The interaction between psychological resilience and perceived stress in relation to memory performance in middle‐aged adults

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundHigh levels of perceived stress are associated with an increased risk of late‐life dementia. As such, it is important to investigate resources that might protect against the negative effects of stress, particularly in midlife when dementia is still preventable. One potential resource is an individual’s psychological resilience (i.e., their ability to cope with stress). The aim of this study was to investigate if the effect of perceived stress on memory depends on an individual’s level of resilience in a middle‐aged sample enriched for a family history of dementia.MethodParticipants (n = 1148) enrolled in the community‐based Healthy Brain Project aged 40‐71 (78% female, 61% with a family history of dementia) completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery Paired Associates Learning task. A two‐way ANCOVA was conducted to assess the interaction between perceived stress (low/high by median split) and psychological resilience (low/high by median split) on associative memory performance, while controlling for age and years of education. Simple main effects were Bonferroni adjusted.ResultThere was a statistically significant interaction between resilience and perceived stress on associative memory performance when controlling for age and education, F(1, 1142), 8.631, p = .003, partial h2 = .008. Bonferroni‐adjusted comparisons indicated that for individuals with low levels of resilience, associative memory was significantly poorer for those reporting high levels of stress relative to low levels of stress (mean difference = ‐0.31, 95% CI = ‐0.44 – ‐0.17, p < .001, Cohen’s d = 0.38). However, for individuals with high levels of resilience, associative memory performance between individuals reporting high and low levels of stress was comparable (mean difference = ‐0.01, 95% CI = ‐0.16 – 0.13, p = .857, Cohen’s d = 0.02).ConclusionIndividuals with low levels of resilience might be more susceptible to the negative effect of stress on memory than those with high levels of resilience. Further research is needed to explore whether boosting an individual’s resilience to stress can help mitigate cognitive decline and reduce dementia risk.