MOTIVATION AS A MECHANISM: THE LONGITUDINAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONAL RESOURCES AND ACTIVITY ENGAGEMENT

Past research has demonstrated an association between health and cognitive resources, intrinsic motivation, and activity participation in older adulthood, both cross-sectionally and from a daily perspective (e.g., Queen & Hess, 2018; Hess et al., 2018). This highlights the potential importance of motivation as a mediator of the impact of changing personal resources on engagement in cognitively beneficial activities. This study expanded on prior research by examining these relationships longitudinally in a large representative sample of adults over 50. Specifically, we used data from the Health and Retirement Survey (N = 5600) to create two 4-year longitudinal assessments, with multi-level structural equation modeling used to test the mediating role of motivation on everyday activity engagement. Consistent with expectations from Selective Engagement Theory (Hess, 2014), motivation served as a partial mediator of the impact of changing resources on engagement, with the effect being selective based on the cognitive demands of the activity.