To address gaps in previous research, we examined daily within-person associations between awareness of age-related change (AARC) and cognitive performance in older adults. One hundred twelve adults aged 60-90 participated in an online daily diary study for nine consecutive days. On Day 1, they reported demographic information. On Days 2-9, they reported daily AARC, subjective age, and stressors and completed three tasks that gauged memory (word recall), perceptual speed (number comparison), and reasoning (letter series), respectively, once per day. Unconditional multilevel models revealed significant within-person fluctuations in daily cognitive performance and daily AARC. Controlling for age, education, health, and daily stressors, daily awareness of age-related losses was negatively associated with letter series scores of the same day and changes from one day to the next. The effects held over and above AARC gains and subjective age. Dynamic, naturally occurring perceptions of ageing may influence withinperson concurrent and subsequent changes in reasoning performance on a daily basis and point to a promising avenue of intervention.

Objectives: This study examined the association between loneliness and risk of incident all-cause dementia and whether the association extends to specific causes of dementia. Design: Longitudinal. Setting: Community. Participants: Participants were from the UK Biobank (N = 492,322). Intervention: None. Measurements: Loneliness was measured with a standard item. The diagnosis of dementia was derived from health and death records, which included all-cause dementia and the specific diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), vascular dementia (VD), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), over 15 years of follow-up. Results: Feeling lonely was associated with a nearly 60% increased risk of all-cause dementia (HR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.51–1.65; n = 7,475 incident all-cause). In cause-specific analyses, loneliness was a stronger predictor of VD (HR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.62–2.03; n = 1,691 incident VD) than AD (HR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.28–1.53; n = 3135 incident AD) and was, surprisingly, a strong predictor of FTD (HR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.22–2.20; n = 252 incident FTD). The associations were robust to sensitivity analyses and were attenuated but remained significant accounting for clinical (e.g. diabetes) and behavioral (e.g. physical activity) risk factors, depression, social isolation, and genetic risk. The association between loneliness and all-cause and AD risk was moderated by APOE ϵ4 risk status such that the increased risk was apparent in both groups but stronger among non-carriers than carriers of the risk allele. Conclusion: Loneliness is associated with increased risk of multiple types of dementia.

Engagement in cognitively demanding activities is beneficial to preserving cognitive health. Our goal was to demonstrate the utility of frequentist, Bayesian, and fiducial statistical methods for evaluating the robustness of effects in identifying factors that contribute to cognitive engagement for older adults experiencing cognitive decline. We collected a total of 504 observations across two longitudinal waves of data from 28 cognitively impaired older adults. Participants’ systolic blood pressure responsivity, an index of cognitive engagement, was continuously sampled during cognitive testing. Participants reported on physical and mental health challenges and provided hair samples to assess chronic stress at each wave. Using the three statistical paradigms, we compared results from six model testing levels and longitudinal changes in health and stress predicting changes in cognitive engagement. Findings were mostly consistent across the three paradigms, providing additional confidence in determining effects. We extend selective engagement theory to cognitive impairment, noting that health challenges and stress appear to be important moderators. Further, we emphasize the utility of the Bayesian and fiducial paradigms for use with relatively small sample sizes because they are not based on asymptotic distributions. In particular, the fiducial paradigm is a useful tool because it provides more information than p values without the need to specify prior distributions, which may unduly influence the results based on a small sample. We provide the R code used to develop and implement all models.

Major life events often challenge the core beliefs people hold about the world, which is a crucial cognitive process predictive of adjustment outcomes. Elections have been associated with physical and socioemotional responses, but what is unclear is whether core beliefs can be disrupted and what implication this disruption might have for well-being. In two studies, we examined the association between core beliefs disruption and well-being in the context of the 2018 U.S. midterm election. In both studies, participants reported a small degree of disruption of core beliefs due to the election. In Study 1, a 14-day daily diary study spanning the weeks before and after the election, multilevel modeling on 529 daily reports revealed that greater disruption of core beliefs was associated with lower mean levels of life satisfaction and greater changes in positive and negative affect. In Study 2, a cross-sectional study conducted 40 days following the election, linear regression analyses on 767 adults aged 18–77 from all 50 states revealed that the disruption of core beliefs due to the midterm election was positively associated with current life satisfaction. The effect held when controlling for multiple confounding factors. These findings suggest that elections can trigger disruption of core beliefs, and this disruption may spill over to subjective well-being in the short term but may positively contribute to post-election adjustment.

Objectives Life satisfaction is increasingly viewed as an asset associated with better general health, but its association with cognitive health and risk of dementia is less examined. We tested the hypothesis that higher life satisfaction would be associated with lower risk of dementia. Method Participants were a nationally representative sample of adults (n = 8,021; age range: 45-93 years) from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) assessed every two years for up to 12 years. Multilevel modeling analysis examined whether life satisfaction is associated with cognitive functioning and decline. The primary analysis used Cox regression to examine the association between baseline life satisfaction and risk of incident dementia. Results Between-person differences and within-person changes in life satisfaction were associated with cognitive functioning, but life satisfaction was unrelated to the rate of cognitive decline. Higher life satisfaction was also associated with lower risk of dementia, even after accounting for demographic factors, depressive symptoms, cardiovascular and functional risk factors, health behaviors, and social contact. Discussion Satisfaction with life may function as a positive psychological resource for maintaining cognitive functioning and protecting against risk of dementia.