Sense of purpose in life and concurrent loneliness and risk of incident loneliness: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 135,227 individuals from 36 cohorts

Purpose in life and lung function: an individual-participant meta-analysis of six cohort studies

BACKGROUND

Purpose in life is a psychological resource associated with better health outcomes across adulthood. It is unknown whether it is related to lung function, a key marker of health and longevity. We evaluate the replicability and generalizability of the cross-sectional association between purpose in life and lung function and whether purpose in life is associated with lower risk of developing poor lung function over time.

METHODS

Participants were from six cohort studies with public data: Health and Retirement Study, Midlife in the United States study, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, National Health and Aging Trends Study, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, and Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (total N = 85,190). Participants reported on their purpose in life, and staff measured their peak expiratory flow with either a peak flow meter or a spirometer. Four cohorts (N = 11,595) had longitudinal assessments of lung function over up to 12 years. Linear regression was used to test the cross-sectional association between purpose and continuous lung function. Cox regression was used to test the association between purpose and risk of developing predicted lung function < 80% over time, a dichotomous outcome that categorized lung function into performance less than 80% of predicted function (= 1) and at least 80% of predicted function (= 0).

RESULTS

In each cohort and aggregated in a random-effects meta-analysis, higher purpose in life was associated with better peak expiratory flow (meta-analytic effect = 0.07, p <.001). The association was generally similar across sociodemographic groups (e.g., age, sex). Every standard deviation higher purpose in life was associated with a 10% reduced risk of developing poor lung function over time (meta-analytic hazard ratio = 0.91, 95% confidence interval = 0.88, 0.94, p <.001). These associations were attenuated but remained significant accounting for behavioral and clinical risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Purpose in life is associated with healthier lung function, with evidence of replicability and generalizability, and with lower risk of developing poor lung function over time. Lung function may be one mechanism between purpose in life and healthier outcomes in older adulthood.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

Not applicable.

Depressive/Anxiety Symptoms in Homebound Older Adults: Mediation Effects of Loneliness and Psychological Well-Being

OBJECTIVES

To examine the direct effect of a homebound state (defined as never/rarely going outside the home in the preceding month) on depressive/anxiety symptoms and the mediation effect of loneliness and psychological well-being on the associations between homebound state and depressive/anxiety symptoms.

METHODS

Data came from the 2023 National Health and Aging Trend Study (N = 7,547 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries age 65+). We fitted a path model to examine the research questions. To test the statistical significance of the mediation effect, we used bootstrapped analysis to obtain estimates of the indirect effects and their 95% CIs.

RESULTS

We found significant direct and indirect effects. The ratio of the indirect effect of loneliness on a homebound state (0.13) to the total effect of a homebound state on depressive/anxiety symptoms was 0.14. The ratio of the indirect effect of psychological well-being on a homebound state (0.28) to the total effect of a homebound state on depressive/anxiety symptoms was 0.26.

CONCLUSIONS

Loneliness and psychological well-being, or lack thereof, significantly mediate the relationship between homebound state and depression/anxiety in homebound older adults.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Interventions to decrease loneliness and improve psychological well-being among homebound older adults are needed to alleviate their depression/anxiety.

The role of purpose in life in healthy aging: implications for the Semmelweis Study and the Semmelweis-EUniWell Workplace Health Promotion Model Program

