TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal associations of volunteering, grandparenting, and family care with processing speed
T2 - A gender perspective on prosocial activity and cognitive aging in the second half of life
AU - Henning, Georg
AU - Ehrlich, Ulrike
AU - Gow, Alan J.
AU - Kelle, Nadiya
AU - Muniz-Terrera, Graciela
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - An active lifestyle has been associated with better cognitive performance in many studies. However, most studies have focused on leisure activities or paid work, with less consideration of the kind of prosocial activities, many people engage in, including volunteering, grandparenting, and family care. In the present study, based on four waves of the German Ageing Survey (N = 6,915, aged 40-85 at baseline), we used parallel growth curves to investigate the longitudinal association of level and change in volunteering, grandparenting, and family care with level and change in processing speed. Given the gendered nature of engagement in these activities over the life span, we tested for gender differences in the associations. Only volunteering was reliably associated with higher speed of processing at baseline, no consistent longitudinal associations were found. Our results show that although prosocial activities are of great societal importance, expectations of large rewards in terms of cognitive health may be exaggerated. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
AB - An active lifestyle has been associated with better cognitive performance in many studies. However, most studies have focused on leisure activities or paid work, with less consideration of the kind of prosocial activities, many people engage in, including volunteering, grandparenting, and family care. In the present study, based on four waves of the German Ageing Survey (N = 6,915, aged 40-85 at baseline), we used parallel growth curves to investigate the longitudinal association of level and change in volunteering, grandparenting, and family care with level and change in processing speed. Given the gendered nature of engagement in these activities over the life span, we tested for gender differences in the associations. Only volunteering was reliably associated with higher speed of processing at baseline, no consistent longitudinal associations were found. Our results show that although prosocial activities are of great societal importance, expectations of large rewards in terms of cognitive health may be exaggerated. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180013760&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/pag0000780
DO - 10.1037/pag0000780
M3 - Article
C2 - 37843536
SN - 0882-7974
VL - 38
SP - 790
EP - 807
JO - Psychology and Aging
JF - Psychology and Aging
IS - 8
ER -