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The dynamic relationship between cognitive function and positive well-being in older people: a prospective study using the English Longitudinal Study of Aging

The dynamic relationship between cognitive function and positive well-being in older people: a prospective study using the English Longitudinal Study of Aging
The dynamic relationship between cognitive function and positive well-being in older people: a prospective study using the English Longitudinal Study of Aging
There is evidence that having a stronger sense of positive well-being may be a potential resource for healthier aging as represented by slower physical decline, reduced risk of frailty and longer survival. However, it is unclear whether positive well-being is protective of another crucial component of healthy aging, cognitive function, or whether it has a bidirectional relationship with cognitive function. We use multilevel models with within-person centering to estimate the within- and between-person association between cognitive function and positive well-being in 4 waves of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), (N = 10985, aged 50-90 years at wave 1). Our findings show that, although most variation in cognitive function was explained by age, and most variation in well-being was explained by depression, small but significant associations between cognition and well-being remained after variation in age and depression were controlled. In models where cognition was the outcome, the association was mainly because of variation in mean levels of well-being between persons. In models where well-being was the outcome, the association was mainly because of within-person fluctuation in cognitive test performance. Exercise and depression were the most important moderating influences on the association between cognition and positive well-being. Depression had greater effect upon this association for those with higher well-being, but exercise protected cognitive performance against the adverse effects of lower well-being.
positive well-being, cognitive function, multilevel model, within-person change
0882-7974
306-318
Allerhand, Mike
2244bf65-9c40-48d5-a97a-ccaab10e9655
Gale, Catharine R.
5bb2abb3-7b53-42d6-8aa7-817e193140c8
Deary, Ian J.
027158ae-fbfb-40ea-98b1-32d2690499ac
Allerhand, Mike
2244bf65-9c40-48d5-a97a-ccaab10e9655
Gale, Catharine R.
5bb2abb3-7b53-42d6-8aa7-817e193140c8
Deary, Ian J.
027158ae-fbfb-40ea-98b1-32d2690499ac

Allerhand, Mike, Gale, Catharine R. and Deary, Ian J. (2014) The dynamic relationship between cognitive function and positive well-being in older people: a prospective study using the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. Psychology and Aging, 29 (2), 306-318. (doi:10.1037/a0036551). (PMID:24955999)

Record type: Article

Abstract

There is evidence that having a stronger sense of positive well-being may be a potential resource for healthier aging as represented by slower physical decline, reduced risk of frailty and longer survival. However, it is unclear whether positive well-being is protective of another crucial component of healthy aging, cognitive function, or whether it has a bidirectional relationship with cognitive function. We use multilevel models with within-person centering to estimate the within- and between-person association between cognitive function and positive well-being in 4 waves of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), (N = 10985, aged 50-90 years at wave 1). Our findings show that, although most variation in cognitive function was explained by age, and most variation in well-being was explained by depression, small but significant associations between cognition and well-being remained after variation in age and depression were controlled. In models where cognition was the outcome, the association was mainly because of variation in mean levels of well-being between persons. In models where well-being was the outcome, the association was mainly because of within-person fluctuation in cognitive test performance. Exercise and depression were the most important moderating influences on the association between cognition and positive well-being. Depression had greater effect upon this association for those with higher well-being, but exercise protected cognitive performance against the adverse effects of lower well-being.

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Published date: June 2014
Keywords: positive well-being, cognitive function, multilevel model, within-person change
Organisations: Faculty of Medicine

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Local EPrints ID: 367111
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/367111
ISSN: 0882-7974
PURE UUID: 964f1fcc-7fe8-4c94-8933-8eb9159f27a6
ORCID for Catharine R. Gale: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3361-8638

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Date deposited: 05 Aug 2014 10:37
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:49

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Author: Mike Allerhand
Author: Ian J. Deary

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