The global aging population presents significant challenges to public health systems, particularly in countries like Hungary, which faces some of the least favorable health indicators in the European Union. To address these challenges, Purpose in Life (PIL) has emerged as a critical determinant of healthy aging, influencing physical, mental, and social health. Defined as a sense of meaning, direction, and intentionality, PIL promotes resilience, mitigates age-related decline, and fosters well-being. This review explores the theoretical frameworks, mechanisms, and practical implications of PIL in the context of aging. Biologically, PIL regulates stress responses, contributing to reduced disease risk and improved longevity. Psychologically, PIL fosters resilience, self-regulation, and positive emotions, which buffer against mental health challenges and support cognitive health. Socially, PIL strengthens meaningful relationships, promotes prosocial behaviors, and fosters collective purpose, reducing isolation and enhancing social cohesion. These mechanisms interact to create a synergistic effect that supports healthy aging trajectories. The Semmelweis Study, Hungary's most extensive workplace cohort study, offers a unique opportunity to integrate PIL assessment into its longitudinal design, providing novel insights into how PIL influences aging outcomes. Complementing this research, the Semmelweis-EUniWell Workplace Health Promotion Program translates these insights into actionable interventions, designed to enhance employee well-being and productivity. Drawing from global best practices, including insights from Blue Zones and Mediterranean-inspired interventions, Hungary can position PIL as a cornerstone of its healthy aging agenda. Incorporating PIL-focused strategies into workplace health programs and national public health policies holds the potential to extend healthspan, reduce healthcare costs, and foster a resilient and purposeful aging population. This review highlights the transformative potential of PIL in addressing the multifaceted challenges of aging and advancing public health goals.

Purpose in life and concurrent and incident fatigue

Fatigue, the experience of extreme tiredness, is common and associated with poor health outcomes and worse quality of life. The present study examines purpose in life and the likelihood of concurrent fatigue and risk of developing fatigue over time. Participants from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 6,865) reported on their purpose in life and fatigue concurrently and their fatigue again every four years up to 12 years later. Controlling for sociodemographic covariates, higher purpose in life was associated with lower likelihood of concurrent fatigue (OR = .65, 95% CI = .61, .69, p < .001) and lower risk of incident fatigue over follow-up (HR = .79, 95% CI = .75, .84, p < .001). Controlling for disease burden, smoking, and physical activity attenuated these associations by 14% and 6%, respectively, but the associations remained significant (p < .001). The associations were also independent of and not moderated by depression, which indicated that purpose is protective even when experiencing elevated distress. These associations were not moderated by age, sex, race, ethnicity, or education. Finally, purpose was also associated with recovery from fatigue (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.41, p < .001) and lower risk of persistent fatigue (OR = .68, 95% CI = .63-.73, p < .001). Purpose in life is a psychological resource associated with lower risk of fatigue and better recovery from it. Purpose may thus be a promising intervention target to reduce and prevent fatigue.

Purpose in life and accelerometer-measured physical activity among older adults

OBJECTIVE

Purpose in life is associated with engagement in physical activity and better cognitive health. This study examines the association between purpose in life and patterns of physical activity measured with an accelerometer and whether these patterns mediate the association between purpose and episodic memory among older adults.

METHODS AND MEASURES

This research is a secondary analysis of data from the accelerometry sub-study of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Participants (N = 747; mean age = 79.20) reported on their purpose, wore an accelerometer for eight days, and completed an episodic memory task.

RESULTS

Purpose in life was associated with healthier patterns of physical activity, including higher total activity counts (β = .10, p = .002), more active bouts per day (β = .11, p = .003), less activity fragmentation (β = -.17, p < .001) and more sedentary fragmentation (β = .11, p = .002). These associations were generally similar across age, sex, race and education. Higher total activity counts and less activity fragmentation were associated with better episodic memory and accounted for part of the association between purpose and episodic memory.

CONCLUSION

Purpose in life is associated with healthier patterns of physical activity measured through accelerometry among older adults and such patterns may be one factor in the pathway from purpose to healthier episodic memory.

Meaning in life and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the UK Biobank

OBJECTIVE

To determine the association between meaning in life and all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and whether associations vary by depression or sociodemographic factors.

METHODS

Participants were UK Biobank cohort members who reported on their meaning in life in the mental health assessment from October 2016 to July 2017 (N = 153,505). All-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality were identified from ICD-10 codes from national death registries through December 2022.

