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Problems with memory, executive function, and language are a significant public health concern, especially when they begin during midlife. However, there is relatively little work on risk and protective factors for cognitive function in middle adulthood. Using data from 883 Mexican-origin adults assessed up to 6 times across 12 years (Mage at Time 1 = 38.2 years; range = 27-63 years), the present study examined whether developmental trajectories (levels and slopes) of Big Five personality domains and socioeconomic factors (per capita income, economic stress) were prospectively associated with cognitive function (memory, mental status, verbal fluency) at the final assessment. We found that individuals with higher levels of, and smaller decreases in, Neuroticism had worse cognitive function 12 years later. Further, individuals with higher initial Conscientiousness had better subsequent memory, mental status, and verbal fluency, and individuals with higher Openness and Extraversion had better subsequent verbal fluency (but not memory or mental status). The trajectories of per capita income and economic stress were robustly associated with cognitive function, such that higher initial levels and greater increases in socioeconomic resources had protective associations, whereas higher levels and greater increases in economic stress had deleterious associations with cognitive function. Higher education level was associated with better cognitive function 12 years later. These findings suggest that changes in personality and socioeconomic factors across adulthood are associated with cognitive function, which may be informative for interventions to support healthier cognitive aging starting at least as early as midlife. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A large body of research has documented how personality develops across adulthood, yet very little longitudinal work has examined whether these findings generalize beyond predominantly middle-class, highly educated White American or Western European individuals. This preregistered study uses longitudinal data from 1,110 Mexican-origin adults who completed a well-validated personality measure, the Big Five Inventory, up to six times across 12 years. Individuals generally maintained their rank ordering on the Big Five over time (rs = .66-.80), and the relative ordering of the Big Five within persons was also highly stable (rs = .58-.66). All of the Big Five traits showed small, linear mean-level decreases across adulthood. These trajectories showed few associations with sociodemographic factors (sex, education level, and IQ) and cultural factors (generational status, age at immigration, Spanish/English language preference, Mexican cultural values, American cultural values, and ethnic discrimination). The statistically significant findings we did observe mostly concerned associations between cultural values and Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness. Acquiescence bias was also positively associated with Big Five personality trait scores at every wave. There was no evidence of mean-level change in the Big Five when including time-varying acquiescence scores as covariates in the models. Divergences between the present findings and previous research highlight the need to study personality development with diverse aging samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

BackgroundIn an era when obesity prevalence is high throughout much of the world, there is a correspondingly pervasive and strong culture of weight stigma. For example, representative studies show that some forms of weight discrimination are more prevalent even than discrimination based on race or ethnicity.DiscussionIn this Opinion article, we review compelling evidence that weight stigma is harmful to health, over and above objective body mass index. Weight stigma is prospectively related to heightened mortality and other chronic diseases and conditions. Most ironically, it actually begets heightened risk of obesity through multiple obesogenic pathways. Weight stigma is particularly prevalent and detrimental in healthcare settings, with documented high levels of 'anti-fat' bias in healthcare providers, patients with obesity receiving poorer care and having worse outcomes, and medical students with obesity reporting high levels of alcohol and substance use to cope with internalized weight stigma. In terms of solutions, the most effective and ethical approaches should be aimed at changing the behaviors and attitudes of those who stigmatize, rather than towards the targets of weight stigma. Medical training must address weight bias, training healthcare professionals about how it is perpetuated and on its potentially harmful effects on their patients.ConclusionWeight stigma is likely to drive weight gain and poor health and thus should be eradicated. This effort can begin by training compassionate and knowledgeable healthcare providers who will deliver better care and ultimately lessen the negative effects of weight stigma.

ObjectivesMethodsResultsConclusionsClinical ImplicationsEvidence for the association between purpose in life and cognitive health is primarily from North American and European samples. This study evaluates this association in a large sample from Malaysia, an upper-middle-income country in Southeast Asia.Participants (N = 5,579) from the Malaysian Ageing and Retirement Study reported on their purpose in life and subjective memory and were administered tasks that measured episodic memory, verbal fluency, and overall cognitive function.Purpose was associated with better subjective memory (β=.13), episodic memory (β=.06), verbal fluency (β=.12), and overall cognitive function (β=.07) (ps < .001). The associations were similar across sex and retirement status; purpose was more strongly related to subjective memory and overall cognitive function among older participants. Behavioral/social factors accounted for up to one-third of the associations, but all associations remained statistically significant.The positive association between purpose and cognition generalizes to a middle-income country in Southeast Asia. Similar to Western samples, behavioral and social factors accounted for part but not all the association. More research is needed in lower- and other middle-income countries to fully evaluate generalizability.Purpose may help support healthier cognitive aging across diverse populations and be a useful target to improve cognitive aging outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Life events can be stressful and have a detrimental impact on health, but evidence is inconclusive regarding life events and dementia risk. The present study tests whether life events are associated with incident dementia, whether experiencing multiple events has cumulative effects, and whether the associations vary across age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and genetic vulnerability. Methods UK Biobank participants (N = 493,787) reported on 6 life events that occurred within the past 2 years: serious illness, injury, assault to yourself or close relative, death of a spouse/partner or close relative, marital separation/divorce, and financial problems. Incident all-cause dementia was ascertained through health records from the UK National Health Service over a 16-year follow-up. Results Serious illness, injury, or assault to yourself, marital separation/divorce, and financial difficulties were associated with a higher risk of dementia; serious illness, injury, or assault of a close relative was associated with a lower risk of dementia. When