Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences最新文献

Objectives: Affecting 1 in 5 adults in Europe, hearing loss (HL) is linked to adverse health outcomes, including dementia. We aim to investigate educational inequalities in hearing health in Europe and how these inequalities change with age, gender, and region.

Methods: Utilizing 2004-2020 data from the Harmonized Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a representative sample of Europeans aged 50 and older, we analyze: (1) age-standardized prevalence of HL and hearing aid (HA) use among eligible individuals and (2) educational inequalities therein using the Relative Index of Inequality across age, gender, and European regions.

Results: The prevalence of self-reported HL increases with age, is greater among men, and is consistently higher among those with lower levels of education. At age 50-64, particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe, low-educated women experience more than 3 times the risk of HL compared to highly educated women. These inequalities diminish as women age. Northern Europe is a front-runner in meeting HA needs. Southern and Eastern Europe lag behind, with less than 2 in 10 individuals eligible for HAs utilizing them.

Discussion: Substantial variations in the educational gradient of hearing health across age, gender, and European regions underscore the importance of targeting specific subpopulations in efforts to mitigate health inequalities. Of particular concern is the regional discrepancy between the prevalence of HL and the use of HAs. The example of Northern Europe suggests that there is unused potential to improve healthy aging in Europe through enhanced access to HAs.

Objectives: Restriction of life-space mobility is associated with adverse health outcomes including depression, morbidity, mortality, and poorer quality of life. In this study, we aimed to determine the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and associated employment loss on the life space of older adults in Singapore.

Methods: An in-person survey was administered to a cohort of older Singaporeans above 50 years old (N = 1,118). Data collected included self-report measures of life space, sensory function, well-being, cognitive function, depression, frailty, and objective measures of muscle mass and body mass index. Tests of association and linear regression were performed to test the hypotheses while accounting for the effects of health and sociodemographic covariates.

Results: The life space of older adults has significantly diminished after the pandemic. This loss remained significant despite controlling for covariates and was more pronounced among those who had lost employment during the pandemic. In addition, losing employment during the pandemic was associated with having smaller life spaces.

Discussion: Life-space assessments are a potential important noninvasive marker for not only health and longevity but also the ability to sustain employment. Public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and employment loss negatively affect the life spaces of older adults. It is needful to emphasize the maintenance of life space when faced with disruptive life events and provide multidisciplinary collaborative solutions to restore the quality of life among vulnerable older adults.

Objectives: Past research has linked more frequent social contacts with better cognition and slower cognitive decline in older adults. An open question is whether face-to-face and remote contact with one's grandchildren can be beneficial.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen covering a span of 12 years and 2 age cohorts (young-old <78, N = 1100; old-old ≥78 years, N = 705). We used latent growth curve models to examine whether frequency of face-to-face or remote grandchild contact was associated with cognitive levels and decline and applied (random intercept) cross-lagged models to investigate if these associations were reciprocal.

Results: Face-to-face contact with grandchildren was positively linked to levels of cognition in young-old adults only. We found no associations with cognitive decline. Results of cross-lagged models suggested that grandparents with better cognition had more face-to-face (for young-old adults only) or remote (for old-old adults only) grandchild contact at subsequent waves. However, more grandchild contact was not associated with later cognition.

Discussion: Our findings suggest that grandparents with better cognition engage more with their grandchildren, but that frequency of grandchild contact is not a protective factor against later cognitive decline in older adults.

Objectives: The complex life experience of speaking two or more languages has been suggested to preserve cognition in older adulthood. This study aimed to investigate this further by examining the relationship between multilingual experience variables and cognitive functioning in a large cohort of older adults in the diversely multilingual north of the Netherlands.

Method: A total of 11,332 older individuals participating in the Lifelines Cohort Study completed a language experience questionnaire. From this cohort, a subset was selected (n = 3,972, aged 59-86) for whom complete demographic and cognitive data were available and who had learned at least two languages to evaluate the association between multilingual experience variables and cognitive functioning. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Cogstate Brief Battery, which measures processing speed, attention, working memory, and recognition memory.

