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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Late-life deficits in cognitive, physical and emotional functions, childhood intelligence and occupational profile
— a life-course examination of the Aberdeen 1936 Birth Cohort (ABC1936) | | Author(s) | Dorota Chapko, Roger T Staff, Christopher J McNeil |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 45, no 4, July 2016 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, July 2016 |
| Pages | pp 486-493 |
| Source | www.ageing.oxfordjournals.org |
| Keywords | Children ; Adults ; Older people ; Life span ; Occupations ; Cognitive processes ; Cognitive impairment ; Physical capacity ; Emotions ; Depression. |
| Annotation | The `triad of impairment' phenomenon describes the co-occurrence of age-related cognitive, emotional and physical functioning deficits. The present study investigated how occupational profile and childhood intelligence contribute to the triad of impairment in later life. The study analysed data of a subsample of the Aberdeen Birth Cohort of 1936, comprising of 346 participants. Data were collected on the participants' childhood intelligence, later life cognitive ability, physical functioning, depressive symptoms and main lifetime occupation. The various occupational and impairment measures were summarised into two latent variables, `occupational profile' and the `triad of impairment'. The study used a series of data reduction approaches and structural equation models (SEMs) of increasing complexity to test both the validity of the models and to understand causal relationships between the life course risks for the triad of impairment. Occupational profile had a significant effect on the triad of impairment independent of childhood intelligence. Childhood intelligence was the predominant influence on the triad of impairment and exerted its effect directly and indirectly via its influence on occupation. The direct effect of childhood intelligence exceeded the independent influence of the occupational profile on impairment by a factor of 1.7_1.8 and was greater by a factor of 4 from the indirect pathway (via occupation). Childhood intelligence was the predominant influence on the triad of impairment in later life, independently of the occupational profile. Efforts to reduce impairment in older adults should be informed by a life course approach with special attention to the early life environment. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-160805221 A |
| Classmark | SBC: SD: B: BG6: XM: DA: E4: BI: DL: ENR |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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