Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2021 Oct 13;36(7):1266-1273. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acab051.
The lack of disease-modifying pharmacological agents for dementia highlights the critical importance of prevention, but known modifiable factors (e.g., education, physical health and health behaviors, depression, and social isolation) do not fully represent potential intervention targets. Positive psychosocial factors predict cognitive aging outcomes above and beyond known risk factors and may also correspond to upstream determinants that open up new avenues for prevention and intervention, as well as for reducing racial/ethnic inequalities in dementia. In this brief report, I summarize contemporary evidence for three positive psychosocial factors that appear to be particularly relevant to cognitive aging: perceived control, religious involvement, and social relations.
Targeted review and synthesis of published studies.
Each of the multidimensional constructs appears to contain "active ingredients" that could help to optimize cognitive aging through disparate mechanisms. Although historically marginalized racial/ethnic groups face disproportionate barriers to accessing certain psychosocial protective factors (e.g., perceived control), these same groups also exhibit naturally occurring sources of psychosocial resilience (e.g., religious involvement) that allow them to achieve better late-life cognitive health than would be otherwise expected. With regard to social relations, converging evidence from disparate studies shows that fostering late-life friendships in particular may have high potential for building cognitive reserve and promoting healthy cognitive aging.
Positive psychosocial factors represent culturally relevant resources that, through careful research, could ultimately be harnessed to promote better cognitive aging for a growing and increasingly diverse population of older adults.
痴呆症缺乏可改变疾病进程的药物治疗，这突显了预防的重要性，但已知的可改变因素（例如，教育、身体健康和健康行为、抑郁和社会隔离）并不能完全代表潜在的干预靶点。积极的心理社会因素可以预测认知老化结果，超出了已知风险因素的预测，也可能与上游决定因素相对应，为预防和干预提供了新途径，并减少痴呆症的种族/民族不平等。在这份简短的报告中，我总结了三种积极的心理社会因素的当代证据，这些因素似乎与认知老化特别相关：感知控制、宗教参与和社会关系。
有针对性地审查和综合已发表的研究。
每个多维结构似乎都包含“有效成分”，可以通过不同的机制帮助优化认知老化。尽管历史上边缘化的种族/民族群体在获得某些心理社会保护因素（例如感知控制）方面面临不成比例的障碍，但这些群体也表现出自然产生的心理社会适应力（例如宗教参与），使他们能够获得比预期更好的晚年认知健康。关于社会关系，来自不同研究的趋同证据表明，特别是培养晚年友谊可能具有很高的潜力，可以建立认知储备并促进健康的认知老化。
积极的心理社会因素是具有文化相关性的资源，通过仔细研究，最终可以利用这些资源来促进越来越多的老年人口的更好认知老化。
