Rickenbach Elizabeth Hahn, Condeelis Kristen L, Haley William E
Department of Psychology, Saint Anselm College.
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama.
Psychol Aging. 2015 Jun;30(2):420-31. doi: 10.1037/a0038973. Epub 2015 May 4.
Daily experiences of stress are common and have been associated with worse affect among older adults. People with mild cognitive impairment (PWMCI) have measurable memory deficits in between normal cognition and dementia and have been identified as having greater psychological distress than cognitively healthy older adults (CHOAs). Little is known about whether daily stressors contribute to distress among PWMCI. We hypothesized that compared with CHOAs, PWMCI would have higher daily negative affect and lower daily positive affect, report greater numbers and severity of daily stressors, and experience greater emotional reactivity to daily stressors. Fifteen clinically diagnosed PWMCI and 25 CHOAs completed daily reports of stressors, stressor severity, and positive and negative affect over an 8-day period. PWMCI reported higher daily negative affect, lower daily positive affect, and higher numbers and greater severity of memory stressors but did not differ from CHOAs in numbers or severity of general stressors. Cognitive status was a moderator of the daily stress-affect relationship. Days with greater numbers and severity of general daily stressors were associated with higher negative affect only for PWMCI. The numbers and severity of memory stressors were not associated with negative affect. In addition, more severe general daily stressors and memory stressors were associated with lower positive affect for all participants. Results suggest that PWMCI are less resilient in the face of daily stress than are CHOAs in terms of negative affect, perhaps because of declines in reserve capacity. The study presents a promising approach to understanding stress and coping in predementia states of cognition.
日常压力体验很常见，且与老年人较差的情绪状态有关。轻度认知障碍患者（PWMCI）在正常认知和痴呆之间存在可测量的记忆缺陷，并且已被确定比认知健康的老年人（CHOAs）有更大的心理困扰。关于日常压力源是否会导致PWMCI患者产生困扰，目前知之甚少。我们假设，与CHOAs相比，PWMCI患者的日常负面影响会更高，日常正面影响会更低，报告的日常压力源数量和严重程度会更大，并且对日常压力源的情绪反应会更强。15名临床诊断为PWMCI的患者和25名CHOAs在8天时间内完成了关于压力源、压力源严重程度以及正面和负面影响的每日报告。PWMCI患者报告的日常负面影响更高，日常正面影响更低，记忆压力源的数量和严重程度更高，但在一般压力源的数量或严重程度上与CHOAs没有差异。认知状态是日常压力与情绪关系的调节因素。只有PWMCI患者中，一般日常压力源数量和严重程度较高的日子与更高的负面影响相关。记忆压力源的数量和严重程度与负面影响无关。此外，对所有参与者来说，更严重的一般日常压力源和记忆压力源与更低的正面影响相关。结果表明，在面对日常压力时，PWMCI患者在负面影响方面比CHOAs患者的恢复力更低，这可能是由于储备能力下降所致。该研究为理解痴呆前期认知状态下的压力和应对提供了一种有前景的方法。