RESULTS

Over the up to six-year follow-up, every standard deviation higher in meaning in life was associated with a 15 % decreased risk of death from any cause (HR = 0.87, 95 % CI = 0.85-0.90, p < .001). The association was attenuated but remained significant accounting for socioeconomic, clinical, and behavioral risk factors (HR = 0.91, 95 % CI = 0.88-0.94, p < .001). Meaning in life was associated with reduced risk of death from 7 of the 8 cause-specific deaths examined: external cause (47 %), respiratory (41 %), nervous (32 %), digestive (25 %), or circulatory (15 %) systems, COVID-19 (28 %), and cancer (8 %). Depression concurrent with the meaning assessment did not explain or moderate these associations, which indicated that meaning was similarly protective when concurrently experiencing psychological distress. The association between meaning and all-cause mortality was similar across age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status but slightly stronger among female than male participants.

CONCLUSION

Feeling that one's life has meaning is associated with lower risk of mortality, particularly causes of death due to the respiratory system, nervous system, or COVID-19. Given that meaning in life can be modified through intervention, future research could address whether it could be a useful target of intervention.

Purpose in life and cognitive health: a 28-year prospective study

OBJECTIVES

To examine the prospective association between purpose in life measured at three points across middle and older adulthood and cognitive outcomes assessed 8-28 years later.

DESIGN

Prospective Study.

SETTING

Wisconsin Longitudinal Study of Aging (WLS).

PARTICIPANTS

WLS participants who reported on their purpose in life at Round 4 (1992-1994; Mage = 52.58), Round 5 (2003-2007; Mage = 63.74), and/or Round 6 (2010-2012; Mage = 70.25) and were administered a cognitive battery at Round 7 (2020; Mage = 79.94) were included in the analysis (N = 4,632).

MEASUREMENTS

Participants completed the Ryff measure of purpose in life and were administered the telephone interview for cognitive status and measures of verbal fluency, digit ordering, and numeric reasoning.

RESULTS

Purpose in life measured at age 52 was related to better global cognitive function and verbal fluency but unrelated to dementia at age 80. In contrast, purpose in life at ages 63-70 was associated with lower likelihood of dementia, as well as better global cognitive function and verbal fluency at age 80. The effect sizes were modest (median Beta coefficient = .05; median odds ratio = .85). A slightly steeper decline in purpose in life between ages 52 and 70 was found for individuals with dementia at age 80.

CONCLUSIONS

Purpose in life is associated with healthier cognitive function measured up to 28 years later. Individuals with lower purpose, especially in their 60s or older, and with steeper declines in purpose, are more likely to have dementia at age 80.

Purpose in life and stress: Momentary associations from a micro-longitudinal study

Purpose in life is an aspect of well-being associated with less subjective stress. The present research sought to expand this literature by testing the association between both dispositional and momentary purpose with stress in daily life using a micro-longitudinal study design. Participants (N = 303) reported their dispositional purpose at baseline and reported their momentary purpose and stress three times a day for 8 days. Between-person, dispositional purpose was associated with less momentary stress across the 8 days tested with linear regression (β = -0.29, 95% CI = -0.39, -18, p < 0.001); it was unrelated to variability in stress (β = 0.05, 95% CI = -0.05, 0.14, p = 0.310). In contrast, the within-person analysis tested with multilevel modelling indicated that in moments when participants felt more purpose-driven than their average, they felt more stressed (b = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.06, 0.12, SE = 0.01, p < 0.001). This association was slightly stronger among participants with relatively lower dispositional purpose (binteraction = -0.04, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = -0.08, -0.01, p = 0.032). This study replicated the negative association between dispositional purpose and subjective stress when stress was measured at moments in daily life. It also found that feeling more purpose-driven than usual in the moment is stressful, a counterintuitive finding that, if replicated, suggests that striving for purpose can be stressful in the moment, even if feeling more purposeful in general is associated with lower stress.

Purpose in Life and Cognitive Function in the Malaysian Ageing and Retirement Study

OBJECTIVES

Evidence for the association between purpose in life and cognitive health is primarily from North American and European samples. This study evaluates this association in a large sample from Malaysia, an upper-middle-income country in Southeast Asia.

