Do executive functions explain older adults’ health-related quality of life beyond event-based prospective memory?

ABSTRACT

Previous work has shown that event-based prospective memory (EBPM) predicted health-related quality of life (HrQoL). In the present study, we aimed to examine whether the relationship between EBPM and HrQoL extended to life satisfaction, and whether it persisted after controlling for other cognitive functions related to EBPM, namely executive functions and retrospective memory. We tested two models using structural equation modeling with latent variables in a sample of older adults. In the first model, we assessed whether EBPM predicted life satisfaction and HrQoL; in the second model, we controlled for retrospective memory and executive functions. The first model indicated that EBPM was related to HrQoL. However, in the second model, this relationship was eliminated by executive functions; life satisfaction was not related to any of the cognitive variables. Findings corroborated the link between HrQoL and EBPM, suggesting that such relationship stems from executive functions rather than retrospective memory.

KEYWORDS:

• Delayed intentions
• executive functions
• episodic memory
• quality of life
• healthy aging
• structural equation modeling

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Notes

1. Additional analyses controlling for gender and education does not change the general pattern of the results.

Additional information

Funding

This work benefited from the support of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives, which is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number: 51NF40-185901). The authors further thank the participants of the Vivre – Leben –Vivere (VLV) study, and all members of the LIVES project IP213 and LINK institute who contributed to the realization of the VLV study.