ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2021
Longitudinal Within-Person Associations Between Quality of Social Relations, Structure of Social Relations, and Cognitive Functioning in Older Age.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Psychosocial Factors Associated with Cognitive Function in Prostate Cancer Survivors on Hormonal Treatments: A Systematic Review.Neuropsychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Functional social support and cognitive function in middle- and older-aged adults: a systematic review of cross-sectional and cohort studies.Systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Relationship quality moderates the association between neighborhood disadvantage and cognition among Mexican American older adults.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Cognitive Functioning in Rural Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Support.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Development of the social frailty scale for older adults under pandemic-related social restrictions.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- Cognitive function and friendship network characteristics among older couples.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Examining Longitudinal Relationships between Social Support and Strain in Relationships with Children and Older Adults' Cognitive Functioning.Journal of health and social behavior · 2025Article
- Is There a Link Between Older Adults' Frequency of (Face-to-Face and Remote) Contact With Grandchildren and Cognitive Functioning Over 12 Years?The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- The bidirectional relationships between social isolation and cognitive function among older adults in China: separating between-person effects from within-person effects.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Does the positive association between social relationships and cognition continue until very old age?European journal of ageing · 2024Article
- Lifestyle factors associated with episodic memory in middle-aged and older adults: evidence from a 9-year longitudinal study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The effect of social isolation on the cognitive ability of the oldest old in Chinese nursing homes in post-COVID-19: a moderated chain mediation model.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Partnership and Cognitive Aging in Europe: Mediating Factors and Social Stratification.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2021Article
- Longitudinal Associations between Personality Traits and Cognitive Complaints in Midlife and Older Age Across 20 Years.European journal of personalityArticle
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
objectivesIndividuals' social connections and interpersonal experiences can both shape and be shaped by cognitive functioning. This study examines longitudinal within-person associations between quality of social relations, structure of social relations, and cognitive functioning in older age.
methodsWe examined 16-year longitudinal data (3 waves) from 497 older adults (M = 66.07 years, SD = 0.83, range = 64-68 years) from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development and Aging. Quality of social relations was measured by scales on perceived emotional support, instrumental support, and social integration. Structure of social relations was measured by self-reported number of leisure time partner types, indicating social network diversity. Cognitive functioning was assessed as a latent construct consisting of five cognitive tests (i.e., Information, Similarities, Letter Fluency, Picture Completion, Block Design). We used a random intercept cross-lagged panel model in the analysis.
resultsAt the within-person level, prior quality of social relations, but not structure of social relations, was positively associated with subsequent cognitive functioning. Moreover, prior cognitive functioning was positively associated with subsequent structure of social relations, but not with quality of social relations. DISCUSSION: Quality of social relations is a protective factor of cognitive aging. Additionally, responding to prior lower cognitive functioning, social network diversity reduced, but quality of social relations did not seem to change. Overall, this study suggested that social relations and cognitive functioning mutually influence each other, but different aspects of social relations (i.e., quality, structure) might have different directional associations with cognitive functioning.
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