METHODS

Participants (N = 5,579) from the Malaysian Ageing and Retirement Study reported on their purpose in life and subjective memory and were administered tasks that measured episodic memory, verbal fluency, and overall cognitive function.

RESULTS

Purpose was associated with better subjective memory (β=.13), episodic memory (β=.06), verbal fluency (β=.12), and overall cognitive function (β=.07) (ps < .001). The associations were similar across sex and retirement status; purpose was more strongly related to subjective memory and overall cognitive function among older participants. Behavioral/social factors accounted for up to one-third of the associations, but all associations remained statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The positive association between purpose and cognition generalizes to a middle-income country in Southeast Asia. Similar to Western samples, behavioral and social factors accounted for part but not all the association. More research is needed in lower- and other middle-income countries to fully evaluate generalizability.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Purpose may help support healthier cognitive aging across diverse populations and be a useful target to improve cognitive aging outcomes.

Purpose in life and slow walking speed: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations

The present research examines the association between purpose in life - a component of well-being defined as the feeling that one's life is goal-oriented and has direction - and slow walking speed and the risk of developing slow walking speed over time. Participants (N = 18,825) were from three established longitudinal studies of older adults. At baseline, participants reported on their purpose in life, and interviewers measured their usual walking speed. Walking speed was measured at annual or biannual follow-up waves up to 16 years later. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to summarize the estimates from the individual studies. Every standard deviation higher in purpose in life (as a continuous measure) was associated with a lower likelihood of cross-sectional slow walking speed at baseline (meta-analytic OR = .80, 95% CI = .77-.83). Among participants who did not have slow walking speed at baseline (n = 8,448), every standard deviation higher purpose in life was associated with a lower likelihood of developing slow walking speed over the up to 16 years of follow-up (meta-analytic HR = .93, 95% CI = .89-.96). Physical activity and disease burden accounted for 25% and 14% of the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations, respectively. The associations were independent of age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education and not moderated by these factors. Higher purpose in life is associated with a lower risk of slow walking speed and a lower risk of developing slow walking speed over time. Purpose in life is a psychological resource that may help to support aspects of physical function, such as walking speed, and may help support better function with age.

Pathways Linking Information and Communication Technology Use and Loneliness Among Older Adults: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

This study investigated the association between information and communication technology (ICT) use and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults (aged 65+), as well as the mediating effects of social relations, perceived control, and purpose-in-life.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

The study used data from the 2014 and 2018 Health and Retirement Study (N = 3,026), employing autoregressive path models with contemporaneous mediation to assess the association of 2 kinds of ICT use, social media communication and general computer use, with loneliness through the pathways of perceived social support, social contact, perceived constraints, and purpose-in-life.

RESULTS

Social media communication had a negative association with loneliness. Perceived social support and social contact mediated this association, but not perceived constraints, or purpose-in-life. General computer use did not have a significant total effect on loneliness; however, a significant indirect effect through perceived constraints, purpose-in-life, and social contact was found.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Our findings extended the existing literature regarding the important factors associated with variation in loneliness among older adults. Health programs and ICT solutions could be more effective in mitigating loneliness if they target the root causes of loneliness, including reducing perceptions of constraints and increasing a sense of purpose-in-life, along with strengthening social relationships.

Purpose in life and cognitive performance and informant ratings of cognitive decline, affect, and activities

OBJECTIVE

To examine (1) the association between purpose in life and multiple domains of cognitive function and informant-rated cognitive decline, affect, and activities; (2) whether these associations are moderated by sociodemographic factors, cognitive impairment, or depression; (3) whether the associations are independent of other aspects of well-being and depressive symptoms.

METHOD

As part of the 2016 Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol from the Health and Retirement Study, participants completed a battery of cognitive tests and nominated a knowledgeable informant to rate their cognitive decline, affect, and activities. Participants with information available on their purpose in life from the 2014/2016 Leave Behind Questionnaire were included in the analytic sample (N = 2,812).

