Do Worries About Cognitive Functioning and Concerns About Developing Alzheimer's Disease Affect Psychological Well-Being?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine if cognitive worries affect psychological well-being, if these effects are long-term, and if such concerns affect well-being more so among persons with a parent having Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHOD: We used structural equation models with three waves of data collected from persons ages 40 to 60 at T1. We created summative scores on five indicators of concerns about cognitive functioning and worries about dementia. Well-being measures included depression, life satisfaction, stress, and mastery. RESULTS: We found (a) cognitive worries at Waves 1, 2, and 3 were generally associated with lower levels of psychological well-being at each of these waves; (b) there was no evidence of long-term, lagged effects, and (c) these relationships were statistically similar across groups of adult children and controls. DISCUSSION: Because concerns about cognitive functioning and developing AD are pervasive among middle-aged and older persons, practitioners should be aware of their potentially deleterious effect on psychological well-being.

Long-term and short-term predictors of worries about getting Alzheimer's disease.

Cumulative stresses associated with concerns about cognitive functioning and worries about developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been shown to be related to poorer health and lower psychological well-being. Among older persons, AD also generates higher levels of fear than any other disease. But much remains to be learned about predictors of worries and fears, especially from a temporal perspective. Thus, the principal objective of the current research is to examine long-term effects of self-perceptions of cognitive functioning on worries about developing AD. Data for the study are drawn from the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study. We use up to ten measurements of self-perceived cognitive functioning collected from 1992 to 2010 for respondents 50 years of age and older at the time of their entrance into the study. Demographics (marital status, age, education, and gender); beliefs about the role of genetics, personal knowledge of someone with AD, and their interaction; and depression and health are other variables included in the model. The data are analyzed using the full information maximum likelihood procedure and latent growth curve modeling to account for the long-term effects. The analysis shows evidence of both short-term effects of depression, age, beliefs, and the interaction of beliefs and personal familiarity and long-term effects of cognitive self-assessment on worries about getting AD. Further analyses of these relationships and inclusion of these items in other studies are recommended.

Erratum to: Long-term and short-term predictors of worries about getting Alzheimer's disease.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10433-015-0350-3.].