Kelly Cotton, Helena M Blumen, Emmeline Ayers, Dristi Adhikari, Alben Sigamani, V G Pradeep Kumar, Joe Verghese
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: Happiness has been shown to influence many health-related outcomes in older adults. Identifying correlates and brain substrates of happiness across countries and cultures is an important goal, as the global older adult population continues to increase.
Method: We used univariate and multiple regression to examine associations between happiness and several demographic, health, and lifestyle variables in 665 older adults (39% female) from Kerala, India. We also used Bayesian regression to examine associations between cortical thickness and happiness in a sub-sample of 188 participants that completed MRI scanning.
Results: Happiness was significantly associated with several variables. In our multiple regression model, which included all significant univariate predictors, self-rated health, depression, anxiety, apathy, social network size, social network diversity, and social support significantly predicted happiness. Demographic indicators (age, sex, education, marital status, residence, and employment status/type), cognitive impairment, comorbidities, and leisure activities were not significantly associated with happiness in the multiple regression model. Cortical thickness in several brain regions was positively associated with happiness scores, including frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, and cingulate regions.
Discussion: Understanding the key correlates is critical for identifying both modifiable factors that can be targeted in well-being interventions and fixed characteristics that identify those at-risk for reduced happiness. The widespread pattern of brain regions associated with happiness is consistent with the multifactorial nature of happiness and, given that the regions identified do not overlap with those vulnerable to cortical thinning, can help explain why subjective well-being, unlike other cognitive functions, is largely resistant to age-related decline.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences publishes articles on development in adulthood and old age that advance the psychological science of aging processes and outcomes. Articles have clear implications for theoretical or methodological innovation in the psychology of aging or contribute significantly to the empirical understanding of psychological processes and aging. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, attitudes, clinical applications, cognition, education, emotion, health, human factors, interpersonal relations, neuropsychology, perception, personality, physiological psychology, social psychology, and sensation.