MIDLIFE COGNITION-BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MECHANISM

在一生中保持有效的认知功能是个人独立运作能力的关键组成部分，在经济紧张时期可能会发挥更大的作用。在这个项目中，我们将使用电话电池在不同的国家样本中检查关键领域的认知，包括情节记忆、工作记忆广度、执行功能、推理、速度和注意力转换。我们将增加一个新的更新样本，以增加美国中年(MIDUS)研究样本，包括2100名年龄在25-54岁的新参与者和500名来自密尔沃基的非裔美国人。 在目标1中，我们将通过将新样本与MIDUS II样本进行比较来检查经济衰退和社会经济地位的影响。我们将整合整个项目的五个项目的数据，以检查认知表现与经济衰退前后评估的各种生物心理社会变量之间的关系。我们将研究有效的认知功能是否可以作为在面对有压力的生活经历(如经济逆境)时的韧性来源。那些认知能力水平较高的人应该表现出更好的情绪调节能力，而不是 对压力的反应能力。在目标2中，我们将收集关于MIDUS III认知测量的纵向数据，在MIDUS II评估9-10年后。我们的目标是确定对良好的智力起保护作用的因素，以及那些作为认知能力低下的风险因素的因素。我们预测，累积的优势(包括更高的教育水平、良好的身心健康状况、适应性健康行为，如身体和认知活动、低压力反应性，以及强烈的掌握和控制感)将与认知的维持有关，并将作为中年和晚年生活中表现不佳和下降的保护性缓冲。我们将研究可改变的心理社会和行为因素(例如，社会参与、支持)，这些因素可能缓和和调节社会人口因素(SES)和压力对认知能力下降的影响，目的是确定哪些人风险最高，并收集证据以设计适当的干预措施。

The maintenance of effective cognitive functioning across the lifespan is a crucial component of an individual's ability to function independently, and may play an even greater role during stressful economic times. In this project we will administer a telephone battery to examine cognition in a diverse national sample on key domains, including episodic memory, working memory span, executive function, reasoning, speed, and attention switching. We will add a new Refresher sample to augment the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study sample with 2100 new participants, ages 25-54, and 500 African Americans from Milwaukee. In Aim 1 we will examine the effects of the economic recession and socioeconomic status by comparing the new sample with the MIDUS II sample. We will integrate data across the five projects of the overall program to examine the relationship between cognitive performance and a wide variety of biopsychosocial variables assessed before and after the economic recession. We will examine whether effective cognitive functioning serves as a resource for resilience in the face of stressful life experiences, such as economic adversity. Those with higher levels of cognitive abilities are expected to show better emotion regulation and less reactivity to stress. In Aim 2 we will collect longitudinal data on the cognitive measures for MIDUS III, 9-10 years after the MIDUS II assesment. Our goal is to determine factors that serve a protective role for good mental abilities, as well as those factors that serve as risk factors for poor cognitive performance. We predict that cumulative advantage (including advanced education, good physical and mental health status, adaptive health behaviors such as physical and cognitive activity, low stress reactivity, and a strong sense of mastery and control) will be associated with maintenance of cognition, and will serve as a protective buffer against poor performance and decline in middle-age and later life. We will examine modifiable psychosocial and behavioral factors (e.g., social engagement, support) that may moderate and mediate the effects of sociodemographic factors (SES) and stress on cognitive declines, with the goals of identifying those at greatest risk and gathering evidence to design appropriate interventions.