Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate occupational cognitive complexity of main lifetime occupation in relation to level and 15-year change in episodic memory recall in a sample of older adults (≥ 65 years, n = 780). We used latent growth curve modelling with occupational cognitive complexity (O*NET indicators) as independent variable. Subgroup analyses in a sample of middle-aged (mean: 49.9 years) men (n = 260) were additionally performed to investigate if a general cognitive ability (g) factor at age 18 was predictive of future occupational cognitive complexity and cognitive performance in midlife. For the older sample, a higher level of occupational cognitive complexity was related to a higher level of episodic recall (β = 0.15, p < .001), but the association with rate of change (β = 0.03, p = .64) was not statistically significant. In the middle-aged sample, g at age 18 was both directly (β = 0.19, p = .01) and indirectly (via years of education after age 18, ab = 0.19) predictive of midlife levels of occupational cognitive complexity. Cognitive ability at age 18 was also a direct predictor of midlife episodic recall (β = 0.60, p ≤ 0.001). Critically, entry of the early adult g factor attenuated the association between occupational complexity and cognitive level (from β = 0.21, p = .01 to β = 0.12, p = .14). Overall, our results support a pattern of preserved differentiation from early to late adulthood for individuals with different histories of occupational complexity.
Highlights
The relative proportion of older people is increasing worldwide (United Nations, 2019)
The results showed that occupational complexity in working with people or data in midlife was related to better cognitive ability in old age (M = 70 years) in separate linear regression models, whereas complexity in working with things was not
Both ed ucation and occupational complexity had a low correlation with episodic recall at all test waves, with years of education overall being somewhat more related to episodic recall compared to occupational complexity
Summary
The relative proportion of older people is increasing worldwide (United Nations, 2019). It is of paramount importance to identify factors with the potential to preserve cognitive functions in older age. In this regard, several factors have been suggested to be beneficial, for example, a higher educational level (e.g., Ritchie & Tucker-Drob, 2018), engagement in physical and mentally stimulating activities (for reviews, see e.g., Stern & Munn, 2010; Fallahpour, Borell, Luborsky, & Nygård, 2015), media multi-tasking (Elbe, Sorman, Mellqvist, Brandstrom, & Ljungberg, 2019) and bilingualism (Ljung berg, Elbe, & Sorman, 2019; Bialystok et al, 2007; Ossher et al, 2013). The potential effects of occupation on cognitive functions may be of particular interest because most individuals spend a large portion of their lifetime at work
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