School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia.
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia.
Soc Sci Med. 2014 Nov;120:57-66. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.08.037. Epub 2014 Aug 28.
Aligned with research in the social capital and general health literature, a large body of evidence shows that older people who are more socially active have better cognitive integrity and are less vulnerable to cognitive decline. The present research addresses the question of whether the type of social engagement (group-based vs. individual) has differential effects on these cognitive health outcomes. Drawing on population data (N=3413) from three waves (i.e., Waves 3, 4 and 5) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we investigated the independent contribution of group and individual engagement in predicting cognitive functioning four years later. Hierarchical linear regression was used entering age, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and physical health as covariates. The final model, controlling for initial cognitive function and social engagement (both group and individual) showed that only group engagement made a significant, sustained, and unique contribution to subsequent cognitive function. Furthermore, the effects of group engagement were stronger with increasing age. These findings extend previous work on the social determinants of health by pinpointing the types of relationships that are particularly beneficial in protecting cognitive health. The fact that group engagement optimized health outcomes, and that this was especially the case with increasing age, has important implications for directing community resources to keep older adults mentally active and independent for longer.
与社会资本和一般健康文献中的研究一致，大量证据表明，社交活动更多的老年人认知完整性更好，并且不太容易出现认知能力下降。本研究探讨了社交参与的类型（基于群体的与个体的）是否对这些认知健康结果产生不同影响的问题。本研究利用来自英国老龄化纵向研究的三个波次（即第 3 波、第 4 波和第 5 波）的人口数据（N=3413），调查了群体和个体参与对四年后认知功能的独立预测作用。使用分层线性回归，我们将年龄、性别、社会经济地位、种族和身体健康作为协变量进行了输入。在控制初始认知功能和社会参与（包括群体和个体）后，最终模型表明，只有群体参与对随后的认知功能有显著、持续和独特的贡献。此外，群体参与的效果随着年龄的增长而增强。这些发现通过指出对保护认知健康特别有益的关系类型，扩展了健康决定因素的相关研究。群体参与优化健康结果的事实，以及这种情况在年龄增长时更为明显，这对指导社区资源以保持老年人的心理健康和独立性具有重要意义。
