Different stressors across the life course have different paths to impact cognitive and physical aging

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research Pub Date : 2025-02-04 DOI:10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100661

Charlotta Nilsen , Deborah Finkel , Shireen Sindi , Ingemar Kåreholt

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Abstract

Purpose of the research

Stress has a clear impact on health and function. Yet, little is known about how different stressors (factors that cause stress) in various contexts throughout the life course impact cognitive and physical aging. The study aimed to investigate if different types of stressors predicted cognitive and physical impairment in late life. The role of social support and internal locus of control was also investigated.

Material and methods

Two individually linked studies of Swedish nationally representative samples provided longitudinal data over 21 years, including retrospective childhood data (n = 1086). Indicators of work and financial stressors were assessed at late midlife (M=62 years) and financial stressors at early late life (M=70). Social support and internal locus of control were assessed at the mean ages of 62 and 70 years. Physical and cognitive impairment were assessed at late life (M=83). Path analyses were conducted with maximum likelihood estimation and adjusted for smoking, age, sex, educational attainment, and follow-up period.

Results

Work stressors were associated with physical and cognitive impairment directly. Work stressors were also associated with financial stressors, which, in turn, were associated with physical impairment. Childhood conflicts were associated with less social support, and less social support was associated with worse cognitive aging. Internal locus of control was not associated with cognitive and physical impairment.

Conclusions

This study confirms that stressors earlier in life predict cognitive and physical aging, but that different types of stressors have different paths to impact impairment in late life.

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生命过程中不同的压力源对认知和身体衰老有不同的影响

研究目的应激对健康和功能有明显的影响。然而，在整个生命过程的不同背景下，不同的压力源（导致压力的因素）是如何影响认知和身体衰老的，我们知之甚少。这项研究旨在调查不同类型的压力源是否预示着晚年的认知和身体损伤。社会支持和内部控制点的作用也被调查。材料和方法两项单独关联的瑞典全国代表性样本研究提供了超过21年的纵向数据，包括回顾性儿童数据（n = 1086）。在中年晚期（M=62岁）和晚年早期（M=70岁）评估工作和财务压力指标。社会支持和内在控制点分别在平均年龄62岁和70岁时进行评估。在晚年评估身体和认知障碍（M=83）。采用最大似然估计进行通径分析，并根据吸烟、年龄、性别、受教育程度和随访时间进行调整。结果工作压力源与身体和认知功能障碍直接相关。工作压力源也与经济压力源有关，而经济压力源又与身体损伤有关。童年冲突与较少的社会支持有关，而较少的社会支持与较差的认知老化有关。内部控制点与认知和身体损伤无关。结论本研究证实，生命早期的压力源可以预测认知和身体衰老，但不同类型的压力源对晚年损害的影响途径不同。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Advances in Life Course Research SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

2.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Advances in Life Course Research publishes articles dealing with various aspects of the human life course. Seeing life course research as an essentially interdisciplinary field of study, it invites and welcomes contributions from anthropology, biosocial science, demography, epidemiology and statistics, gerontology, economics, management and organisation science, policy studies, psychology, research methodology and sociology. Original empirical analyses, theoretical contributions, methodological studies and reviews accessible to a broad set of readers are welcome.