Longitudinal Within-Person Associations Between Quality of Social Relations, Structure of Social Relations, and Cognitive Functioning in Older Age

Luo, Minxia; Edelsbrunner, Peter A.; Siebert, Jelena; Martin, Mike; Aschwanden, Damaris

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbab001

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Further, novelty exposure through social interactions and learning has been shown to be related to the integrity of the locus coeruleus–norepinephrine system, which is recognized as a possible underlying biological mechanism of cognitive reserve and a key determinant of cognitive abilities in older age (Mather & Harley, 2016; Robertson, 2013). Additionally, diverse activities may represent a diverse social network and adequate social support to protect against cognitive decline in later life (Casey et al, 2021; Luo, Edelsbrunner, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily activity diversity and daily working memory in community-dwelling older adults.

et al. 2023

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Objective: Cross-sectional and long-term longitudinal studies have shown that engagement in diverse activities benefits cognitive performance in older age, but it is unknown whether the beneficial effect holds within persons on a daily basis. This study examines the within-person association between activity diversity and working memory on the same day and its time-lagged directionality between days. It also examines the effects of potential moderators on the within-person association, including age, education, processing speed, and crystallized intelligence, to understand who may benefit more from daily activity diversity. Method: We examined smartphone-based ambulatory assessment data from 150 community-dwelling older adults (aged 65–91 years) from Switzerland. Participants reported their present activity and completed a working memory task (i.e., numerical updating) seven times per day over 15 days. Activity diversity was calculated on a daily level and scores of working memory were averaged within a day. Age, education, processing speed, and crystallized intelligence were assessed in the laboratory at baseline. Results: Multilevel models showed that, within persons, higher daily activity diversity was positively associated with higher daily working memory. Moreover, the prior day’s greater activity diversity led to that day’s higher working memory, but not vice versa. There were no moderating effects of age, education, and crystallized intelligence, but partial evidence of a moderating effect of processing speed. Conclusions: Our results on within-person concurrent and time-lagged associations between daily activity diversity and daily working memory strengthen the existing evidence on the beneficial effect of activity diversity on older adults’ cognitive performance. Results are discussed in the context of cognitive reserve theory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily activity diversity and daily working memory in community-dwelling older adults.

et al. 2023

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“…In addition to these pathways, the role of reverse causality cannot be eliminated, although we minimised its influence by excluding potentially cognitively unhealthy participants at baseline. Furthermore, previous studies have suggested that reverse causality is not an explanation through, for example, showing that initial cognitive performance did not predict subsequent changes in perceived relationship quality (16, 19).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…More work is therefore needed to refine understanding on the ways in which the qualitative aspects of social relations influence cognitive ageing. First, few studies have examined these associations separately by sex (17) or by relationship type (10, 18, 19). Men and women maintain social relationships differently, having different requirements and expectations (20).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social support, social strain and declines in verbal memory: 16-year follow-up of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort

Scholes

Liao

2021

Preprint

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Objective: Estimate differences in the rate of decline in verbal memory by levels of perceived relationship quality among community-dwelling adults. Participants: In the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), n = 10,109 participants aged 50-89 years were assessed at wave 1 (baseline: 2002-03) and followed-up over 16 years to wave 9 (2017-18). Methods: Verbal memory was assessed biennially by tests of immediate and delayed word-recall. Positive and negative aspects of perceived relationship quality (social support and strain, respectively) were measured by relationship type (spouse; children; extended family members; friends). Random effects within-between (REWB) modelling was used to separate between- and within-person effects. Associations were estimated between levels of social support/strain and (i) baseline levels of memory (main effects), and (ii) the 2-year decline in memory (interaction with time). Results: Longitudinal associations were most prominent for men, specific to relationship type, and showed between- rather than within-person effects. Among men, higher spousal strain was associated with faster decline in memory (βbetween-effect-by-time = -0.043; 95% CI: -0.084, -0.002; p = 0.039), whilst greater support from children was associated with slower decline (βbetween-effect-by-time = 0.020; 95% CI: 0.002, 0.039; p = 0.033). Men with higher levels of strain from friends had lower baseline memory (βbetween-effect = -0.382; 95% CI: -0.627, -0.137; p = 0.002) and showed faster decline (βbetween-effect-by-time = -0.047; 95% CI: -0.095, 0.000; p = 0.051). Conclusions: Differences between persons in levels of social support and social strain were modestly associated with the rate of memory decline, especially among men. Our findings can inform future research studies and intervention strategies designed to maximise the potential of social relations to promote healthy cognitive ageing.

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“…Widowhood, on the other hand, is likely to be preceded by spousal illness or disability, whereby solo spousal caregiving is quite frequent ( Bertogg & Strauss, 2020 ), and widowhood may both reflect cumulative strains due to caregiving ( Uccheddu et al, 2019 ; Wagner & Brandt, 2018 ) and relief from compassionate suffering after the death of the spouse ( Monin & Schulz, 2009 ). At the extreme end of a lack of social integration, a number of studies have shown that socially isolated individuals perform worse with regard to cognitive health ( Evans et al, 2018 ; Seeman et al, 2001 ), whereas individuals with high-quality social networks are protected better against cognitive decline ( Luo et al, 2021 ). Social isolation has been confirmed as a potentially modifiable risk factor that, if eliminated, could prevent about 2% of all dementia cases—as a comparison, elimination of genetic risk would prevent 7% of cases ( Livingston et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: The Cognitive Reserve Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Partnership and Cognitive Aging in Europe: Mediating Factors and Social Stratification

Bertogg

Leist

2021

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

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Objectives Living in a partnership has been shown to benefit later life health in general and decrease the risk of cognitive impairment. Few studies have, however, examined whether different types of partnership transitions also differ with respect to their impact on cognitive trajectories, and whether financial resources, health behaviors, cognitive stimulation and social integration can explain these differences. Methods Data came from six waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, which is a representative panel for the population aged 50 years or older, and was collected between 2004 and 2017 in 20 European countries. Our sample includes 215,989 valid person-year observations from 78,984 persons. Mean age at baseline is 64 years, and individuals were observed on average 2.7 times. Cognitive functioning was assessed with measures of immediate and delayed recall on a memory test, and verbal fluency. Fixed-effects regression models were employed to exploit individual-level variation in partnership and simultaneous cognitive changes. Results Partnership status was stable in most respondents (around 90%). Compared to remaining partnered and after controlling for socio-demographic factors, transition to divorce was associated with a steeper decline in immediate and delayed recall. Exploring possible mechanisms, both financial resources and social integration explained these differences. Additional analyses suggested that effects were mostly driven by individuals with lower education. Discussion Partnership transitions remain infrequent events in later life, but our findings indicate that they can induce less favorable cognitive trajectories compared to partnered individuals, particularly for those with lower cognitive reserve.

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Longitudinal Within-Person Associations Between Quality of Social Relations, Structure of Social Relations, and Cognitive Functioning in Older Age

Cited by 13 publications

References 53 publications

Daily activity diversity and daily working memory in community-dwelling older adults.

Daily activity diversity and daily working memory in community-dwelling older adults.

Social support, social strain and declines in verbal memory: 16-year follow-up of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort

Partnership and Cognitive Aging in Europe: Mediating Factors and Social Stratification

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