ABSTRACT

Objective: Similarities between spouses in cognitive functions have been mainly explained by the assortative mating phenomenon and the convergence for age and education. The mutual influence between spouses is another explanation particularly relevant in the elderly population. Today, it remains difficult to determine whether cognitive similarities exclusively result from the convergence effect or from the mutual influence. Using a novel methodology, the present study aimed to assess the impact of the marital relationship on cognitive similarities among elderly couples.

Methods: 1723 couples from the Three-City Cohort Study were classified in two groups of couples with homogeneous and heterogeneous age and education. We also constituted two groups of pseudo-couples by a random association of individuals, with homogeneous and heterogeneous age and education. Dyadic analyses were conducted in the four groups, regarding the similarities in lexicosemantic abilities, executive functions, memory and global cognitive functioning.

Results: Similarities were found on lexicosemantic abilities both in mate-assorted couples and in couples heterogeneous in age and education but no similarity was found in pseudo-couples.

Discussion: Beyond the convergence effect, the fact that the spouses co-construct their lifestyles may contribute to cognitive similarities in the lexicosemantic domain.

摘要

目的：主要通过配偶交配现象以及年龄和教育程度的趋同来解释配偶之间在认知功能上的相似性。配偶之间的相互影响是对老年人口特别重要的另一种解释。如今，仍然难以确定认知相似性是完全由趋同效应还是相互影响所致。本研究使用一种新颖的方法，旨在评估婚姻关系对老年夫妇认知相似性的影响。

方法：将三城市队列研究中的1723对夫妇分为两组，年龄和文化程度相同且不同。我们还通过年龄和教育程度相同且不同的个体的随机关联组成了两组伪夫妇。在四组中进行了二元分析，有关词汇语义能力，执行功能，记忆和整体认知功能的相似性。

结果：在伴侣配偶的夫妻以及年龄和教育程度不同的夫妻中，词汇语义能力都相似，但在伪夫妻中则没有相似之处。

讨论：除了趋同效应以外，配偶共同构建生活方式的事实可能有助于词汇语义学领域的认知相似性。