The Dynamic Relationship Between Cognitive Function and Positive Well-Being in Older People: A Prospective Study Using the English Longitudinal Study of Aging

• Published in: Psychology and aging 2014-06, Vol.29 (2), p.306-318
• Main Authors: Allerhand, Mike, Gale, Catharine R., Deary, Ian J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult. Elderly; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Ageing; Aging; Aging - physiology; Aging - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive functioning; Cognitive psychology; Depression; Depression - psychology; Developmental psychology; Exercise; Exercise - physiology; Exercise - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health; Health psychology; Human; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Older people; Personal Satisfaction; Prospective Studies; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Survival analysis; United Kingdom; Well Being; Wellbeing
• ISSN: 0882-7974; 1939-1498
• DOI: 10.1037/a0036551

There is evidence that having a stronger sense of positive well-being may be a potential resource for healthier aging as represented by slower physical decline, reduced risk of frailty and longer survival. However, it is unclear whether positive well-being is protective of another crucial component of healthy aging, cognitive function, or whether it has a bidirectional relationship with cognitive function. We use multilevel models with within-person centering to estimate the within- and between-person association between cognitive function and positive well-being in 4 waves of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), (N = 10985, aged 50-90 years at wave 1). Our findings show that, although most variation in cognitive function was explained by age, and most variation in well-being was explained by depression, small but significant associations between cognition and well-being remained after variation in age and depression were controlled. In models where cognition was the outcome, the association was mainly because of variation in mean levels of well-being between persons. In models where well-being was the outcome, the association was mainly because of within-person fluctuation in cognitive test performance. Exercise and depression were the most important moderating influences on the association between cognition and positive well-being. Depression had greater effect upon this association for those with higher well-being, but exercise protected cognitive performance against the adverse effects of lower well-being.