Sarah Tomaszewski Farias, Fransia S De Leon, Brandon E Gavett, Evan Fletcher, Oanh L Meyer, Rachel A Whitmer, Charles DeCarli, Dan Mungas
{"title":"Associations between personality and psychological characteristics and cognitive outcomes among older adults.","authors":"Sarah Tomaszewski Farias, Fransia S De Leon, Brandon E Gavett, Evan Fletcher, Oanh L Meyer, Rachel A Whitmer, Charles DeCarli, Dan Mungas","doi":"10.1037/pag0000792","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prior research has shown that some personality traits are associated with cognitive outcomes and may confirm risk or protection against cognitive decline. The present study expands on previous work to examine the association between a more comprehensive set of psychological characteristics and cognitive performance in a diverse cohort of older adults. We also examine whether controlling for brain atrophy influences the association between psychological characteristics and cognitive function. A total of 157 older adults completed a battery of psychological questionnaires (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, positive affect, negative affect-sadness, negative affect-anger, sense of purpose, loneliness, grit, and self-efficacy). Cognitive outcomes were measured across multiple domains: episodic memory, semantic memory, executive function, and spatial ability. Baseline brain (MRI) variables included gray matter, hippocampus, and total white matter hyperintensity volume. Parallel process, multilevel models yielded intercept (individual cognitive domain scores) and linear slope (global cognitive change) random effects for the cognitive outcomes. Positive affect (β = 0.013, SE = 0.005, <i>p</i> = .004) and Openness (β = 0.018, SE = 0.007, <i>p</i> = .009) were associated with less cognitive change, independent of baseline brain variables and covariates. Greater sadness predicted more cognitive decline when controlling for covariates, but not brain atrophy. A variety of psychological characteristics were associated with the cross-sectional measures of cognition. This study highlights the important impact of positive and negative affect on reducing or enhancing the risk of longitudinal cognitive decline. Such findings are especially important, given the available efficacious interventions that can improve affect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10911449/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychology and Aging","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000792","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/2/8 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Prior research has shown that some personality traits are associated with cognitive outcomes and may confirm risk or protection against cognitive decline. The present study expands on previous work to examine the association between a more comprehensive set of psychological characteristics and cognitive performance in a diverse cohort of older adults. We also examine whether controlling for brain atrophy influences the association between psychological characteristics and cognitive function. A total of 157 older adults completed a battery of psychological questionnaires (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, positive affect, negative affect-sadness, negative affect-anger, sense of purpose, loneliness, grit, and self-efficacy). Cognitive outcomes were measured across multiple domains: episodic memory, semantic memory, executive function, and spatial ability. Baseline brain (MRI) variables included gray matter, hippocampus, and total white matter hyperintensity volume. Parallel process, multilevel models yielded intercept (individual cognitive domain scores) and linear slope (global cognitive change) random effects for the cognitive outcomes. Positive affect (β = 0.013, SE = 0.005, p = .004) and Openness (β = 0.018, SE = 0.007, p = .009) were associated with less cognitive change, independent of baseline brain variables and covariates. Greater sadness predicted more cognitive decline when controlling for covariates, but not brain atrophy. A variety of psychological characteristics were associated with the cross-sectional measures of cognition. This study highlights the important impact of positive and negative affect on reducing or enhancing the risk of longitudinal cognitive decline. Such findings are especially important, given the available efficacious interventions that can improve affect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
Psychology and Aging publishes original articles on adult development and aging. Such original articles include reports of research that may be applied, biobehavioral, clinical, educational, experimental (laboratory, field, or naturalistic studies), methodological, or psychosocial. Although the emphasis is on original research investigations, occasional theoretical analyses of research issues, practical clinical problems, or policy may appear, as well as critical reviews of a content area in adult development and aging. Clinical case studies that have theoretical significance are also appropriate. Brief reports are acceptable with the author"s agreement not to submit a full report to another journal.