Think young, stay sharp? Positive aging outlook tied to improved cognitive self-perception

Research shows that older adults with positive expectations about aging report better cognitive health and less perceived decline.

Study: Exactly as expected? Older adults’ expectations about aging are associated with subjective cognition. Image credits: Grustock/Shutterstock.com

From a recent study published in Aging and mental healthresearchers examined how older adults’ expectations about aging relate to their subjective cognitive experiences.

Their findings indicate that expectations about aging influence cognitive self-perceptions and that improving these expectations can help support better cognitive aging through increased awareness and realistic views.

Background

Older people’s expectations about aging influence their physical, mental and cognitive health. Positive expectations about aging are linked to healthier behaviors, such as physical activity, which lead to better outcomes.

Negative perceptions of aging can result in faster physical and cognitive decline and increase the risk of dementia.

Positive expectations can motivate actions that improve health and strengthen optimistic beliefs. Negative expectations can lead to less proactive behavior and poorer health outcomes. Self-perceptions related to aging include attitudes toward one’s aging and subjective age.

The expectations of aging are specifically focused on future prospects in the field of physical, mental and cognitive health. Previous studies have mainly examined subjective age, while specific links between aging expectations and subjective cognition require further investigation.

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is often an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). SCD, especially when accompanied by worry, doubles the risk of developing AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Other issues related to subjective cognition, such as cognitive complaints, are linked to negative consequences of aging, such as depression and lower quality of life.

About the study

In this study, researchers aimed to investigate the associations between older adults’ cognitive, mental, and physical expectations of aging, and their subjective cognition and SCD. Identifying whether specific expectations influence subjective cognition more than others could inform intervention strategies for cognitive health.

The study was conducted using online surveys of adults in the United States who were at least 65 years old, spoke English, lived independently and had not reported dementia. The sample was limited to 80% non-Hispanic white participants to ensure a diverse demographic makeup.

Information was collected on marital status, education, income, race and ethnicity, gender and age, which could influence the results. Expectations regarding aging were assessed on a 12-point scale, with higher scores indicating more positive expectations.

Current subjective cognition was measured on a five-point scale, with higher scores associated with better perceived cognitive skills. SCD was measured on a 12-point scale to understand perceived decline in daily tasks over the past decade, with higher scores associated with greater SCD.

Findings

The study sample consisted of 581 adults between the ages of 65 and 90, whose average age was 71.4 years. Approximately 51% of participants were female, 53% were married, and 74% were non-Hispanic white. Education levels ranged from those who had completed high school to approximately 14% with a college degree.

Researchers found that positive expectations about physical health were associated with small improvements in cognition. However, optimism regarding cognitive and mental health was associated with small to medium cognitive improvements.

Overall, positive expectations about aging were associated with lower SCD, with a small to medium effect. In specific domains, expectations about physical and mental health were associated with small decreases, while those regarding cognitive function were associated with small to medium decreases.

Conclusions

Positive expectations regarding physical, mental and cognitive aspects of aging were linked to better current cognition and less perceived cognitive decline (SCD).

These associations were consistent across short-term (current) and long-term (10 years) perceptions of cognitive performance. Expectations about physical health had slightly smaller effects on cognition and SCD than expectations about mental and cognitive functioning, although the differences were small.

These findings have important implications. Expectations about aging may influence how older adults perceive and report cognitive changes, which may influence the early identification of cognitive decline. Possible stigmas or stereotypes associated with aging may influence whether older adults reveal cognitive problems, which may influence the diagnosis of dementia.

The results are consistent with previous studies on perceptions of aging associated with subjective age and attitudes toward aging.

However, while the use of online surveys may reduce social desirability bias and encourage honest responses, it could limit accuracy and representativeness, and excluding full cognitive assessments may not account for MCI in some participants. Personality traits, which are confounding factors, were not assessed.

Longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether changes in expectations with aging influence cognition, or whether the opposite is true, and to examine the influence of these relationships on long-term well-being and health.

Future research could also explore how environmental factors, health status, and demographic characteristics influence cognitive and aging-related expectations and focus on underlying psychological mechanisms through qualitative research.

This insight could be invaluable in supporting the cognitive health of older adults and improving outcomes related to AD and other forms of cognitive decline.