Emotional Distress and Cognitive Functioning of Older Couples
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: This article examines the relationship between cognitive functioning and emotional distress in a sample of 2,684 married couples from the 2006 and 2008 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. METHOD: Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale and the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), we analyze the interrelation between emotional and cognitive health for individuals and spouses with with dyadic regression models. We test how emotional distress and cognitive impairment affect each other within individuals and from one spouse to another. RESULTS: We find emotional distress contributes to cognitive impairment for wives but not for husbands. We also find emotional distress and cognitive impairment in one spouse affects that in the other. We find no evidence that emotional distress effects spouse's cognitive impairment or that the cognitive ability impacts spouses' emotional distress. DISCUSSION: We discuss the results within the context of existing literature, focusing on the socioeconomic and clinical factors that explain these interrelations.
Source: Journal of Aging and Health
Authors: Jinkook Lee, Susan M. Paddock, Kevin Feeney
Institution: RAND Corporation
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: International Comparisons of Well-Being, Health and Retirement, G4400475101, Harmonizing Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, Integrating Information about Aging Surveys: Novel Integration of Contextual Data to Study Late-Life Cognition and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia and Dementia Care
OpenAlex ID: W1489094241