Unhappiness, health and cognitive ability in old age

Abstract

Background. To test whether scores on depression inventories on entry to a longitudinal study predict mental ability over the next 4-16 years.Method. Associations between scores on the Beck Depression Inventory and on tests of intelligence, vocabulary and memory were analysed in 5070 volunteers aged 49-93 years after differences in prescribed drug consumption, death and drop-out, sex, socio-economic advantage and recruitment cohort effects had also been considered.Results. On all cognitive tasks Beck scores on entry, even in the range 0-7 indicating differences in above average contentment, affected overall levels of cognitive performance but not rates of age-related cognitive decline suggesting effects of differences in life satisfaction rather than in depression. Conclusions.A new finding is that, in old age, increments in life satisfaction are associated with better cognitive performance. Implications for interpreting associations between depression inventory scores and cognitive performance in elderly samples are discussed.

Trajectory of Life Satisfaction and its Relationship with Subjective Economic Status and Successful Aging

“…In our study, the lagged and the change depressive symptoms as well as the lagged cognitive function were related significantly to life satisfaction, which is consistent with the findings of previous studies (Berg et al 2006;Rabbitt et al 2008). The results suggest that an impairment of emotional or cognitive function later life affects subjective well-being or successful aging.…”

“…Psychological health is more related to subjective wellbeing. Previous studies have found a significant relationship between depressive symptoms and both cognitive function and life satisfaction (Berg et al 2006;Rabbitt et al 2008;Hsu 2009). …”

A 35-Year Longitudinal Assessment of Cognition and Midlife Depression Symptoms: The Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging

“…However, self-report measures are commonly used to assess depressive symptoms in population-based studies and earlier studies point to the effects of even subclinical levels of depressive symptoms on functioning and cognitive performance (10, 12, 59). Moreover, by using the CES-D, we were able to show that even mild depressive symptoms in a non-patient sample are still associated with poorer cognitive function.…”

Exploring Positive and Negative Affect as Key Indicators of Life Satisfaction among Centenarians: Does Cognitive Performance Matter?

“…Yet cognitive functioning remains an essential determinant of subjective well-being among persons living 100 years and longer [4–7]. Investigators have acknowledged that normative age-graded cognitive decline suppresses key markers of biopsychosocial well-being including individual autonomy, social involvement, and functional capacity among very old adults [8–11]. This suggests that poor cognitive performance may alter how exceptionally long-lived persons appraise life.…”

“…Life satisfaction has commonly been recognized as an affective-cognitive construct [3, 4, 11, 17, 18]. The developmental past has been reported as a critical “anchor period” and key mediating indicator of positive emotionality [24, 27].…”