Social and Neural Underpinnings of Octogenarian Wellbeing

八旬老人福祉的社会和神经基础

• 批准号: 7892371
• 负责人: Robert J Waldinger
• 金额: $ 41.33万
• 依托单位: MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-15 至 2013-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7892371
• 关键词: 21 year old; Accounting; Address; Adult; Affect; Age; Aging-Related Process; Amygdaloid structure; Anisotropy; Area; Arts; Brain; Cognition; Cognitive; Data; Databases; Development; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Elderly; Emotional; Emotions; Fostering; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Goals; Grant; Health; Heterogeneity; Housing; Image; Individual; Knowledge; Life; Link; Longevity; Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Measures; Memory; National Institute on Aging; Octogenarian; Participant; Pattern; Personal Satisfaction; Personality Traits; Phase; Population; Prefrontal Cortex; Process; Quality of life; Research; Running; Sampling; Schools; Signal Transduction; Social Functioning; Structure; United States; Variant; Well in self; Work; abstracting; boys; cognitive function; college; coping mechanism; design; emotion regulation; emotional distress; emotional experience; end of life; experience; healthy aging; improved; indexing; inner city; interest; member; men; neuroimaging; neuropsychological; physical conditioning; positive emotional state; programs; prospective; psychosocial; relating to nervous system; showing emotion; social; social neuroscience; therapy design; white matter; young adult

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research on the determinants of healthy aging is an urgent priority as more people live into the 9th and 10th decades of life. Social relationships have been linked repeatedly with how people age both physically and cognitively, and the National Institute on Aging has identified as a priority the need to understand how social factors promote healthy aging. Unlike many capacities that decline with age, the ability to maximize positive emotional experience and thereby enhance wellbeing may actually improve with age. The proposed research will use a one-of-a-kind longitudinal study to examine social functioning throughout adulthood as a predictor of octogenarians' tendency to preferentially attend to and recall emotionally positive information (the positivity effect); and adult social functioning as a predictor of late-life cognitive, physical, and emotional well-being. In addition, we will examine the neural underpinnings of the positivity effect in this elderly sample. Currently in its 7th decade, the Study of Adult Development (Vaillant, 2002) is one of the longest-running longitudinal studies of adult life ever conducted. Participants from two ends of the social spectrum - Inner City school boys and Harvard College sophomores - were originally studied in 1939-1945. Over the following 68 years, study members have been assessed repeatedly with measures of social functioning, physical health, and psychological well-being. Now in their 80s, 256 men are still alive and participating in the Study. The proposed 4-year application will capitalize on this unique sample and database to address two specific aims. Aim 1 is to examine whether early and mid-adult social functioning is predictive of (1) variation in the positivity effect among octogenarians, and (2) late life cognitive, physical, and emotional well-being. Aim 2 is to examine whether the magnitude of the positivity effect in these octogenarians is reflected in brain structure and function as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), structural MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging. In addition, Aim 2 will examine the extent to which the positivity bias is linked with concurrent physical health, cognitive functioning, and emotional wellbeing. The combination of nearly 7 decades of prospective longitudinal data with newly-gathered state-of-the-neuroimaging measures and thorough assessments of late- life cognition and health is unprecedented. The ultimate goal of this research is to identify antecedents and markers of healthy aging in late life that may inform the design of interventions to promote physical, cognitive, and emotional health among the nation's rapidly growing elderly population. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The population of adults in the United States who live into their 80s and 90s continues to increase rapidly. Understanding how social factors influence the aging process will allow us to design better social programs to forestall decline and promote health in the 9th and 10th decades of life. Our proposed study aims to understand how social relationships and social connections during adulthood can affect brain functioning and promote cognitive, physical, and emotional wellbeing in late life.

描述(申请人提供)：随着越来越多的人活到第9和第10年，研究健康老龄化的决定因素是当务之急。社会关系一再与人们的身体和认知衰老方式联系在一起，美国国家老龄研究所已将了解社会因素如何促进健康老龄化作为优先事项。与许多随着年龄增长而下降的能力不同，最大化积极情绪体验从而提高幸福感的能力实际上可能会随着年龄的增长而提高。这项拟议的研究将使用一项独一无二的纵向研究来检查整个成年期的社会功能，以预测八旬老人优先关注和回忆情绪积极信息的倾向(积极效应)；以及成年人的社会功能作为晚年认知、身体和情感健康的预测因素。此外，我们将在这个老年样本中检验积极效应的神经基础。《成人发展研究》(Vaillant，2002)目前已进入第七个十年，是有史以来进行时间最长的成人生活纵向研究之一。参与者来自社会的两端--内城的男生和哈佛大学的大二学生--最初是在1939-1945年间进行的研究。在接下来的68年里，研究成员反复接受社交功能、身体健康和心理健康方面的评估。现在已经80多岁了，有256名男性仍然健在，并参与了这项研究。拟议的为期4年的申请将利用这一独特的样本和数据库，以满足两个具体目标。第一个目的是检验早期和中期的社会功能是否可以预测(1)八旬老人的积极效应的变化，以及(2)晚年的认知、身体和情绪健康。目的2是通过功能磁共振成像(FMRI)、结构磁共振成像(Structure MRI)和扩散张量成像(Difference Tensor)来评估这些八旬老人的积极效应的大小是否反映在大脑的结构和功能上。此外，《目标2》将考察积极偏向与同时存在的身体健康、认知功能和情绪健康之间的关联程度。近70年的前瞻性纵向数据与新收集的最新神经成像测量方法和对晚年认知和健康的彻底评估相结合，是前所未有的。这项研究的最终目标是找出晚年健康老龄化的前兆和标志，为在国家快速增长的老年人口中促进身体、认知和情绪健康的干预措施的设计提供信息。 与公共卫生相关：美国80多岁和90多岁的成年人人口继续快速增长。了解社会因素是如何影响老龄化进程的，将使我们能够设计更好的社会计划，以防止衰老，并在生命的第9和第10年促进健康。我们提出的研究旨在了解成年期间的社会关系和社会关系如何影响大脑功能，并在晚年促进认知、身体和情感健康。