van de Vijver Irene, Brinkhof Lotte P, de Wit Sanne
Habit Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 6;14:1140366. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1140366. eCollection 2023.
Medication adherence can be vital for one's health, especially in older adults. However, previous research has demonstrated that medication adherence is negatively affected by age-related cognitive decline. In the current study we investigated whether older adults are able to compensate for this decline by relying more on the formation of efficient, automatized routines. To this end, we directly compared daily (placebo) medication adherence in a healthy sample of 68 younger (18-29 years) and 63 older adults (65-86 years) over a period of 4 weeks. We show that despite an age-related decline in cognitive functions (i.e., poorer working memory, prospective memory, task switching, and goal-directed control), older adults adhered better to a daily pill intake routine than younger adults did and, in line with our hypothesis about increased routine formation, reported higher subjective automaticity of pill intake. Across age groups, automatization of pill intake was related to intake regularity and conscientiousness, but not to individual differences in habit tendency as measured in the lab nor to explicit strategic planning. Crucially, the age-related increase in pill intake adherence was mediated by experienced automatization as well as motivation. These findings demonstrate that intact habitual processes and high motivation aid older adults in successfully forming daily routines.
药物依从性对一个人的健康至关重要，尤其是在老年人中。然而，先前的研究表明，药物依从性受到与年龄相关的认知衰退的负面影响。在当前的研究中，我们调查了老年人是否能够通过更多地依赖高效、自动化的日常习惯的形成来弥补这种衰退。为此，我们在4周的时间里，直接比较了68名年轻（18 - 29岁）和63名老年人（65 - 86岁）健康样本的每日（安慰剂）药物依从性。我们发现，尽管认知功能存在与年龄相关的衰退（即工作记忆、前瞻性记忆、任务切换和目标导向控制较差），但老年人比年轻人更能坚持每日服药，并且与我们关于日常习惯形成增加的假设一致，老年人报告的服药主观自动化程度更高。在各个年龄组中，服药的自动化与服药规律性和尽责性相关，但与实验室测量的习惯倾向的个体差异无关，也与明确的策略规划无关。至关重要的是，与年龄相关的服药依从性增加是由体验到的自动化以及动机介导的。这些发现表明，完整的习惯过程和高动机有助于老年人成功形成日常习惯。
