Friendship in Later Life: Thirty Years of Progress and Inequalities.

Studies examining the impact of social change on individual development and aging postulate the growing importance of flexible relationships, such as friendship. Although friendship is well known as a factor of well-being in later life, the prevalence of friendship in older adult networks and its unequal distribution has been examined only in few studies. Through secondary data analysis of two cross-sectional surveys carried out in Switzerland in 1979 and 2011, respectively, the increasing presence of close friends was confirmed. Our results show that this trend was part of a broader lifestyle change after retirement, with increasing social engagements. However, this trend does not include a general decrease in social inequalities in friendship opportunities. Overall, friendship increase among older adults has contributed to a polarization of living conditions, with a majority of active, healthy persons contrasting with a minority of individuals who accumulate penalties.

The longitudinal relation between social reserve and smaller subsequent decline in executive functioning in old age is mediated via cognitive reserve.

OBJECTIVES: Social reserve such as having close friends helps promoting activity engagement in old age. Activity engagement in turn contributes to the accumulation of cognitive reserve and is a key predictor for maintaining executive functioning in aging. We investigated the mediating role of leisure activity engagement in the longitudinal relation between close friends and subsequent change in executive functioning as measured through performance changes in the Trail Making Test (TMT). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Longitudinal study with 897 older adults tested in two waves 6 years apart, analyzed using latent change score modeling. MEASUREMENTS: TMT parts A and B, leisure activity engagement, and close friends. RESULTS: A larger number of close friends in the first wave of data collection was related to a higher frequency of leisure activities in the first wave. A higher frequency of leisure activities in the first wave significantly predicted a smaller subsequent increase in TMT completion time from the first to the second wave (i.e. a smaller decline in executive functioning). Importantly, 41.3% of the longitudinal relation between a larger number of close friends in the first wave and a smaller subsequent increase in TMT completion time (i.e. a smaller decline in executive functioning) was mediated via a higher frequency of leisure activities in the first wave. CONCLUSIONS: Social reserve such as having close friends may help promoting activity engagement in old age. By enhancing individuals' cognitive reserve, this activity engagement may finally result in smaller subsequent decline in executive functioning in aging.

Interactional Effects Between Relational and Cognitive Reserves on Decline in Executive Functioning.

OBJECTIVES: The present study set out to investigate associations of cognitive reserve (as indicated by education) and relational reserve (as indicated by the family network size and indices of emotional support) to decline in executive functioning over 6 years as measured by changes in Trail Making Test (TMT) completion time in older adults and whether education and network size interacted with age and sex as covariates with respect to this longitudinal association. METHOD: We analyzed data from 897 participants tested on TMT parts A and B in two waves 6 years apart. The mean age in the first wave was 74.33 years. Participants reported information on their family networks and their level of education. RESULTS: Latent change score modeling testing for moderation effects revealed a significant interaction of network size in the first wave of data assessment with education. Specifically, for lower levels of cognitive reserve (-1 SD of education), the longitudinal association between relational reserve in the first wave and subsequent changes in executive functioning was not significant. In contrast, for higher levels of cognitive reserve (+1 SD of education), a higher relational reserve in the first wave significantly predicted a smaller subsequent increase in TMT completion time from the first to the second wave (i.e., a smaller decline in executive functioning). DISCUSSION: The present longitudinal study provides evidence for the interaction between cognitive and relational reserves. This confirms the hypothesis that reserves from different domains are intertwined and their combined effects contribute to less cognitive decline in old age.

Distinct effects of cognitive versus somatic anxiety on cognitive performance in old age: the role of working memory capacity.

Objective: The adverse effects of anxiety on cognition are widely recognized. According to Attentional Control Theory, worry (i.e. facet of cognitive anxiety) is the component that is responsible for these effects, and working memory capacity (WMC) plays an important role in regulating them. Despite the increasing importance of this problem with aging, little is known about how these mechanisms interact in old age. In this study, we explored the distinct contributions of the somatic and cognitive components of anxiety to neuropsychological performance, and the potential moderating role of WMC.Method: We administered cognitive tasks testing processing speed, cognitive flexibility and working memory to 605 older adults, who also underwent depression and test anxiety assessments (data from VLV study).Results: Multiple regression analyses showed that cognitive (but not somatic) aspects of anxiety affected cognitive flexibility. The effect of cognitive anxiety on processing speed was moderated by WMC: the anxiety-performance association was lower for participants with greater WMC.Conclusion: Results confirmed the specific role of worry in the anxiety-performance relationship in old age and supported the hypothesis that working memory resources regulates its deleterious effect on cognition. The absence of a moderation effect in the more costly switching task may reflect a limitation of resources with aging.

Motivation as a Mediator of the Relation Between Cognitive Reserve and Cognitive Performance.

OBJECTIVES: Interindividual differences in cognitive aging may be explained by differences in cognitive reserve (CR) that are built up across the life span. A plausible but underresearched mechanism for these differences is that CR helps compensating cognitive decline by enhancing motivation to cope with challenging cognitive situations. Theories of motivation on cognition suggest that perceived capacity and intrinsic motivation may be key mediators in this respect. METHOD: In 506 older adults, we assessed CR proxies (education, occupation, leisure activities), motivation (perceived capacity, intrinsic motivation), and a global measure of cognitive functioning. RESULTS: Perceived capacity, but not intrinsic motivation, significantly mediated the relation between CR and cognitive performance. DISCUSSION: Complementary with neurobiological and cognitive processes, our results suggest a more comprehensive view of the role of motivational aspects built up across the life span in determining differences in cognitive performance in old age.

