This study aims to investigate whether altruism and volunteering are associated differently with cognitive functioning in community-dwelling older adults. A 2-year longitudinal study of 291 Brazilian older adults was conducted. In the baseline analysis, altruism, but not volunteering, was associated with higher scores for the composite cognitive score, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the verbal fluency and the CERAD Recall. Concerning the longitudinal analyses, volunteering at baseline, but not altruism, was associated with verbal fluency and CERAD Word List Recall after 2 years of follow up. Same results were obtained while investigating changes in score. Altruism and volunteering were associated with cognitive tests, albeit in different ways. Volunteering, but not altruism, was associated with lower cognitive decline. However, altruism, but not volunteering, was associated with higher absolute score on these tests. These findings can further understanding of this new field of health research.

本研究旨在调查利他主义和志愿服务是否与社区老年人的认知功能存在不同的关联。对 291 名巴西老年人进行了为期 2 年的纵向研究。在基线分析中，利他主义（而非志愿服务）与综合认知评分、简易精神状态检查、语言流利度和 CERAD 回忆的较高得分相关。关于纵向分析，在 2 年的随访后，基线志愿服务与语言流畅性和 CERAD 单词列表回忆相关，但与利他无关。在调查分数变化时获得了相同的结果。利他主义和志愿服务与认知测试有关，尽管方式不同。志愿服务，而不是利他主义，与较低的认知衰退有关。然而，利他主义，但不是志愿服务，与这些测试中更高的绝对分数相关。这些发现可以进一步了解这一新的健康研究领域。