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Abstract
We examined the association of diverse measures of social engagement with level of function in multiple cognitive domains in 838 persons without dementia who had a mean age of 80.2 (SD = 7.5). Social network size, frequency of social activity, and level of perceived social support were assessed in linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, and other covariates. Social activity and social support were related to better cognitive function, whereas social network size was not strongly related to global cognition. The results confirm that higher level of social engagement in old age is associated with better cognitive function but the association varies across domains of social engagement.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by National Institute on Aging grants R01 AG17917 and R01 AG022018, and the Illinois Department of Public Health. The authors thank the many Illinois residents for participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project; Traci Colvin, MPH, and Tracy Hagman for coordinating the study; Todd Beck, MS, for statistical programming; George Dombrowski, MS, and Greg Klein for data management.
Notes
*p < .01 for correlations with an absolute value of .09 or more.
*Estimated from linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education. In addition, model B adjusted for depressive symptoms and personality, model C for cognitive and physical activity, and model D for chronic illness and disability. The estimates are unstandardized beta weights.