@article {8575, title = {Feeling Older and the Development of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia.}, journal = {J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci}, volume = {72}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Oct 01}, pages = {966-973}, abstract = {

Objective: Subjective age is a biopsychosocial marker of aging associated with a range of outcomes in old age. In the domain of cognition, feeling older than one{\textquoteright}s chronological age is related to lower cognitive performance and steeper cognitive decline among older adults. The present study examines whether an older subjective age is associated with the risk of incident cognitive impairment and dementia.

Method: Participants were 5,748 individuals aged 65 years and older drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. Measures of subjective age, cognition, and covariates were obtained at baseline, and follow-up cognition was assessed over a 2- to 4-year period. Only participants without cognitive impairment were included at baseline. At follow-up, participants were classified into one of the three categories: normal functioning, cognitive impairment without dementia (CIND), and dementia.

Results: An older subjective age at baseline was associated with higher likelihood of CIND (odds ratio [OR] = 1.18; 1.09-1.28) and dementia (OR = 1.29; 1.02-1.63) at follow-up, controlling for chronological age, other demographic factors, and baseline cognition. Physical inactivity and depressive symptoms partly accounted for these associations.

Conclusion: An older subjective age is a marker of individuals{\textquoteright} risk of subsequent cognitive impairment and dementia.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Alzheimer disease, Cognitive Dysfunction, depression, disease progression, Female, Health Behavior, Humans, Life Style, Likelihood Functions, Logistic Models, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Risk Factors, Self Concept}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbw085}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27436103}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R Sutin and Martina Luchetti and Antonio Terracciano} } @article {8399, title = {Allostatic Load and Personality: A 4-Year Longitudinal Study.}, journal = {Psychosom Med}, volume = {78}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 04}, pages = {302-10}, publisher = {78}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: Dysregulation across multiple physiological systems, referred to as allostatic load, has pervasive consequences for an individual{\textquoteright}s health. The present study examined whether allostatic load is associated with personality and personality changes during a 4-year follow-up.

METHODS: A total of 5200 participants aged from 50 to 99 years (59.5\% women, mean [standard deviation] age = 66.91 [8.88] years) from the Health and Retirement Study provided data on cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune markers at baseline and personality both at baseline and at 4 years later.

RESULTS: Higher allostatic load was related to higher neuroticism (β = 0.03, p = .042), lower extraversion (β = -0.06, p < .001), and lower conscientiousness (β = -0.06, p < .001) at baseline, and to declines in extraversion (β = -0.03, p = .007), conscientiousness (β = -0.04, p < .001), and agreeableness (β = -0.02, p = .020) over the 4-year period, controlling for demographic covariates. A significant quadratic relation between allostatic load and changes in openness (β = -0.03, p = .002) suggested that openness declines when individuals exceed a high level of cumulative physiological dysregulation. No association was found with changes in neuroticism.

CONCLUSIONS: Allostatic load is associated with personality change across adulthood and old age. The findings indicate that physiological dysregulation across multiple systems challenges personality stability and is associated with accelerated personality traits change.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Allostasis, Anxiety Disorders, Biomarkers, Conscience, Extraversion, Psychological, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Neuroticism, Personality}, issn = {1534-7796}, doi = {10.1097/PSY.0000000000000281}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26716813}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R Sutin and Martina Luchetti and Antonio Terracciano} } @article {8308, title = {How old do you feel? The role of age discrimination and biological aging in subjective age.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {10}, year = {2015}, note = {Times Cited: 0 0}, month = {2015}, pages = {e0119293}, publisher = {10}, abstract = {

Subjective age, or how young or old individuals experience themselves to be relative to their chronological age, is a crucial construct in gerontology. Subjective age is a significant predictor of important health outcomes, but little is known about the criteria by which individuals{\textquoteright} subjectively evaluate their age. To identify psychosocial and biomedical factors linked to the subjective evaluation of age, this study examined whether perceived age discrimination and markers of biological aging are associated with subjective age. Participants were 4776 adults (Mage = 68) from the 2008 and 2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) who completed measures of subjective age, age discrimination, demographic variables, self-rated health and depression, and had physical health measures, including peak expiratory flow, grip strength, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Telomere length was available for a subset of participants in the 2008 wave (n = 2214). Regression analysis indicated that perceived age discrimination, lower peak expiratory flow, lower grip strength, and higher waist circumference were associated with an older subjective age, controlling for sociodemographic factors, self-rated health, and depression. In contrast, blood pressure and telomere length were not related to subjective age. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that how old a person feels depends in part on psychosocial and biomedical factors, including the experiences of ageism and perceptible indices of fitness and biological age.

}, keywords = {Aerobiosis, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena, Cellular Senescence, Discrimination, Psychological, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Muscle Strength, Perception}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0119293}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R Sutin and Antonio Terracciano} }