RESULTS

Purpose in life was associated with better performance in every cognitive domain examined (episodic memory, speed-attention, visuospatial skills, language, numeric reasoning; median β =.10, p <.001; median d =.53). Purpose was likewise associated with informant-rated cognitive decline and informant-rated affective and activity profiles beneficial for cognitive health (median β =.18, p < .001; median d =.55). There was little evidence of moderation by sociodemographic or other factors (e.g., depression). Life satisfaction, optimism, positive affect, and mastery were generally associated with cognition. When tested simultaneously with each other and depressive symptoms, most dimensions were reduced to non-significance; purpose remained a significant predictor.

CONCLUSIONS

Purpose in life is associated with better performance across numerous domains of cognition and with emotional and behavioral patterns beneficial for cognitive health that are observable by knowledgeable others. These associations largely generalize across demographic and clinical groups and are independent of other aspects of well-being.

Purpose in Life and Cognitive Function: Evidence for Momentary Associations in Daily Life

Background and Objectives

Purpose in life is associated with healthier cognitive outcomes in older adulthood. This research examines within-person dynamics between momentary purpose and cognitive function to provide proof of concept that increases in purpose are associated with better cognitive performance.

Research Design and Methods

Participants (N = 303; 54% female; Mage = 51.71, SD = 7.32) completed smartphone-based momentary assessments of purpose and short cognitive tasks 3 times a day for 8 days.

Results

In moments when participants felt more purpose driven than their average, they had faster processing speed (b = -1.240, SE = 0.194; p < .001), independent of person, temporal, and contextual factors and practice effects. Momentary purpose was unrelated to visual working memory performance (b = -0.001, SE = 0.001; p = .475). In contrast to purpose, momentary hedonic affect (e.g., happiness) was unrelated to momentary cognition.

Discussion and Implications

Feeling more momentary purpose may support faster processing speed in daily life. Such evidence provides stage 0 support for a purpose-based intervention for healthier cognition, which may be particularly useful in middle adulthood and the transition to older adulthood before the onset of cognitive impairment.

Purpose in life and stress: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 16 samples

Background

Purpose in life is a psychological resource that has been associated with better regulation of stress. The present research reports a coordinated analysis of the association between purpose in life and subjective stress and evaluates potential sociodemographic and mental health moderators of this association.

Methods

With individual participant data from 16 samples (total N=108,391), linear regression examined the association between purpose in life and general subjective feelings of stress, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics.

Results

Greater purpose in life was associated with less subjective stress (meta-analytic estimate=-.228, 95% Confidence Interval=-.292, -.164; p<.001). Interaction terms between sociodemographic factors and purpose tested in the individual samples and synthesized with meta-analysis were not significant, which indicated that the association between purpose and stress was similar across age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education. The association was also not moderated by psychological distress. Meta-regressions further indicated that this association was generally similar across scale length, content of the purpose measure, and across samples from Eastern and Western countries.

Limitations

The associations reported are observational. Experimental work is needed to evaluate causality.

Conclusions

Purpose in life is associated with less subjective stress across populations. Less subjective stress may be one mechanism through which purpose contributes to better mental and physical health.

Purpose in Life and Risk of Falls: A Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional and Prospective Associations

Background and Aim: Purpose in life is an aspect of well-being that is associated with better health outcomes in older adulthood. We examine the association between purpose in life and likelihood of a recent fall and risk of an incident fall over time. Methods: Purpose in life and falls were reported concurrently and falls were reported again up to 16 years later in four established longitudinal studies of older adults (total N = 25,418). Results: A random-effects meta-analysis of the four samples indicated that purpose was associated with a 14% lower likelihood of having fallen recently at baseline (meta-analytic OR = 0.88, 95% CI [0.84-0.92]). Among participants who reported no falls at baseline (N = 15,632), purpose was associated with a nearly 10% lower risk of an incident fall over the up to 16-year follow-up (meta-analytic HR = 0.92, 95% CI [0.90-0.94]). These associations were independent of age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education, were not moderated by these factors, and persisted controlling for physical activity and disease burden. Conclusion and Recommendations: Purpose in life is a meaningful aspect of well-being that may be useful to identify individuals at risk for falling, particularly among individuals without traditional risk factors, and be a target of intervention to reduce fall risk.

