2012 |
Stawski, Robert Steven |
R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Life Events, Depression, and Cognition in Older Age: An Intraindividual Approach
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Decades of research have linked stressful life events to adverse mental health (e.g., depression) and cognitive outcomes. While research has documented the adverse effects of life events depressive symptoms and cognitive function, less research has explicitly examined such links among older adults, and from an intraindividual (within-person) perspective. Understanding the distribution, occurrence, and timing of life events among older adults, and how these events predict depressive symptoms and cognitive function over time represents a critical challenge for research on stress in aging. Knowing the types, frequency, and timing of life events that older adults experience as they age will provide better insight into their lives and the contextual factors that influence their mental and cognitive healt. Furthermore, longitudinal investigations will provide insight into links between life events, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function within-persons over time, and aging-related vulnerability to the influence of life events. Our project draws on longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally-representative study of older adults (age 50+). Specifically, we will use data from the initial HRS cohort (ages 50-60, born 1921-1941) and Assets and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) cohort (age 70+, born before 1923), who have provided up to 18-years of biannual longitudinal data through 2010. The design of HRS will allow tracking of life events among older adults longitudinally, as well as modeling associations among life events, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function within-persons over time, to examine concurrent and lagged effects of life events. This study will address three aims: Aim 1 examines the occurrence and timing of life events among older adults; Aim 2 examines the proximal, prospective, and cumulative effects of life events on depressive symptoms and cognitive function; and Aim 3 examines aging-related vulnerability to the effect of life events on depressive symptoms and cognitive function. The significance of this study lies in understanding: 1) the occurrence and timing of life events throughout old age; 2) the proximal, prospective and cumulative effects of life events on depressive symptoms and cognitive function; and 3) aging-related vulnerability to life events. Areas of innovation include: 1) a novel use of large-scale nationally representative survey data to track the experience of life events; 2) the use of longitudinal data to elucidate proximal, prospective, and cumulative effects of life events on depressive symptoms and cognitive function in old age; and 3) the use of analytic techniques for explicitly examining intraindividual associations among life events, depressive symptoms and cognitive function within-person associations over time. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The impact of the proposed research derives from improving our understanding of the life events experienced by older adults and their effects on mental and cognitive health. Identifying the types and timing of life events older adults experience will directly inform intervention and prevention strategies to promote healthy aging. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal study of the population over 50, this project will examine issues related to experienced life events and their effects on depressive symptoms and cognitive function in a large survey of older adults. This research will help understand the occurrence and timing of life events over the course of aging, and how these life events influence depressive symptoms and cognitive function in the context of aging. It will also contribute to understanding population trends in life event occurrence and their impact on mental and cognitive health, and the identification of high risk individuals/groups.
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0.954 |
2013 — 2014 |
Stawski, Robert Steven |
R21Activity Code Description: To encourage the development of new research activities in categorical program areas. (Support generally is restricted in level of support and in time.) |
Psychosocial and Health-Related Influences On Response Time Inconsistency in Old @ Oregon State University
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent research has identified trial-to-trial variability in response time (RT) latencies, termed RT inconsistency, an important behavioral indicator of normal cognitive function, cognitive aging, and as a potential early indicator of cognitive pathology, and brain and central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. Empirical and theoretical work has suggested that RT inconsistency may reflect relatively innocuous fluctuations in cognitive processing efficiency, as well as more deleterious compromises in brain and CNS function, and that RT inconsistency is susceptible to state-like and trait-like psychosocial- (increased stress/distress) and health- (increased pain, chronic health/disease conditions) related influences. However, little research has systematically disambiguated state-like and trait-like variation in RT inconsistency, or directly examined associations with psychosocial- and health-related risk factors for increased RT inconsistency in old age. These issues represent critical challenges for understanding the broad utility of RT inconsistency as a behavioral indicator of brain health, and the potentially-modifiable psychosocial- and health-related forces that influence cognitive aging. Our project draws on data from three measurement burst studies of RT-based cognitive aging (ages 65 and older) for investigating psychosocial and health-related influences on state-like and trait- like variation in RT inconsistency, and the association between RT inconsistency and cognitive function during old age. This study will address three aims: Aim 1 examines the psychosocial- (i.e., stress, affect) and health- (i.e., pain, vascular function, pulmonary function)-related influences on RT inconsistency within-persons over time and between-persons; Aim 2 examines the influence of psychosocial and health-related factors on aging- related changes in RT inconsistency; and Aim 3 examines between- and within-person variation in RT inconsistency and the use of different quantifications of RT inconsistency. The significance of this work lies in the improved understanding of: 1.) potentially modifiable psychosocial- and health-related risk factors for increased RT inconsistency and cognitive aging; and 2.) RT inconsistency as a brief, low cost and sensitive behavioral marker of both state- and trait-like fluctuations in cognitive and brain function. The innovation of this work includes: 1.) moving beyond traditional group/individual difference approaches to explicitly consider RT inconsistency as a labile construct influenced by psychosocial- and health-related factors; and 2.) the coordinated analysis of our aims across three datasets to provide a rigorous examination of the reliability and generalizability of results, and to provide a consensus on the operational definition of RT inconsistency. The impact of this work derives from improving our understanding of the modifiable psychosocial- and health- related influences that may have immediate and cumulative effects on cognitive health, and the identification of a brief, low-cost, behavioral marker (RT inconsistency) of cognitive health sensitive to state- and trait-like influences with potential utility in clinical and basic research settings.
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0.954 |