Symposium – Subjective views of aging

Thursday 9th of May 15.00 – 16.30

Aula Magna

Subjective views of aging: Insights on associations with cognitive performance and the experience of dementia caregiving

This symposium presents the macro-construct of Subjective Views of Aging (VoA) and examines the impacts of various VoA concepts on cognition in older adults, as well as individual differences in VoA among dementia caregivers. The first presentation introduces
a new instrument assessing views of cognitive aging and discusses relationships between generalized and personal VoA and cognitive performance. The second presentation analyzes cross-sectional and longitudinal data on aging perceptions and executive function. The third presentation examines daily fluctuations in subjective age and working memory. The fourth presentation investigates how caring for a relative with dementia influences informal caregivers’ awareness of aging. 

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Abstracts

Talk 1 – How subjective views of aging shape cognitive functioning in adulthood and older age.

by Enrico Sella

Authors: Enrico Sella¹, Elena Carbone¹, Riccardo Domenicucci¹, Diletta Signori¹, Maria Letizia Tanturri², Antonio Paoli³, Erika Borella¹

¹ Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy 

² Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, Italy

³ Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Italy

Subjective views of aging (VoA) encompass perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about age-related changes. Despite growing evidence, there is no consensus on reliable tools for assessing VoA, and little is known about how subjective views on cognitive aging influence cognitive functioning. Starting from a systematic review that identified 77 studies and 26 self-report instruments assessing VoA concepts, but none focused on views of age-related cognitive changes, this study presented the new Views of Cognitive Aging (VoCA) questionnaire, and examined its association with cognitive functioning in typically-aging adults and older adults. A sample of 600 participants (aged 40-90 years) completed VoA measures—felt age, Attitudes Toward Own Aging, Awareness of Age-Related Change, Non-Essentialist Beliefs about Aging—, the VoCA questionnaire, and cognitive tasks -digit span backward, D2 test, and Pattern Comparison. Results showed that higher perceived control over cognitive changes (VoCA) was associated with better working memory, feeling younger (lower felt age) with better attention, whereas negative attitudes toward own aging were associated with reduced attention and slower processing speed. These findings underscore the importance of assessing VoA, particularly cognitive aspects, to better understand how perceptions of aging influence cognitive performance across adulthood and older age.

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Talk 2 – Associations between concurrent and twelve-year change in cognitive functioning with attitudes to aging in very old individuals.

by Serena Sabatini

Authors: Serena Sabatini^1,2, Katya Numbers³, Nicole Kochan³, Perminder S. Sachdev^,3,4, Henry Brodaty³

¹ University of Barcelona, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Barcelona, Spain

² University of Surrey, School of Psychology, Guildford, UK

³ Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

⁴ Neuropsychiatric Institute, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, NSW, Australia

This study investigated the cross-sectional associations between cognitive domains and global cognition and self-perceptions of aging. It also investigated whether twelve-year change in the same cognitive domains and global cognition is associated with self-perceptions of aging. Participants were 103 individuals from the Australian Memory and Ageing Study with twelve-year follow-up mean age of 87.43 years (60.2% women). Cognitive domains investigated were attention processing speed, language, executive functions, visuospatial abilities, memory, and verbal memory. Self-perceptions of aging were assessed with the Laidlaw’ Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire assessing psychological growth, psychosocial loss, and physical change. Cross-sectionally, better executive functions (B= 0.75; p-value= .010); visuospatial abilities (B= 0.59; p-value= .045); memory (B= 1.00; p-value= .009); verbal memory (B= 1.01; p-value= .006); and global cognition (B= 0.81; p-value= .046) showed small associations with greater positive physical change, but not with psychological growth nor with psychosocial loss. Smaller twelve-year decline in executive functions (B= -0.78; p= .020) and in global cognition (B= -1.06; p= .035) were associated with greater physical change. Whereas cross-sectionally better scores on several cognitive tasks may indicate more positively perceived physical changes, only less decline in executive functions may be related to more positively perceived physical changes. 

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Talk 3 – Subjective age and working memory in daily life.

by Fiona S. Rupprecht

Authors: Fiona S. Rupprecht¹, Serena Sabatini^2,3, Anna J. Lücke⁴, Anna Kornadt⁵, Oliver Schilling^6,9, Denis Gerstorf ⁷, Ute Kunzmann⁸, & Hans-Werner Wahl⁹

¹ Department of Psychology, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany

² University of Barcelona, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Barcelona, Spain

³ University of Surrey, School of Psychology, Guildford, UK

⁴ RWTH Aachen

⁵ Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Luxembourg 

⁶ Institute of Psychology, University of Heidelberg 

⁷ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany 

⁸University of Leipzig, Germany

⁹Network Aging Research, University of Heidelberg

Previous research indicates that how individuals perceive their own aging (as well as aging in general) can influence cognitive functioning in the long-term. It is however poorly understood whether and how subjective aging and cognitive functioning relate to each other in the more immediate time frames of daily life. To address this, we investigated micro-longitudinal reciprocal relationships between subjective age (i.e., the age one feels at a given moment) and working memory (assessed via a numerical updating task). Data came from an ambulatory assessment study which sampled both variables six times a day for seven consecutive days. Participants were 117 young-old (66–69 years old) and 40 old-old adults (84–90 years old). Dynamic structural equation modeling showed that moments of daily life characterized by more extreme subjective ages—both the feeling of being particularly young, and the feeling of being particularly old—were followed by occasions with worse working memory. A preoccupation with age could potentially prime negative age stereotypes or bind cognitive resources otherwise and result in worse cognitive functioning in the short-term. The discussion will focus on possible explanations behind this effect as well as potential implications and long-term consequences. 

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Talk 4 – Personal views of aging among informal caregivers of people with dementia and non-caregivers: the role of individual characteristics and caregiving-related burden.

By Beth Fairfield

Authors: Beth Fairfield¹, Caterina Padulo¹, Elena Carbone², Serena Sabatini³, Federica Piras⁴, Enrico Sella², Salvatore Bazzano⁵, Flavio Busonera⁵, Lucia Borgia⁶, Linda Clare⁷, & Erika Borella²

¹ Department of Humanities, Federico II University of Naples, Naples, Italy

² Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

³ Faculty of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

⁴ IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, Clinical Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation Department, Rome, Italy

⁵ Medical Department, Geriatric Unit, ULSS 3, Dolo-Mirano District, Mestre, Italy 

⁶ Associazione Malattia di Alzheimer Padova Onlus, Padova, Italy

⁷ University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, UK

Caring for older relatives with dementia may influence an individuals’ representations, experiences and expectations regarding their own aging process. This study aimed to examine whether informal caregivers of people with dementia and non-caregiving peers differ in their personal views of aging (VoA), assessed in terms of felt age (FA) and awareness of age-related gains and losses (AARC), and to ascertain their relationship with caregiving-related burden and distress and sociodemographic and health-related factors. Results showed that although no differences emerged between dementia caregivers and non-caregivers’ personal VoA, sociodemographic and health-related factors influence personal VoA differently, depending on whether individuals care for a person with dementia or not. Moreover, caregiver burden contributed to explaining awareness of age-related losses among dementia caregivers. A mediation model revealed a direct effect of caregiver burden, social status and self-rated health on caregivers’ awareness of age-related losses, and an indirect effect of mood mediated by caregiver burden on caregivers’ awareness of age-related losses. These findings confirm the interplay between VoA, sociodemographic and health-related factors in adulthood and older age and suggest that strains derived from caring for a relative with dementia influence dementia caregivers’ personal VoA, particularly where their awareness of age-related losses is concerned.