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Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter?

Prior research has found that the risk of cognitive decline increases after the death of a spouse. In general, the impact of life transitions is contingent on contextual factors such as socio-demographic characteristics or relationship quality. However, there is limited research on how marital quali...

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Autores principales: Min, Joohong, Song, Jieun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7740137/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1178
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author Min, Joohong
Song, Jieun
author_facet Min, Joohong
Song, Jieun
author_sort Min, Joohong
collection PubMed
description Prior research has found that the risk of cognitive decline increases after the death of a spouse. In general, the impact of life transitions is contingent on contextual factors such as socio-demographic characteristics or relationship quality. However, there is limited research on how marital quality before spousal loss and gender influence the association between spousal loss and cognitive change. The current study examines the effects of spousal loss on change in cognitive functioning as well as the moderating effects of pre-loss marital quality and gender. Data from two waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study were analyzed (MIDUS2: 2004-05, MIDUS3: 2013-14). The analytic sample consists of two groups: (1) 179 bereaved adults who were age 54 or older at MIDUS2 (M = 65.2, SD = 9.5) and whose spouses died between MIDUS2 and MIDUS3, and (2) 179 non-bereaved adults, matched with the bereaved group on age and gender, who did not experience spousal loss between the two waves. Cognitive function was assessed via BTACT (Brief Telephone Adult Cognition Test) at both waves. Regression results show that both pre-loss marital quality and gender significantly moderate the association between spousal loss and change in cognitive functioning. Specifically, relative to their counterparts, men and those who reported better marital relationships prior to spousal death had a greater risk of cognitive decline after a spouse’s death. The findings suggest the significance of pre-loss marital quality and gender for cognitive changes in widowhood and have implications for the development of efficient interventions
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spelling pubmed-77401372020-12-21 Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter? Min, Joohong Song, Jieun Innov Aging Abstracts Prior research has found that the risk of cognitive decline increases after the death of a spouse. In general, the impact of life transitions is contingent on contextual factors such as socio-demographic characteristics or relationship quality. However, there is limited research on how marital quality before spousal loss and gender influence the association between spousal loss and cognitive change. The current study examines the effects of spousal loss on change in cognitive functioning as well as the moderating effects of pre-loss marital quality and gender. Data from two waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study were analyzed (MIDUS2: 2004-05, MIDUS3: 2013-14). The analytic sample consists of two groups: (1) 179 bereaved adults who were age 54 or older at MIDUS2 (M = 65.2, SD = 9.5) and whose spouses died between MIDUS2 and MIDUS3, and (2) 179 non-bereaved adults, matched with the bereaved group on age and gender, who did not experience spousal loss between the two waves. Cognitive function was assessed via BTACT (Brief Telephone Adult Cognition Test) at both waves. Regression results show that both pre-loss marital quality and gender significantly moderate the association between spousal loss and change in cognitive functioning. Specifically, relative to their counterparts, men and those who reported better marital relationships prior to spousal death had a greater risk of cognitive decline after a spouse’s death. The findings suggest the significance of pre-loss marital quality and gender for cognitive changes in widowhood and have implications for the development of efficient interventions Oxford University Press 2020-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7740137/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1178 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Abstracts
Min, Joohong
Song, Jieun
Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter?
title Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter?
title_full Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter?
title_fullStr Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter?
title_full_unstemmed Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter?
title_short Spousal Loss and Cognitive Functioning: Do Pre-Loss Marital Quality and Gender Matter?
title_sort spousal loss and cognitive functioning: do pre-loss marital quality and gender matter?
topic Abstracts
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7740137/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1178
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