Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T11:44:54.216Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The benefits of a sense of purpose in life for healthier cognitive aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2022

Angelina R. Sutin*
Affiliation:
Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Martina Luchetti
Affiliation:
Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Antonio Terracciano
Affiliation:
Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Abstract

Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Commentary
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boyle, P. A., Buchman, A. A., Barnes, L. L. and Bennett, D. A. (2010). Effect of a purpose in life on risk of incident Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older persons. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67, 304310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyle, P. A., Buchman, A. S., Wilson, R. S., Yu, L., Schneider, J. A. and Bennett, D. A. (2012). Effect of purpose in life on the relation between Alzheimer disease pathologic changes on cognitive function in advanced age. Archives of General Psychiatry, 69, 499505.Google ScholarPubMed
Kim, E. S., Delaney, S. W. and Kubansky, L. D. (2019a). Sense of purpose in life and cardiovascular disease: underlying mechanisms and future directions. Current Cardiology Reports, 21, 135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, G., Shin, S. H., Scicolone, M. A. and Parmelee, P. (2019b). Purpose in life protects against cognitive decline among older adults. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27, 593601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luchetti, M., Terracciano, A., Aschwanden, D., Lee, J. H., Stephan, Y. and Sutin, A. R. (2020). Loneliness is associated with risk of cognitive impairment in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 35, 794801.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKnight, P. E. and Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Purpose in life as a system that creates and sustains health and well-being: an integrative, testable theory. Review of General Psychology, 13, 242251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, C. L. et al. (2019). Effects of psychosocial interventions on meaning and purpose in adults with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Cancer, 125, 23832393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfund, G., Spears, I., Norton, S., Bogdan, R., Oltmanns, T. and Hill, P. (2022). Sense of purpose as a potential buffer between mental health and subjective cognitive decline. International Psychogeriatrics.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Power, M. C. et al. (2021). Trends in relative incidence and prevalence of dementia across non-hispanic black and white individuals in the United States, 2000-2016. JAMA Neurology, 78, 275284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, M. J. and Cohen, A. B. (2020). Surviving and thriving: fundamental social motives provide purpose in life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46, 944960.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherman, R. A. and Pashler, H. (2019). Powerful moderator variables in behavioral science? Don’t bet on them (version 3), 10.31234/osf.io/c65wm.Google Scholar
Stern, Y. et al. (2020). Whitepaper: defining and investigating cognitive reserve, brain reserve, and brain maintenance. Alzheimer’s and Dementia, 16, 13051311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutin, A. R., Aschwanden, D., Luchetti, M., Stephan, Y. and Terracciano, A. (2021a). Sense of purpose in life is associated with lower risk of incident dementia: a meta-analysis. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 83, 249258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutin, A. R. et al. (2022a). Sense of purpose in life and concurrent loneliness and risk of incident loneliness: an individual-participant meta-analysis of 135,227 individuals from 36 samples. Journal of Affective Disorders, 309, 211220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutin, A. R., Luchetti, M., Stephan, Y., Strickhouser, J. E. and Terracciano, A. (2022b). The association between purpose/meaning in life and verbal fluency and episodic memory: a meta-analysis of >140,000 participants from up to 32 countries. International Psychogeriatrics, 34, 263273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutin, A. R., Luchetti, M., Stephan, Y. and Terracciano, A. (2021b). Purpose in life and motoric cognitive risk syndrome: replicable evidence from two national samples. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 69, 381388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutin, A. R., Luchetti, M., Stephan, Y. and Terracciano, A. (2022c). Self-reported sense of purpose in life and proxy-reported behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in the last year of life. Aging and Mental Health, 26, 16931698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutin, A. R., Luchetti, M. and Terracciano, A. (2021c). Sense of purpose in life and healthier cognitive aging. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25, 917919.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van As, B. A. L., Imbimbo, E., Franceschi, A., Menesini, E. and Nocentini, A. (2022). The longitudinal association between loneliness and depressive symptoms in the elderly: a systematic review. International Psychogeriatrics, 34, 657669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R. S. et al. (2021). Relationship of purpose in life to dementia in older black and white Brazilians. Journal of International Neuropsychological Society, 1-6, 16.Google ScholarPubMed