Abstract
Although activity participation is promoted as cognitively protective, critical questions of causality remain. In a cohort followed every 5 years from age 75 to 85 years, potential reciprocal associations between level and change in leisure activity participation and level and change in cognitive abilities were examined. Participants in the Glostrup 1914 Cohort, a longitudinal study of aging, completed standardized cognitive ability tests and reported their leisure activity participation (11 activities defined a leisure activity score) at ages 75, 80, and 85. Higher leisure activity was associated with higher cognitive ability (significant correlations ranged from 0.15 to 0.31, p < 0.05). Between ages 75 and 85, participation in leisure activities and cognitive ability declined significantly. Growth curve models, which provided latent variables for level of and 10-year change in both leisure activity and cognitive ability, confirmed the positive association between levels of leisure activity and cognitive ability (path coefficient = 0.36, p < 0.001); however, neither leisure activity level nor change in leisure activity were associated with cognitive change. Although a positive association between leisure activity and cognitive ability was reported—the likely precedents of this are discussed—there was no evidence that a higher level or maintenance of leisure activity was protective against cognitive decline across a 10-year follow-up.
Highlights
In searching for factors that might protect against age-related cognitive changes, perhaps one of the most scrutinized areas is leisure-time activity participation
principal components analysis (PCA) OF LEISURE ACTIVITY ITEMS The 18 leisure activity items completed at ages 75, 80, and 85 were analyzed by PCA
In the analysis at age 85, the item “outdoor hobbies” had an individual measure of sampling adequacy (MSA) of 0.42 (Kaiser, 1974); the item was removed across all ages, and the PCA were repeated on the remaining 17 items
Summary
In searching for factors that might protect against age-related cognitive changes, perhaps one of the most scrutinized areas is leisure-time activity participation. Adults participating in more leisure-time activity generally have higher cognitive ability, an association replicated crosssectionally but in longitudinal studies with follow-ups ranging from years to decades (Hultsch et al, 1993, 1999; Richards et al, 2003; Wilson et al, 2003a,b; Schaie, 2005). Most activities will be composed of a particular combination of intellectual, social and physical stimulation to create an overall engagement profile for the individual. It is this overall activity engagement which is the current focus. The ubiquity of the leisure activity-cognitive ability association has been interpreted as suggesting that increasing or maintaining engagement in leisure activities in old age can be considered one pathway to reduce or delay cognitive aging (Hertzog et al, 2009)
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