The reciprocal relationship between participation in leisure activities and cognitive functioning: the moderating effect of self-rated literacy level.

OBJECTIVE: Participation in leisure activities is beneficial for cognitive functioning of older adults, but it is less known whether it is also beneficial for those with low basic cognitive level. This study examined the reciprocal relationship between participating in leisure activities and cognitive functioning among low and higher literacy level older adults. METHOD: Respondents aged 60 years and older who participated in both first waves (2005-2006 and 2009-2010) of the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel) were divided into low (n = 139) and higher literacy level respondents (n = 714). They reported participation in leisure activities and completed measures of cognitive functioning at both waves. RESULTS: Cross-lagged models showed that participation in leisure activities predicted higher cognitive functioning four years later only among older adults with low literacy level. On the other hand, cognitive functioning predicted more participation in leisure activities four years later only among higher literacy level older adults. CONCLUSIONS: Participating in leisure activities may be especially beneficial to cognitive functioning among older adults with low literacy level, as their initial low cognitive level allows more room for cognitive improvement than among higher literacy level older adults. Public efforts aimed at increasing participation in leisure activities may therefore target particularly older adults with low basic cognitive level.

Participation in recreation and cognitive activities as a predictor of cognitive performance of adults with/without Down syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The Cognitive Activity Theory suggests an association between participation in cognitive activities during midlife and cognitive functioning in the short term. We examined the impact of participation in cognitively stimulating activities conveyed during leisure activities on crystallized and fluid tests' performance among adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). METHOD: Adults (n = 32; chronological age = 25-55) with non-specific ID and with Down syndrome rated the frequency of their participation in leisure activities. Pursuits included more cognitively involving (reading, participating in academic courses) and less cognitively involving (cooking, dancing) activities. Three judges ranked activities according to their cognitive load on a 1 (few cognitive components) to 5 (many cognitive components) points scale. The findings indicate two new scales: cognitively stimulating activities and recreational stimulating activities. The crystallized battery included phonemic fluency, synonyms, idioms, and verbal metaphors. The fluid battery included the Homophone Meaning Generation Test, Metaphoric Triad Test, Novel Metaphors Test, and Trail Making Test. RESULTS: Hierarchal regression with chronological and mental age, recreational, and cognitively stimulating activities indicated that participation in recreational activities contributed significantly to the explained variance of word fluency. Participation in cognitive activities contributed significantly to the explained variance of most of the crystallized and fluid tests. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the Cognitive Activity Theory in populations with ID. The findings also support the Compensation Age Theory: not only endogenous factors (age, etiology, IQ level), but also exogenous factors such as life style determining the cognitive functioning of adults with ID. However, frequency and the cognitive load of the activities influenced their cognitive functioning.