Meaning in life and Parkinson's disease in the UK Biobank

Introduction

Meaning in life is an aspect of eudaimonic well-being associated with lower dementia risk. This research examines whether this protective association extends to Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods

Participants (N = 153,569) from the UK Biobank reported on their meaning in life. Cases of PD were identified through health records.

Results

Meaning in life was associated with a 50 % lower likelihood of prevalent PD (OR = 0.68, 95 % CI = 0.59-0.78). Over the 5-year follow-up, meaning was associated with a 35 % lower risk of incident PD (HR = 0.74, 95 % CI = 0.65-0.83), an association robust to sociodemographic characteristics, depression, history of seeking mental health care, smoking, physical activity, and genetic risk and not moderated by age, sex, education, deprivation, or genetic risk.

Conclusions

Meaning in life is associated with lower risk of incident PD, an association independent of other major risk factors and generalizable across sociodemographic groups. Meaning is a promising target of intervention for common neurodegenerative diseases.

Purpose in life, stress mindset, and perceived stress: Test of a mediational model

Purpose in life is associated with less perceived stress and more positive worldviews. This study examined whether people with more purpose adopt a mindset that views stress as beneficial rather than harmful and whether this mindset is one mechanism between purpose and less stress. We used a short-term longitudinal study (N=2,147) to test stress mindset as a mediator between purpose in life measured prior to the pandemic and stress measured early in the pandemic. We also tested Covid-related worry as a mechanism, given the measurement period spanned pre-pandemic to the first shutdowns in the United States. In contrast to expectations, purpose was unrelated to whether stress was conceptualized as beneficial or harmful (b=.00, SE=.02; p=.710) and thus stress mindset did not mediate the prospective association between purpose and stress. Both purpose in life (b=-.41, SE=.04, p<.001) and stress mindset (b=-.24, SE=.04; p<.001) were independent prospective predictors of stress. Purpose was related to less Covid-related worry, which was a significant mechanism between purpose and stress (indirect effect=-.03, SE=.01; p=.023). A stress-is-enhancing mindset predicted less stress but did not explain why purpose was associated with less perceived stress, whereas fewer Covid-related worries was one pathway from purpose to less stress.

Prevalence and associated factors of incident and persistent loneliness among middle-aged and older adults in Thailand

BACKGROUND

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of incident and persistent loneliness in a prospective cohort study among middle-aged and older adults (≥ 45 years) in Thailand.

METHODS

Longitudinal data from the Health, Aging, and Retirement in Thailand (HART) study in 2015 and 2017 were analysed. Loneliness was assessed with one item from the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Logistic regression was used to calculate predictors of incident and persistent loneliness.

RESULTS

In total, at baseline 21.7% had loneliness, 633 of 3696 participants without loneliness in 2015 had incident loneliness in 2017 (22.2%), and 239 of 790 adults had persistent loneliness (in both 2015 and 2017) (30.3%). In adjusted logistic regression analysis, low income (aOR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.57), poor self-rated physical health status (aOR: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.27 to 2.12), hypertension (aOR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.65), depressive symptoms (aOR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.11 to 3.49), and having three or chronic conditions (aOR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.19 to 2.60) were positively associated and a higher education (aOR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.55 to 0.98) and living in the southern region of Thailand (aOR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.30 to 0.61) were inversely associated with incident loneliness. Poor self-rated physical health status (aOR: 1.91, 95% CI: 1.26 to 2.88), and having three or more chronic diseases (aOR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.07 to 2.98), were positively associated, and living in the southern region (aOR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.65) was inversely associated with persistent loneliness.

