Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
J Appl Gerontol. 2022 Aug;41(8):1887-1895. doi: 10.1177/07334648221095514. Epub 2022 May 11.
Little is known about the contribution of positive psychological factors, such as purpose in life, to healthcare and financial decision making in aging. Here, we examined the relationship between purpose and decision making and tested the hypothesis that purpose benefits decision making, particularly when cognition is limited. Participants were 1081 community-based older adults without dementia. Healthcare and financial decision making was measured via a 12-item performance-based instrument. Purpose was measured via a 10-item scale. In a linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, and education, higher global cognition was associated with better performance on the decision making measure, as expected. Purpose was not directly related to decision making. However, the interaction of purpose with cognition was significant, such that greater purpose was associated with better decision making among persons with lower cognition. Purpose in life may promote better decision making among older adults with lower cognition.
人们对积极心理因素（如生活目标）对老龄化人群的医疗保健和财务决策的贡献知之甚少。在这里，我们研究了目标与决策之间的关系，并验证了这样一个假设，即目标有益于决策，尤其是在认知能力有限的情况下。参与者为 1081 名无痴呆的社区老年人。通过一项基于 12 项表现的工具来衡量医疗保健和财务决策。通过一项 10 项的量表来衡量目的。在一个调整了年龄、性别和教育的线性回归模型中，较高的总体认知能力与决策测量中表现较好相关，这是预期的。目的与决策没有直接关系。然而，目的与认知的相互作用是显著的，因此，对于认知能力较低的人来说，更高的生活目标与更好的决策相关。生活目标可能会促进认知能力较低的老年人做出更好的决策。
