Social and Neural Underpinnings of Octogenarian Wellbeing

描述（由申请人提供）：随着越来越多的人活到生命的第9和第10年，研究健康老龄化的决定因素是一个紧迫的优先事项。社会关系与人们如何在身体上和认知上变老一再联系在一起，美国国家老龄化研究所（National Institute on Aging）已将了解社会因素如何促进健康老龄化确定为当务之急。与许多随着年龄增长而衰退的能力不同，最大化积极情绪体验从而增强幸福感的能力实际上可能会随着年龄的增长而提高。拟议的研究将使用一种独一无二的纵向研究来检验整个成年期的社会功能，作为80多岁老人倾向于优先关注和回忆情感上积极的信息（积极效应）的预测因子；成年人的社会功能是晚年认知、身体和情感健康的一个预测指标。此外，我们将检查在这个老年人样本的积极效应的神经基础。成人发展研究（Vaillant, 2002）是迄今为止对成年人生活进行的历时最长的纵向研究之一，目前已进入第7个十年。来自社会光谱两端的参与者——内城学校的男生和哈佛大学的大二学生——最初是在1939年至1945年进行研究的。在接下来的68年里，研究人员对研究对象的社会功能、身体健康和心理健康状况进行了反复评估。如今，有256名80多岁的老人仍然活着参与这项研究。拟议的4年应用程序将利用这个独特的样本和数据库来解决两个具体目标。目的1是检验成年早期和中期的社会功能是否可以预测(1)八十多岁的人的积极效应的变化，以及(2)晚年的认知、身体和情感健康。目的2是通过功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）、结构磁共振成像（structural MRI）和弥散张量成像（diffusion tensor imaging）来评估这些八十多岁老人的积极效应的程度是否反映在大脑结构和功能上。此外，目标2将研究积极偏见与并发的身体健康、认知功能和情绪健康之间的联系程度。将近70年的前瞻性纵向数据与新收集的神经成像测量和对晚年认知和健康的全面评估相结合是前所未有的。本研究的最终目标是确定晚年健康老龄化的前因和标志，这可能为干预措施的设计提供信息，以促进国家快速增长的老年人口的身体、认知和情感健康。

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.