Cutler Stephen J, Brăgaru Corina
Department of Sociology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405 USA.
Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest, 9 Schitu Măgureanu Street, Bucharest, Romania.
Eur J Ageing. 2015 Jul 17;12(4):341-351. doi: 10.1007/s10433-015-0350-3. eCollection 2015 Dec.
Cumulative stresses associated with concerns about cognitive functioning and worries about developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been shown to be related to poorer health and lower psychological well-being. Among older persons, AD also generates higher levels of fear than any other disease. But much remains to be learned about predictors of worries and fears, especially from a temporal perspective. Thus, the principal objective of the current research is to examine long-term effects of self-perceptions of cognitive functioning on worries about developing AD. Data for the study are drawn from the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study. We use up to ten measurements of self-perceived cognitive functioning collected from 1992 to 2010 for respondents 50 years of age and older at the time of their entrance into the study. Demographics (marital status, age, education, and gender); beliefs about the role of genetics, personal knowledge of someone with AD, and their interaction; and depression and health are other variables included in the model. The data are analyzed using the full information maximum likelihood procedure and latent growth curve modeling to account for the long-term effects. The analysis shows evidence of both short-term effects of depression, age, beliefs, and the interaction of beliefs and personal familiarity and long-term effects of cognitive self-assessment on worries about getting AD. Further analyses of these relationships and inclusion of these items in other studies are recommended.
与认知功能担忧以及患阿尔茨海默病（AD）的忧虑相关的累积压力已被证明与较差的健康状况和较低的心理健康水平有关。在老年人中，AD引发的恐惧程度也高于其他任何疾病。但关于忧虑和恐惧的预测因素，尤其是从时间角度来看，仍有许多有待了解的地方。因此，本研究的主要目的是考察认知功能自我认知对患AD忧虑的长期影响。该研究的数据取自密歇根大学的健康与退休研究。我们对1992年至2010年期间收集的、在进入研究时年龄在50岁及以上的受访者的自我认知认知功能进行了多达十次测量。人口统计学特征（婚姻状况、年龄、教育程度和性别）；对基因作用的信念、对AD患者的个人了解及其相互作用；以及抑郁和健康状况是模型中包含的其他变量。使用全信息最大似然法和潜在增长曲线模型对数据进行分析，以考虑长期影响。分析显示了抑郁、年龄、信念以及信念与个人熟悉程度的相互作用的短期影响，以及认知自我评估对患AD忧虑的长期影响的证据。建议对这些关系进行进一步分析，并将这些项目纳入其他研究。