Results: A linear regression analysis revealed that a higher number of languages learned was related to better performance on all subtasks. In addition, a later onset of acquisition of the second language (L2) was associated with better attention. These effects were independent of demographic variables such as age, education level, income level, and country of birth.

Discussion: The results demonstrate that in our cohort only the experience factors of the number of languages learned and L2 onset of acquisition related to cognitive functioning. Our evidence supports the idea that there is a positive relationship between multilingual experiences and cognitive functioning in older adulthood, but more longitudinal work is needed to establish whether learning multiple languages can potentially promote healthy aging.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the longitudinal associations between neighborhood environments and functional disabilities over time among older adults in China. Urban-rural disparities in these associations were examined in this study.

Methods: Data from 4 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2018) were analyzed, including a sample of 5,379 older adults aged 60 and over. Multilevel linear probability modeling was fitted to estimate the effects of neighborhood environments on functional disabilities, encompassing both incidence and rate of change over a 7-year period.

Results: Older adults residing in neighborhoods with superior infrastructure experienced a lower incidence of functional disabilities in both rural and urban areas. In urban communities, increased handicapped access was associated with a reduced risk of IADL disability onset among older adults (B = -0.013, SE = 0.006, p < .05). In rural villages, the presence of 2 or more bus lines was associated with a slower rate of IADL disablement over the 7-year period (B = -0.019, SE = 0.009, p < .05).

Discussion: This research reveals the prominent roles of neighborhood environments in protecting functional abilities among older adults. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating community policies and infrastructure development into public health considerations. Empirical evidence is provided for policymakers and urban planners aimed at enhancing functional abilities in older adults and mitigating urban-rural disparities in health outcomes.

Objective: Social connectedness is a modifiable lifestyle factor that delays age-related cognitive decline. Using cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental approaches, we examined whether theory of mind-inferring what others think or feel-is a potential mechanism underlying this relationship.

Methods: In Study 1, 305 community-dwelling older adults participating in two different, but related, studies completed comprehensive measures of general cognition, theory of mind, and personal social networks. We examined whether theory of mind mediated the relationship between older adults' social connectedness and cognition. One hundred and ten of those participants completed follow-up social network interviews and cognitive assessments about 1.5 years later to determine whether baseline social connectedness and theory of mind predicted cognitive change. In Study 2, 55 other older adults completed a procedural discourse task targeting a close and distant network member. We predicted that higher theory of mind would be reflected through providing more details to distant, versus close, others, especially among older adults with larger, less interconnected, personal social networks.

Results: Results revealed that theory of mind accounted for 32% of the relationship between social connectedness and overall cognition, even when covarying age, gender, education, and a control task. The effects were particularly robust for episodic memory and language. Longitudinal analyses replicated this pattern. In Study 2, older adults with larger, less dense social networks provided more details to distant versus very close network members.

Discussion: Together, these results suggest that theory of mind may provide the mechanism through which social connectedness confers cognitive resilience associated with slower cognitive decline.

Objectives: Living apart together (LAT)-intimate partners living in separate households-is a common partnership type among older adults. Although the mental health benefits of intimate partnerships are widely documented, how LAT relates to older adults' mental health remains understudied.

Methods: Analyzing Waves 3-13 (2011-2023) of the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study, we use fixed effects models to examine (a) how older adults' mental health varies with LAT, marriage, cohabitation, and singlehood (never married, widowed, divorced/separated) and (b) how transitions into and out of LAT, compared with marriage and cohabitation, relate to older adults' mental health.

Results: Overall, older adults have better mental health when LAT than when single, but little difference in mental health is found across LAT, cohabitation, and marital partnerships. Whereas older singles moving into LAT experience mental health improvements, those moving from LAT to singlehood suffer mental health declines. Although the mental health benefits of moving into LAT are smaller than those of entering cohabitation and particularly marriage, exiting LAT is associated with smaller mental health declines compared with exiting cohabitation and marriage. No statistically significant gender difference is found in the mental health benefits of LAT.

