Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-k8lnt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T16:12:10.958Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2019

Andreas Ihle ,
Michel Oris ,
Marie Baeriswyl ,
Sascha Zuber ,
Stéphane Cullati ,
Jürgen Maurer  and
Matthias Kliegel
Andreas Ihle*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, Geneva, Switzerland
Michel Oris
Affiliation:
Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, Geneva, Switzerland
Marie Baeriswyl
Affiliation:
Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, Geneva, Switzerland
Sascha Zuber
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, Geneva, Switzerland
Stéphane Cullati
Affiliation:
Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, Geneva, Switzerland Department of Community Health, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
Jürgen Maurer
Affiliation:
Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, Geneva, Switzerland Department of Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Matthias Kliegel
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, Geneva, Switzerland
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Andreas Ihle, CIGEV, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 28, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland. Phone: +41 22 379 83 08. E-mail: Andreas.Ihle@unige.ch.
Get access

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Decline in executive functioningcognitive reserveleisure activitiesclose friends

Information

Type
Original Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 33 , Special Issue 5: Issue Theme: Loneliness and Social Connectedness , May 2021 , pp. 461 - 467
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Barnes, L. L., de Leon, C. F. M., Wilson, R. S., Bienias, J. L. and Evans, D. A. (2004). Social resources and cognitive decline in a population of older African Americans and whites. Neurology, 63, 2322–2326. doi: 10.1212/01.Wnl.0000147473.04043.B3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1985). The forms of capital. In: Richardson, J.G. (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Christensen, H., Mackinnon, A., Jorm, A. F., Henderson, A. S., Scott, L. R. and Korten, A. E. (1994). Age differences and interindividual variation in cognition in community-dwelling elderly. Psychology and Aging, 9, 381–390. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.9.3.381CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cullati, S., Kliegel, M. and Widmer, E. (2018). Development of reserves over the life course and onset of vulnerability in later life. Nature Human Behaviour, 2, 551–558. doi: 10.1038/s41562-018-0395-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flora, J. and Segrin, C. (1998). Joint leisure time in friend and romantic relationships: the role of activity type, social skills and positivity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15, 711–718. doi: 10.1177/0265407598155009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghisletta, P. and Lindenberger, U. (2004). Static and dynamic longitudinal structural analyses of cognitive changes in old age. Gerontology, 50, 12–16. doi: 10.1159/000074383CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gouveia, É. R. et al. (2017). Correlates of health-related quality of life in young-old and old-old community-dwelling older adults. Quality of Life Research, 26, 1561–1569. doi: 10.1007/s11136-017-1502-zCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, K., Warner, L. M. and Schwarzer, R. (2017). The role of self-efficacy and friend support on adolescent vigorous physical activity. Health Education & Behavior, 44, 175–181. doi: 10.1177/1090198116648266CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hertzog, C., Kramer, A. F., Wilson, R. S. and Lindenberger, U. (2008). Enrichment effects on adult cognitive development: can the functional capacity of older adults be preserved and enhanced? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, 1–65. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01034.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ho, C. Y. (2016). The relationship from friendship links to educational achievement. B E Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 16, 1563–1572. doi: 10.1515/bejeap-2015-0267CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, L. and Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55. doi: 10.1080/10705519909540118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huxhold, O., Miche, M. and Schuz, B. (2014). Benefits of having friends in older ages: differential effects of informal social activities on well-being in middle-aged and older adults. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 69, 366–375. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbt029CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ihle, A. et al. (2018b). 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. Neuropsychologia, 121, 37–46. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.10.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ihle, A. et al. (2016). The relation of obesity to performance in verbal abilities, processing speed, and cognitive flexibility in old age: the role of cognitive reserve. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 42, 117–126. doi: 10.1159/000448916CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ihle, A., Oris, M., Baeriswyl, M. and Kliegel, M. (2018a). The relation of close friends to cognitive performance in old age: the mediating role of leisure activities. International Psychogeriatrics, 30, 1753–1758. doi: 10.1017/S1041610218000789CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jopp, D. S. and Hertzog, C. (2010). Assessing adult leisure activities: an extension of a self-report activity questionnaire. Psychological Assessment, 22, 108–120. doi: 10.1037/a0017662CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karp, A., Paillard-Borg, S., Wang, H. X., Silverstein, M., Winblad, B. and Fratiglioni, L. (2006). Mental, physical and social components in leisure activities equally contribute to decrease dementia risk. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 21, 65–73. doi: 10.1159/000089919CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimura, D., Takeda, T., Ohura, T. and Imai, A. (2017). Evaluation of facilitative factors for preventing cognitive decline: a 3-year cohort study of community intervention. Psychogeriatrics, 17, 9–16. doi: 10.1111/psyg.12182CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindenberger, U. and Chicherio, C. (2008). Intellectual development across the lifespan: sources of variability and levels of analysis. Annee Psychologique, 108, 757–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, C., Cavalli, S. and Oris, M. (2014). “Vivre/Leben/Vivere”: an interdisciplinary survey addressing progress and inequalities of aging over the past 30 years in Switzerland. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 59, 240–248. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2014.04.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McArdle, J. J. (2009). Latent variable modeling of differences and changes with longitudinal data. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 577–605. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163612CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meredith, W. and Teresi, J. A. (2006). An essay on measurement and factorial invariance. Medical Care, 44, 69–77. doi: 10.1097/01.mlr.0000245438.73837.89CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Opdebeeck, C., Martyr, A. and Clare, L. (2016). Cognitive reserve and cognitive function in healthy older people: a meta-analysis. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 23, 40–60. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2015.1041450CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oris, M. et al. (2016). Representation of vulnerability and the elderly. In: Oris, M., Roberts, C., Joye, D. and Ernst-Stähli, M. (Eds.), Surveying Human Vulnerabilities across the Life Course (pp. 27–64). Heidelberg: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paggi, M. E., Jopp, D. and Hertzog, C. (2016). The importance of leisure activities in the relationship between physical health and well-being in a life span sample. Gerontology, 62, 450–458. doi: 10.1159/000444415CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ram, N., Gerstorf, D., Lindenberger, U. and Smith, J. (2011). Developmental change and intraindividual variability: relating cognitive aging to cognitive plasticity, cardiovascular lability, and emotional diversity. Psychology and Aging, 26, 363–371. doi: 10.1037/a0021500CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reitan, R. M. (1958). Validity of the trail making test as an indicator of organic brain damage. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 8, 271–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosseel, Y. (2012). lavaan: an R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, Y. (2009). Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2015–2028. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, Y. (2012). Cognitive reserve in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet Neurology, 11, 1006–1012. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(12)70191-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suzman, R., Beard, J. R., Boerma, T. and Chatterji, S. (2015). Health in an ageing world—what do we know? Lancet, 385, 484–486. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61597-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, B. Y., He, P. and Dong, B. R. (2015). Associations between social networks, social contacts, and cognitive function among Chinese nonagenarians/centenarians. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 60, 522–527. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2015.01.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, H. X. et al. (2013). Late life leisure activities and risk of cognitive decline. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 68, 205–213. doi: 10.1093/gerona/gls153CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed