Daily Stress Processes as Contributors to and Targets for Promoting Cognitive Health in Later Life

Robert S. Stawski · Eric Scott Cerino · Dakota D. Witzel · Stuart W. S. MacDonald

20 citations0/0 files storedPsychosomatic Medicine

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Aging and Gerontology Research Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research Stress Responses and Cortisol

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that daily stress processes, including exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors, are associated with response time inconsistency (RTI), an indicator of processing efficiency and cognitive health. Furthermore, we considered daily stress-cognitive health associations at the level of individual differences and within-persons over time. METHODS: Participants were 111 older adults (mean = 80 years, range = 66-95 years) enrolled in a measurement burst study where assessments of response time-based cognitive performance, stressful experiences, and affect were administered on each of 6 days for a 2-week period. This protocol was repeated every 6 months for 2.5 years. Multilevel modeling was used to examine frequency of stressor exposure, nonstressor affect, and affect reactivity to daily stressors as individual difference and time-varying predictors of RTI. RESULTS: Between-persons, higher levels of nonstressor negative affect (b = 0.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.01 to 0.83, p = .055) and negative affect reactivity (b = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.18 to 1.42, p = .012) were associated with greater RTI. Within-persons over time, higher levels of negative affect (b = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.06 to 0.34, p = .006) and negative affect reactivity (b = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.02 to 0.24, p = .018) were associated with increased RTI among the oldest portion of the sample, whereas higher levels of positive affect (b = -0.11, 95% CI = -0.21 to -0.02, p = .019) were associated with reduced RTI. CONCLUSIONS: Negative affect reactions to daily stressors are associated with compromised RTI both between and within-persons. Findings suggest that emotional reactions to daily stressors contribute to compromise older adults' cognitive health, whereas increased positive affect may be beneficial.

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References

1983A Global Measure of Perceived Stress 1996A 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey 1996The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition.1992Anxiety and Performance: The Processing Efficiency Theory 2005Does positive affect influence health?2005Resilience and Vulnerability to Daily Stressors Assessed via Diary Methods 2002Variability in Reaction Time Performance of Younger and Older Adults 2002The Daily Inventory of Stressful Events

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2019Disruption of Neural Homeostasis as a Model of Relapse and Recurrence in Late-Life Depression 2020Aging-related changes in the association between negative affect and response time inconsistency in older adulthood

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