Interplay of cognitive and motivational resources for out-of-home behavior in a sample of cognitively heterogeneous older adults: findings of the SenTra project.

OBJECTIVES

We examined in this study the hypothesis that cognitive resources are more closely linked with out-of-home behavior than motivational resources.

METHOD

A cognitively heterogeneous sample of 222 older adults aged 59-91 years (M = 72.7; SD = 6.2), including 146 cognitively healthy persons and 76 persons with mild cognitive impairment-recruited in the German and Israeli arm of the SenTra project-was used for the analysis. Out-of-home behavior was assessed by means of global positioning system technology (time out of home; number of nodes visited) as well as by questionnaire (out-of-home activities). Mini-Mental State Examination and trail-making tests A and B were used to assess cognitive resources. Well-being, depression, and environmental mastery were assessed as motivational resources.

RESULTS

Findings at the zero-order and latent variable levels confirmed that cognitive resources were more closely linked with out-of-home behavior than motivational resources.

DISCUSSION

Findings support the view that well-being-related motivations to exert out-of-home behavior may become less important in old age because of the increasing cognitive resources required by such behavior.