CONCLUSION

More than one in five ageing adults had incident loneliness in 2 years of follow-up. The prevalence of incident and/or persistent loneliness was higher in people with a lower socioeconomic status, residing in the central region, poor self-rated physical health status, depressive symptoms, hypertension, and a higher number of chronic diseases.

Sense of meaning and purpose in life and risk of incident dementia: New data and meta-analysis

PURPOSE

A greater sense of meaning and purpose in life is associated with lower dementia risk. The present research examines meaning and incident dementia in the largest sample to date, the UK Biobank, and combines the findings with the published literature on meaning/purpose and dementia risk in a meta-analysis.

METHOD

Participants from the UK Biobank reported on their meaning in life in the 2016/2017 mental health assessment (N=153,445). All-cause and cause-specific dementia were derived from hospital and death records through November 2021. Cox regression was used to test the association between meaning in life and risk of incident dementia. Results from the UK Biobank were combined with published studies identified through a systematic literature review in a random-effect meta-analysis (k=8; total N=214,270).

RESULTS

UK Biobank participants were followed up to five years after their assessment of meaning in life; 551 participants developed dementia. For every one-point higher feeling of meaning, there was a 35% decreased risk of all-cause dementia (HR=.74, 95% CI=.67-.82, p<.001). The association was similar controlling for clinical and behavioral risk factors and was not moderated by age, sex, education, or APOE risk status. Similar associations were found for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. The meta-analysis supported the protective association between meaning/purpose and lower dementia risk (HR=.76, 95% CI=.72-.79, p<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The present research supports the growing literature that meaning and purpose in life have a robust association with lower risk of developing dementia. Meaning/purpose is a promising intervention target for healthier cognitive outcomes in older adulthood.

Sense of Purpose in Life and Subjective Cognitive Failures

A greater sense of purpose in life is an aspect of well-being associated with markers of cognitive health across adulthood, including subjective cognition. The current research extends this work to examine how purpose is associated with cognitive failures, which are momentary lapses in cognitive function, whether this association varies by age, sex, race, or education, and whether it is accounted for by depressed affect. Adults across the United States (N=5,100) reported on their sense of purpose in life, recent cognitive failures in four domains (memory, distractibility, blunders, names), and depressed affect. Purpose was associated with fewer cognitive failures overall and within each domain (median d=.30, p<.01), controlling for sociodemographic covariates. These associations were similar across sex, education, and racial groups but were stronger at relatively older than younger ages. Depressed affect accounted for all the association between purpose and cognitive failures among adults younger than 50; the association was reduced by half but remained significant among participants 50 and older. Purpose was associated with fewer cognitive failures, especially in the second half of adulthood. Purpose may be a psychological resource that helps support subjective cognition among relatively older adults, even after accounting for depressed affect.

Loneliness in Relation to Social Factors and Self-Reported Health Among Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Loneliness is described as a public health problem and can be both a consequence of aging and a cause of ill health. Lonely older adults tend to have difficulties making new social connections, essential in reducing loneliness. Loneliness often varies over time, but established loneliness tends to persist. Maintaining good health is fundamental throughout the life course. Social connections change with aging, which can contribute to loneliness.

AIM

This study aimed to investigate loneliness in relation to social factors and self-reported health among older adults.

METHOD

A cross-sectional research design was used based on data from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care, Blekinge (SNAC-B), from February 2019 to April 2021. Statistical analysis consisted of descriptive and inferential analysis.

RESULTS

Of n = 394 participants, 31.7% (n = 125) stated loneliness. Close emotional connections were necessary for less loneliness. Loneliness was more common among those who did not live with their spouse or partner and met more rarely. Furthermore, seeing grandchildren and neighbors less often increased loneliness, and a more extensive social network decreased loneliness.

CONCLUSION

This study underlined the importance of social connections and having someone to share a close, emotional connection with to reduce loneliness.