Social, Behavioral, and Contextual Influences on Cognitive Function and Decline over the Life Course

Abstract

his team at the University of Sheffi eld, UK. The main features of the FLARE programme are to promote both geographical and disciplinary mobility. Consequently, the contributions in this unique volume on health and cognition in old age are themselves the result of successful cross-national and crossdisciplinary collaboration and come from an international set of authors working at research institutions in Europe, Israel, and the USA at the postdoctoral level and above. This volume summarises the fi ndings of their research programmes in various fi elds of ageing research, all relating to health, cognition, and well-being in old age, from various disciplines including biomedicine, general medicine, gerontology, geriatrics, immunology, psychology, epidemiology, public health, social policy, sociology, education, medical ethics, philosophy, and humanities. The volume comprises four parts: biomedical factors in ageing (Part I), life course factors constituting later-life health and cognition (Part II), care and interventions to maintain and improve impaired health, cognition, and well-being in old age (Part III), and policy and practice approaches for healthy and active ageing (Part IV). Taken together, the contributions provide a comprehensive overview of current developments in research on health and cognition in old age. Editing this volume on research fi ndings originated under the FLARE scheme has been an amazing interdisciplinary journey for us and made us even more respectful of the multiplicity of perspectives in research on health and cognition in old age.Walferdange, Luxembourg

Evaluating the Longitudinal Item and Category Stability of the SF-36 Full and Summary Scales Using Rasch Analysis

“…Considerations of measurement invariance are important for longitudinal studies that seek to gauge change in a construct, across a broad population and over time. When studies involve an older population, measurements may be vulnerable to instability as the participants age, their living circumstances may change, and their physical and cognitive abilities may decline [ 2 , 3 ].…”

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“…Life course research shows that already in childhood some foundations are laid for later-life well-being , cognitive function (Leist & Mackenbach, 2014), and health (Ben-Shlomo & Kuh, 2002). Moreover, ageing, employability (Siivonen & Isopahkala-Bouret, 2016) and prolonging careers (Guillemard, 2013) are especially relevant and highly debated issues.…”