Cross-lagged relation of leisure activity participation to Trail Making Test performance 6 years later: Differential patterns in old age and very old age.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated cross-lagged relations between leisure activity participation and Trail Making Test (TMT) performance over 6 years and whether those reciprocal associations differed between individuals. METHOD: We analyzed data from 232 participants tested on performance in TMT Parts A and B as well as interviewed on leisure activity participation in 2 waves 6 years apart. Mean age in the Wave 1 was 73.42 years. Participants were also tested on vocabulary (Mill Hill scale) as a proxy indicator of crystallized intelligence and reported information on early and midlife cognitive reserve markers (education and occupation). Latent cross-lagged models were applied to investigate potential reciprocal activity-TMT relationships. RESULTS: The relation of leisure activity participation predicting TMT performance 6 years later was significantly larger than was the relation of TMT performance predicting later leisure activity participation. Statistically comparing different moderator groups revealed that this pattern was evident both in individuals with low education and in those with high education but, notably, emerged in only young-old adults (but not in old-old adults), in individuals with a low cognitive level of job in midlife (but not in those with a high cognitive level of job in midlife), and in individuals with high scores in vocabulary (but not in those with low scores in vocabulary). CONCLUSIONS: Late-life leisure activity participation may predict later cognitive status in terms of TMT performance, but individuals may markedly differ with respect to such effects. Implications for current cognitive reserve and neuropsychological aging research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of cognitive reserve accumulated in midlife for the relation between chronic diseases and cognitive decline in old age: A longitudinal follow-up across six years.

OBJECTIVES: The present study set out to investigate relations of the number of chronic diseases (as a global indicator of individuals' multimorbidity) to cognitive status and cognitive decline over six years as measured by changes in Trail Making Test (TMT) completion time in old adults and whether those relations differed by key life course markers of cognitive reserve (education, occupation, and cognitively stimulating leisure activities). METHOD: We analyzed data from 897 participants tested on TMT parts A and B in two waves six years apart. Mean age in the first wave was 74.33 years. Participants reported information on chronic diseases, education, occupation, and cognitively stimulating leisure activities. RESULTS: Latent change score modeling testing for moderation effects revealed that a larger number of chronic diseases significantly predicted stronger increase in TMT completion time (i.e., steeper cognitive performance decline). Notably, the detrimental relation of the number of chronic diseases to stronger increase in TMT completion time (i.e., cognitive performance decline) was significantly stronger in individuals with less engagement in cognitively stimulating leisure activities in midlife. DISCUSSION: Present data suggest that disease-related cognitive decline may be steeper in individuals who have accumulated less cognitive reserve in midlife. However, greater midlife activity engagement seemed to be associated with steeper cognitive decline in any case. Implications for current cognitive reserve and neuropsychological aging research are discussed.

The relation of close friends to cognitive performance in old age: the mediating role of leisure activities.

ABSTRACTBackground:From a conceptual point of view, close friends are an important resource for promoting activity engagement in old age. Leisure activity engagement in turn is a key predictor of cognitive performance. Empirically, it remains unclear so far whether leisure activity engagement mediates between having close friends on the one hand and cognitive performance on the other, which we investigated in a large sample of older adults. METHODS: We assessed cognitive performance (Mill Hill vocabulary scale and Trail Making Test (TMT) parts A and B) in 2,812 older adults. Participants reported information on leisure activity engagement and close friends. RESULTS: A larger number of leisure activities and a larger number of close friends were significantly related to better cognitive performance in the Mill Hill vocabulary scale and TMT parts A and B. A larger number of close friends were significantly related to a larger number of leisure activities. The number of leisure activities mediated more than half of the relation of the number of close friends to performance in all three cognitive measures. CONCLUSIONS: Having close friends may be helpful to stimulate and promote activity participation in old age. By enhancing individuals' cognitive reserve, this may finally preserve their cognitive performance level in old age.

The Association of Leisure Activities in Middle Adulthood with Cognitive Performance in Old Age: The Moderating Role of Educational Level.

BACKGROUND: One of the fundamental challenges for gerontological research is how to maintain and promote intact cognitive functioning in old age. Previous research revealed that high educational level, good health status, and an active lifestyle during adulthood seem to be protective against cognitive impairment in old age. However, up to now, a detailed examination of the interaction of these relations based on a broader variety of activities and considering past and current activities is missing. OBJECTIVE: The present study set out to extend the literature by investigating in more detail the interactions of educational level and health status with a broad variety of past and current leisure activities in their association with cognitive functioning in a large sample of older adults with a wide age range. METHODS: A total of 2,812 older adults (aged 65-101 years) served as the sample for the present study. A test on verbal abilities and one on processing speed were applied. In addition, individuals were retrospectively interviewed regarding their educational level, current general health status, and 18 leisure activities (in terms of currently performed activities and those that had been carried out at the age of 45 years). RESULTS: Regressions indicated that engaging in more current activities and in more activities at the age of 45 years (both analyzed as an overall activity measure) was related to better cognitive performance in old age (r values up to 0.39, p values <0.001). These associations were more pronounced in individuals with a low (compared to a high) educational level. CONCLUSION: Present results suggest that an active lifestyle during middle adulthood may be related to better cognitive functioning in old age, particularly in individuals with a low educational level. These findings are discussed with respect to models of cognitive aging.