Discussion: The findings underscore LAT as a key form of family diversity in later life. They problematize the long-held ideal of coresidence in couple relationships and its role in sustaining older adults' mental health. They encourage researchers to go beyond the household as a default unit of analysis and examine interhousehold intimate connections in older adults' lives.

Objectives: Prosociality, defined as positive other-regarding intentions and behaviors, is a modifiable factor demonstrated to be associated with better mental, physical, and cognitive health in older adults. Prior studies have largely focused on individual prosocial behaviors, especially volunteering. This study examines whether prosocial intentions are associated with maintaining cognitive health over time.

Methods: Data are from 7,844 adults aged 50 or older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. A 9-item prosocial intentions scale was derived from self-reported items assessing altruism and collectivism. Cognitive health was assessed via biennial completion of tasks related to executive function and verbal memory and incident dementia diagnosis over 11 years. Linear mixed-effects models examined relationships between prosocial intentions and changes in executive function and verbal memory. Cox proportional hazards models assessed risk of developing dementia. A broad array of demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related covariates were also considered.

Results: Results from mixed-effects analyses suggest higher prosocial intentions are associated with better cognitive health maintenance after controlling for sociodemographics and baseline health characteristics including depressive symptoms. Participants with high versus low prosocial intentions had 24% slower decline in verbal memory and 55% slower decline in executive function. Similarly, higher prosocial intentions were associated with a 35% reduced hazard of dementia during this same period in fully adjusted models.

Discussion: These results suggest aspects of prosociality beyond formal volunteering facilitate maintaining cognitive health among older adults and may provide novel targets for future interventions to enhance healthy aging.

Objectives: Hearing status is identified as a significant predictor of cognitive function. The life course principle of linked lives posits that the lives of couples often become increasingly interconnected or embedded over time, thereby cumulatively intensifying their influence on spouse's health and well-being. We aim to examine the impact of self-reported hearing on cognitive function among married couples across adulthood and whether there is heterogeneity in the associations.

Methods: Utilizing data from the 2011, 2013, 2015, to 2018 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (n = 2,847 middle-aged and older couples, totaling 5,694 observations across all waves), we employ the growth curve model to examine the impact of self-reported hearing, both individually and from spouses, on the age-related trajectories of cognitive function.

Results: This study demonstrates that poor self-reported hearing is significantly associated with worse cognitive function compared with those with good hearing. Additionally, there is a significant temporal association between poor spousal hearing and cognitive decline, compared with individuals whose spouses have good hearing. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the association between poor spousal hearing and increasing cognitive disadvantage across time is particularly significant among men and rural residents.

Discussion: This research provides new evidence of the longitudinal association between hearing and cognitive function among married couples, thus contributing to a growing body of literature documenting the importance of understanding how spousal health conditions affect health trajectories.

Objectives: The purposes of this study are to examine (i) to what extent job loss and food insecurity accounted for racial disparities in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) risk among adults in the United States during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; and (ii) to what extent the COVID-19 vaccination mitigated such risk, especially among older adults.

Methods: First, we analyzed data from the U.S. Household Pulse Survey to report on the relative prevalence of GAD with respect to demographic characteristics, economic hardships, and COVID-19 vaccine status. We then adopted a series of logistic regression models to estimate the probabilities of having GAD by sequentially adding these possible explanatory factors.

Results: Findings demonstrated higher prevalence rates of GAD among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black Americans than non-Hispanic White Americans, which can primarily be attributed to the fact that non-Hispanic White Americans were less vulnerable to job loss and food insecurity. Older adults were less susceptible to GAD than their middle-aged and young adult counterparts. Compared to unvaccinated older adults, the odds of having GAD were substantially reduced for older adults who were partially vaccinated, and even more significantly declined for fully vaccinated older adults.

Discussion: Racial and ethnic disparities in GAD were largely due to disproportionate experiences of job loss and food insecurity across different racial and ethnic groups during the pandemic. Social distancing measures partially explain the different prevalence of GAD between older adults and their counterparts. Rapid deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines played an effective role in suppressing GAD, especially among older adults.