Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, #07-01 AS8, 119260, Singapore.
Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Block AS1, 11 Arts Link, 117570, Singapore.
Soc Sci Med. 2019 May;229:87-95. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.08.024. Epub 2018 Aug 27.
This study examines the relationships between productive social engagement and cognitive functioning trajectories of older adults in South Korea and how the nature of the relationships differs for men and women. We exploit data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey of South Korea from 2006 to 2014 and apply the Growth Mixture Modeling approach to disentangle health causation from health selection processes. We find that socially productive activities are associated with more favorable cognitive functioning trajectories, independent of an individual's baseline health and cognitive status. The odds of maintaining higher cognitive functioning are greater for men who had participated in socially productive activities on a monthly basis. Social engagement protects against rapid cognitive decline for women, particularly for those with lower education. Among men, social activities in friendship/alumni organizations are likely to help maintain good cognitive functioning in older age while for women with lower cognition, religious activities may protect against cognitive decline.
本研究考察了韩国老年人生产性社会参与与认知功能轨迹之间的关系，以及这些关系在男性和女性之间的差异。我们利用了韩国 2006 年至 2014 年全国代表性纵向调查的数据，并应用增长混合模型方法来区分健康因果关系和健康选择过程。我们发现，生产性社会活动与更有利的认知功能轨迹相关，而与个人的基线健康和认知状况无关。每月参与生产性社会活动的男性保持较高认知功能的可能性更大。社会参与可以保护女性免受认知能力快速下降的影响，特别是对于受教育程度较低的女性。对于男性来说，参加友谊/校友组织的社会活动可能有助于保持老年时的良好认知功能，而对于认知能力较低的女性来说，宗教活动可能有助于防止认知能力下降。
