Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2024 Aug 7;12:1425403. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1425403. eCollection 2024.
Loneliness and cognitive decline are pressing concerns among older adults, yet little research has explored cognition as a predictor of loneliness. This study investigates the dynamic relationship between loneliness and cognitive function in older adults using the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM).
Data were drawn from Waves 9-14 of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), encompassing 8,473 individuals aged 65 years and older. Loneliness was assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and cognitive function was measured using immediate and delayed word recall and serial 7s from the HRS RAND file. Age, gender, education, marital status, self-health report, and depression were included as covariates. Using M, we computed RI-CLPMs. The first three models were conducted on loneliness and cognitive functions. Then unconditional RI-CLPMs with no exogenous predictors were computed.
Three conditional model results showed that age, gender, marital status, self-health report, and depression were significantly associated with loneliness in the first wave, but only age and self-health report were significantly associated with immediate and delayed word recall at the first wave, not with serial 7s. For carry-over effects, loneliness showed significant positive associations across consecutive waves, but cognitive functions showed significant positive associations just in the last two waves. Some spill-over effects were found between loneliness and cognitive functions. For within-person effects, although initially non-significant, a negative association between loneliness and immediate and delayed word recall emerged in later waves (11-12 and 13-14). The conditional models indicated that older age, not being married, male gender, low self-reported health, and high depression levels were positively associated with loneliness. However, only older age and lower self-reported health were positively linked to cognitive functions.
This study underscores the link between loneliness and cognitive function decline in older adults, emphasizing the need to address loneliness to potentially reduce cognitive decline. Insights into demographic predictors of loneliness and cognitive function could inform targeted interventions for promoting successful aging.
孤独感和认知能力下降是老年人面临的紧迫问题，但很少有研究探讨认知能力作为孤独感的预测因素。本研究使用随机截距交叉滞后面板模型（RI-CLPM）研究了老年人孤独感和认知功能之间的动态关系。
数据来自健康与退休研究（HRS）的第 9 至 14 波，共包括 8473 名 65 岁及以上的个体。孤独感采用 UCLA 孤独量表评估，认知功能采用 HRS RAND 文件中的即时和延迟单词回忆以及连续 7s 测试进行测量。年龄、性别、教育程度、婚姻状况、自我健康报告和抑郁被纳入协变量。使用 M 我们计算了 RI-CLPM。前三个模型分别针对孤独感和认知功能进行了分析。然后，计算了没有外生预测变量的无条件 RI-CLPM。
三个条件模型的结果表明，年龄、性别、婚姻状况、自我健康报告和抑郁在第一波与孤独感显著相关，但只有年龄和自我健康报告与第一波的即时和延迟单词回忆显著相关，而与连续 7s 无关。对于传递效应，孤独感在连续波之间表现出显著的正相关，而认知功能仅在最后两波之间表现出显著的正相关。孤独感和认知功能之间存在一些溢出效应。对于个体内效应，虽然最初不显著，但在后续波（11-12 波和 13-14 波）中，孤独感与即时和延迟单词回忆之间出现了负相关。条件模型表明，年龄较大、未婚、男性、自我报告健康状况较差和抑郁程度较高与孤独感呈正相关。然而，只有年龄较大和自我报告健康状况较差与认知功能呈正相关。
本研究强调了老年人孤独感和认知功能下降之间的联系，强调需要解决孤独感问题，以潜在地减少认知能力下降。对孤独感和认知功能的人口统计学预测因素的了解可以为促进成功老龄化的有针对性干预措施提供信息。
