Abstract
Background: The capacity of understanding and manipulating numerical stimuli (i.e., numeracy) can impact decision making. This investigation was conducted to examine whether number comprehension and mental calculation predict hedonic (i.e., Scale of Positive and Negative Experience, SPANE) and eudaimonic (i.e., Flourishing Scale) well-being in late adulthood, and whether cognitive reserve (i.e., education, time spent for gardening, and time spent for leisure activities) and non-verbal reasoning predict numeracy skills of old adults. Additionally, the effect of age on numeracy was examined, controlling for the effect of education and cognitive efficiency. Methods: One hundred and fifty-eight (i.e., 65–94 years old) community-dwellers completed a battery of tools assessing numeracy, cognitive and metacognitive efficiency, and psychological well-being. Results: Number comprehension, metacognition, time spent for leisure, and perceived physical health accounted for 23% of the variance in the SPANE condition, whereas metacognition, perceived physical health, time for leisure, and education explained 15% of the variance in the Flourishing condition. Moreover, cognitive reserve assessed in terms of vocabulary and education predicted mental calculation. Finally, aging significantly impacted the mental calculation performance of older participants. Conclusions: These findings suggest that numeracy skills can selectively impact the mental health and daily life of older adults.
Highlights
The occurrence of the global rise of the older population—that in 2017 doubled compared to 1980 and that is expected to reach approximately 2.1 billion in 2050, that is, 1 in 6 people in the world will be at least 65 years old—significantly impacts social policies for the promotion of different facets of life quality in late adulthood, such as physical and mental health [1].A relatively recent trend of research highlighted that the capacity of understanding and manipulating numerical stimuli can influence decision making, that, in turn, can be crucial for the solution of problems in the daily life of older people, such as for health-related decision making [2]
According to Semenza, et al [20], cognitive reserve does not predict written and mental calculation of older individuals, whereas time spent for leisure activities accounted for the ability of the older individuals to manipulate numerical stimuli to solve daily life problems
A further goal was to examine whether some cognitive reserve measures mediate on the relationship between non-verbal reasoning and number comprehension and mental calculation, respectively
Summary
The occurrence of the global rise of the older population—that in 2017 doubled compared to 1980 and that is expected to reach approximately 2.1 billion in 2050, that is, 1 in 6 people in the world will be at least 65 years old—significantly impacts social policies for the promotion of different facets of life quality in late adulthood, such as physical and mental health [1].A relatively recent trend of research highlighted that the capacity of understanding and manipulating numerical stimuli (i.e., numeracy or numerical acuity) can influence decision making, that, in turn, can be crucial for the solution of problems in the daily life of older people, such as for health-related decision making [2]. Numerical skills can be very relevant in late lifespan, when the probability of occurrence of chronic morbidity increases (e.g., cardiovascular problems, increased risk of type 2 diabetes), and the need for understanding number-related information (e.g., tables explaining the effect of medicine) is crucial for appropriate medical decision making and the promotion of health-related outcomes [5,6] In this regard, recent research suggests that older people—especially older women—with low numeracy acuity and less efficient executive functions (i.e., higher-level cognitive processes encompassing planning, inhibition of irrelevant information, cognitive flexibility for the selection of the goal to pursue, decision making, problem-solving, abstraction, and concept formation [7]), mainly those with mild signs of cognitive impairment are vulnerable to the risk of lower number comprehension (e.g., probability, frequency, proportions). The effect of age on numeracy was examined, controlling for the effect of education and cognitive efficiency
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