combined, experiencing 3–4 events was associated with a more than 2-fold increase in dementia risk. The association for marital separation/divorce was stronger within the first 5 years of follow-up (consistent with reverse causality). Death of a spouse/partner or close relative was mostly unrelated to dementia risk. With few exceptions, the associations were similar across age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and apolipoprotein E e4 status groups. Discussion Severe illness, injury, or personal assault, marital separation or divorce, and financial hardships may raise risk of dementia, particularly when these events occur together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The present study examined how activity engagement mediates the association between personality and cognition. Methods: Participants were middle-aged and older adults (Age range: 24–93 years; N > 16,000) from the Midlife in the United States Study, the Health and Retirement Study, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study of Aging. In each sample, personality traits and demographic factors were assessed at baseline, engagement in cognitive, physical, and social activities was assessed in a second wave, and cognition was measured in a third wave, 8 to 20 years later. Results: Random-effect meta-analyses indicated that lower neuroticism and higher extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness were prospectively associated with better cognition. Most of these associations were partly mediated by greater engagement in physical and cognitive activities but not social activities. Physical activity accounted for 7% (neuroticism) to 50% (extraversion) and cognitive activity accounted for 14% (neuroticism) to 45% (extraversion) of the association with cognition. Conclusion: The present study provides replicable evidence that physical and cognitive activities partly mediate the prospective association between personality traits and cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Slow gait speed has been consistently associated with an increased risk of dementia. This study examined whether measures of balance and lower limb strength are similarly related to the risk of developing dementia. Methods Participants from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N  = 5 658, mean age = 73.23, standard deviation [ SD ] = 6.22) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA, N  = 3667, mean age = 69.90, SD  = 7.02) completed measures of gait speed, semi-tandem balance, chair stand (ELSA only), and cognitive status at baseline. Cognitive status was assessed over up to 15 years. Results Baseline slower gait speed (hazard ratio [HR]HRS = 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.32–1.75, p  < .001; HRELSA = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.37–2.18, p  < .001); and balance impairment (HRHRS = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.26–1.96, p < .001; HRELSA = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.24–3.14, p  < .01) were related to a higher risk of incident dementia, adjusting for demographic factors. The combination of slower gait and impaired balance was associated with a two-to-three times higher risk of dementia in HRS and ELSA. Worse performance on the chair stand at baseline was associated with a higher risk of dementia in ELSA (HR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.23–1.99, p  < .001). All performance measures remained significant when entered simultaneously and accounted for obesity, diabetes, blood pressure, physical activity, smoking, and depressive symptoms. There was little evidence that age, sex, or APOE ε4 moderated the association. Conclusions Similar to gait speed, measures of balance and strength are associated with a higher risk of incident dementia. The findings have implications for clinical practice, given that these routinely used geriatric assessment tools are similarly related to dementia risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectivesMethodResultsConclusionWe performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the prevalence and antecedents/consequences of chronic loneliness and social isolation (i.e. enduring or persistent experience that extends over a certain period of time) among older adults. Moreover, we conducted a meta-regression to explore sources of heterogeneity.A search was conducted in four electronic databases. We included observational studies that reported prevalence and, where available, antecedents/consequences of chronic loneliness or chronic social isolation amongst older adults. Key characteristics of the studies were extracted.Across 17 studies included in the meta-analysis, the estimated prevalence of chronic loneliness was 20.8% (95% CI: 16.1–25.5%), including 21.7% among women (95% CI: 16.1–27.4%) and 16.3% among men (95% CI: 10.6–21.9%). One study reported chronic social isolation (13.4%) and found that chronic social isolation predicted higher depression scores. Meta-regressions indicated that loneliness was less prevalent when assessed with single-item measures. Regarding antecedents/consequences, spousal loss can contribute to chronic loneliness which in turn may contribute to adverse health-related outcomes.About one in five older adults experiences chronic loneliness reflecting the need to address chronic loneliness. More longitudinal research is needed on chronic loneliness and social isolation, particularly from low and middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To date, most studies examining the prevalence and determinants of depression among individuals aged 80 and over have used geographically limited samples that are not generalisable to the wider population. Thus, our aim was to identify the prevalence and the factors associated with probable depression among the oldest old in Germany based on nationally representative data. Methods: Data were taken from the nationally representative 'Old Age in Germany (D80+)' study (n = 8386; November 2020 to April 2021) covering both community‐dwelling and institutionalised individuals aged 80 and over. The Short Form of the Depression in Old Age Scale was used to quantify probable depression. Results: Probable depression was found in 40.7% (95% CI: 39.5% to 42.0%) of the sample; 31.3% were men (95% CI: 29.7% to 32.9%) and 46.6% women (95% CI: 44.9% to 48.3%). The odds of probable depression were positively associated with being female (odds ratio (OR): 1.55, 95% CI: 1.30 to 1.84), being divorced (compared to being married, OR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.76), being widowed (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.30), having a low education (e.g., medium education compared to low education, OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.74 to 0.99), living in an institutionalised setting (OR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.84 to 3.02), living in East Germany (OR: 1.21, 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.39), not having German citizenship (German citizenship compared to other citizenship, OR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.31 to 0.95), poor self‐rated health (OR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.34), and the number of chronic conditions (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.14). Conclusion: About four out of 10 individuals aged 80 and over in Germany had probable depression, underlining the importance of this challenge. Knowledge of specific risk factors for this age group may assist in addressing older adults at risk of probable depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]