look forward to working with Div. 20 members to put together an even better program for APA 2021.
In line with APA's continued reduction of divisional programming in order to accommodate more cross-divisional programming, we strongly encourage Div. 20 members to work with their interdisciplinary colleagues to develop collaborative submissions for the Oct.12 deadline. This past year was very competitive. Thus, please start thinking about collaborative programs that you may be interested in submitting, as that deadline will approach soon. Thanks to the division membership for your support and flexibility for the virtual convention – this helped us to be able to deliver stimulating and interesting programming, some of which is still available.