Abstract

Objectives

Increased social engagement in older adults has been linked to positive cognitive outcomes; however, it is unclear if the social engagement of husbands and wives influences their own cognition as well as each other’s cognition. Moreover, it is unknown if any such patterns persist in different country contexts.

Methods

Data from the 2001 Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and the 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were combined, and comparable samples of married couples without cognitive impairment at baseline were drawn. Follow-up cognition data was obtained from the 2012 MHAS and the 2012 HRS. Structural equation models (SEM) were used to test the actor–partner interdependence model with moderating effect of country on the association of social engagement with cognition.

Results

Significant actor effects were observed for wives in both countries. Actor effects for husbands were observed in the United States only. In Mexico, a significant partner effect was observed where wives’ social engagement benefited their own cognition as well as their husbands’, but not vice versa. Partner effects were not observed in the United States. No moderation effects of country were observed.

Discussion

Our results suggest asymmetric patterns of actor–partner interdependence in Mexico, which may be reflective of the more traditional social role of women, and codependence within the couple. On the other hand, our results for the United States, where each spouse had significant actor effects but no partner effects, may suggest more independence within the couple.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥和美国老年人的社会参与和认知功能：夫妻间的相互依赖有多普遍？

摘要

目标

老年人社会参与度的增加与积极的认知结果有关；然而，尚不清楚丈夫和妻子的社会参与是否会影响他们自己的认知以及彼此的认知。此外，尚不清楚在不同的国家背景下是否存在任何此类模式。

方法

合并了 2001 年墨西哥健康与老龄化研究 (MHAS) 和 2000 年健康与退休研究 (HRS) 的数据，并抽取了基线时没有认知障碍的已婚夫妇的可比较样本。后续认知数据来自 2012 MHAS 和 2012 HRS。结构方程模型 (SEM) 用于测试参与者-合作伙伴相互依赖模型，该模型具有国家对社会参与与认知关联的调节作用。

结果

在这两个国家的妻子身上都观察到了显着的演员效应。演员对丈夫的影响仅在美国观察到。在墨西哥，观察到显着的伴侣效应，即妻子的社会参与有利于她们自己和丈夫的认知，但反之则不然。在美国没有观察到伴侣效应。没有观察到国家的缓和效应。

讨论

我们的结果表明墨西哥演员与伴侣相互依赖的不对称模式，这可能反映了女性更传统的社会角色，以及夫妻之间的相互依赖。另一方面，我们对美国的研究结果表明，夫妻双方都有显着的演员效应但没有伴侣效应，这可能表明夫妻双方更加独立。