Yagi Ayano, Nouchi Rui, Murayama Kou, Sakaki Michiko, Kawashima Ryuta
Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Japan.
Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2020 Jul 9;12:198. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.00198. eCollection 2020.
Maintaining emotional well-being in late life is crucial for achieving successful and healthy aging. While previous research from Western cultures has documented that emotional well-being improves as individuals get older, previous research provided mixed evidence on the effects of age on well-being in Eastern Asian cultures. However, previous studies in East Asia do not always take into account the effects of cognitive control-an ability which has been considered as a key to enable older adults to regulate their emotions. In the current study, we tested whether cognitive control abilities interact with age in determining individuals' well-being in 59 Japanese females (age range: 26-79; = 64.95). Participants' mental health and mental fatigue were tracked for 5 years together with their cognitive control abilities. We found that as individuals became older, they showed improved mental health and decreased mental fatigue. In addition, we found a quadratic effect of age on mental fatigue, which was further qualified by baseline cognitive control abilities. Specifically, in those who had a lower level of cognitive control abilities, mental fatigue declined until the mid-60s, at which point it started increasing (a U-shape effect). In contrast, in those who had a higher level of cognitive control ability, mental fatigue showed a steady decrease with age even after their mid-60s. These results suggest that whether advancing age is associated with positive vs. negative changes in well-being depends on cognitive control abilities, and that preserved cognitive control is a key to maintain well-being in late life.
在晚年保持情绪健康对于实现成功和健康的老龄化至关重要。虽然西方文化的先前研究表明，随着个体年龄的增长，情绪健康会有所改善，但先前的研究对于年龄对东亚文化中幸福感的影响提供了不一致的证据。然而，东亚先前的研究并不总是考虑认知控制的影响——这种能力被认为是使老年人能够调节情绪的关键。在当前的研究中，我们测试了在59名日本女性（年龄范围：26 - 79岁；平均年龄 = 64.95岁）中，认知控制能力与年龄在决定个体幸福感方面是否相互作用。参与者的心理健康和精神疲劳与他们的认知控制能力一起被跟踪了5年。我们发现，随着个体年龄的增长，他们的心理健康状况有所改善，精神疲劳有所减轻。此外，我们发现年龄对精神疲劳有二次效应，基线认知控制能力进一步影响了这种效应。具体而言，在认知控制能力较低的人群中，精神疲劳在60岁中期之前下降，此后开始上升（呈U形效应）。相比之下，在认知控制能力较高的人群中，即使在60岁中期之后，精神疲劳也随着年龄的增长而稳步下降。这些结果表明，年龄增长与幸福感的正向或负向变化是否相关取决于认知控制能力，并且保持认知控制是维持晚年幸福感的关键。
