The Longitudinal Association of Late-Life Visual and Hearing Difficulty and Cognitive Function: The Role of Social Isolation.

OBJECTIVES: Sensory impairments are prevalent among older adults and have been associated with cognitive challenges in later life, yet mechanisms are less well understood. We examined the mediating role of social isolation in the longitudinal relationship between self-reported sensory difficulty and impaired cognitive functioning among older adults. METHODS: Data were taken from the NHATS Study, an annual survey of Medicare beneficiaries' age ≥ 65. Participants (N = 6,338) provided data at Rounds 5, 6, and 7 (2015, 2016, 2017). Structural equation models were estimated to test longitudinal direct and indirect associations. RESULTS: All sensory difficulties were negatively associated with all cognitive functioning measures cross-sectionally through social isolation. Longitudinally, vision difficulty and dual sensory difficulty were indirectly associated with cognitive functioning across time. Hearing difficulty had no longitudinal indirect associations with cognitive functioning through social isolation. DISCUSSION: Social isolation is an important pathway through which late-life vision difficulty is associated with decreased cognitive function.

Social withdrawal and psychological well-being in later life: does marital status matter?

Objectives: Personality researchers have found that dispositional traits are typically stabile over the life course, but shyness is one trait that has rarely been examined in later life. Shyness as a global trait has been linked negatively to multiple psychological indices of childhood well-being, including loneliness. Despite the fact that older adults may already be at risk for experiencing heightened loneliness, regret, or decreased fulfillment, research has not assessed these experiences in relation to personality in later life. In the past few decades, research on social withdrawal has moved beyond treating shyness as a global trait and started to examine the multiple motivations behind socially withdrawn behavior.Method: Employing data from 309 older participants of the Huntsman Senior Games, the current study used regression analyses to examine the potential relations between three forms of withdrawal (shyness, avoidance, and unsociability) and loneliness, regret, and fulfillment in later life.Results and Conclusion: Results indicated that shyness, avoidance, and unsociability, respectively, were significantly associated with increased loneliness and regret, and decreased fulfillment. Further, marital status (married, divorced, widowed) moderated links between withdrawal and psychological indices of well-being in later life.