Subjective Age and Changes in Memory in Older Adults.
The subjective experience of aging, indexed by how old or young an individual feels, has been related to well-being and health-related outcomes among older adults. The present study examined whether subjective age is associated with memory level and changes, as indexed by measures of immediate and delayed recall. A complementary purpose was to test the mediating role of depressive symptoms and physical activity in the relation between subjective age and memory changes.



Participants were drawn from three waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Subjective age, baseline memory measures, and covariates were assessed during the 2008 wave (N = 5809), depressive symptoms and physical activity were assessed again in the 2010 wave, and the follow-up memory measures were assessed in the 2012 wave.



Regression analyses that included demographic, metabolic, and vascular covariates revealed that a younger subjective age at baseline was associated with better concurrent performance and with slower decline in immediate and delayed recall. Bootstrap procedures indicated that fewer depressive symptoms mediated these associations. Additional analyses revealed that memory level and change were unrelated to changes in subjective age.



Beyond chronological age, the subjective experience of age is associated with cognitive aging.
EA 4556 Dynamic of Human Abilities and Health Behaviors, University of Montpellier, France. yannick.stephan@univ-montp1.fr.
Yannick
Y
Stephan
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee.
Angelina R
AR
Sutin
EA 647 Centre de Recherche et d'Innovation sur le Sport, University of Lyon 1, France.
Johan
J
Caudroit
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee. Department of Geriatrics, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee.
Antonio
A
Terracciano
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D057566:Self Report
depression; memory; physical activity; subjective age