Social participation and cognitive functioning in older adults

✍ Scribed by Carolien Hendrika Smits Maria; René Johannes Theresia van Rijsselt; Cees Jonker; Dorly Joan Hardy Deeg

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 643 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.930100409

✦ Synopsis

The association between aspects of social participation and components of cognitive functioning and the ability of these aspects to predict cognitive performance was studied in an age and gender stratified sample of 116 individuals aged 55-89 years in the Netherlands. Measures of social participation included questionnaires on societal participation, sociocultural activities and media use, Cognitive functioning was measured by tests of fluid intelligence, processing speed, word learning and recall, and everyday memory. All aspects of social participation showed significant bivariate correlations with all components of cognitive functioning. Independent of age, gender, education and functional limitations, societal participation and sociocultural activities contributed significantly to the prediction of processing speed and of delayed recall. Tendencies of independent association were apparent between both societal participation and sociocultural activities and word learning. No aspect of social participation independently predicted fluid intelligence or everyday memory. The evidence suggests independent associations between social participation characterized by an organizational setting and high level of activity, and basic components of cognitive functioning, such as information-processing speed and measures of learning and delayed recall. Further research needs to clarify the process underlying the causal relation between cognitive functioning and forms of participation.