Abstract
Cognitive functioning has consistently found to predict subjective well-being (SWB), but it remains unclear why this relationship exists. Several potential explanations for this relationship have been offered in the literature, one of which is that a third variable accounts for this relationship. The current study examines this hypothesis by testing need for cognition (NfC), self-rated health, physical activity, cognitive activity, emotional stability, and conscientiousness as mediators of the relationship between cognitive ability (g) and indices of well-being. Data were drawn from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project, a study of community-dwelling adults aged 18–99 (N = 4354). A composite variable representing cognition was created using measures of episodic memory, perceptual speed, reasoning ability, and spatial visualization. SWB was conceptualized as life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect; the three facets of SWB were treated as separate outcomes. Results indicate that NfC, self-rated health, emotional stability, and conscientiousness partially mediate the relationship between cognition and all facets of SWB. Neither physical activity nor cognitive activity mediated the relationship between cognition and SWB. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the cognition-SWB relationship can partially be explained by third variables and provide insight into the personality and individual difference characteristics that underlie this relationship.
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Data Availability
Data were obtained from the Cognitive Aging Laboratory at the University of Virginia.
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References
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The collection of the data in this project was supported by a National Institute on Aging Grant R01AG024270 to Timothy A. Salthouse. We express our gratitude to TAS for providing us with these data.
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Yazdani, N., Siedlecki, K.L. Mediators of the Relationship Between Cognition and Subjective Well-Being. J Happiness Stud 22, 3091–3109 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00357-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00357-6