Browsing by Subject "Successful aging"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Health and Financial Literacy and the Acquisition of COVID-19 Knowledge in Older Adults
    (Sage, 2025) Stewart, Christopher C.; Yu, Lei; Byrne, Maeve; Glover, Crystal M.; Bennett, David A.; Boyle, Patricia A.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Knowledge about COVID-19 enters into many aspects of decision making, especially for older people who are at increased risk of severe disease or death. Yet little is known about the resources that supported older people's uptake of COVID-19 knowledge. Here, we hypothesized that higher pre-pandemic health and financial literacy was associated with higher COVID-19 knowledge. Participants were 434 community-based older people without dementia. COVID-19 knowledge was assessed via a 5-item measure, and health and financial literacy was assessed via a 32-item measure. In an ordinal regression model adjusted for age, gender, and education, higher literacy was associated with higher COVID-19 knowledge (p < .0001), and this association persisted after further adjusting for robust measures of global cognition or one of five specific cognitive domains (all p's ≤ .0001). These findings suggest that literacy plays a key role in supporting older people's acquisition of impactful knowledge in the real world.
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    Purpose in Life and Cognition Interact to Impact Healthcare and Financial Decision Making in Old Age
    (Sage, 2022) Stewart, Christopher C.; Yu, Lei; Glover, Crystal M.; Bennett, David A.; Wilson, Robert S.; Boyle, Patricia A.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Objectives: Little is known about the contribution of positive psychological factors, such as purpose in life, to healthcare and financial decision making in aging. Here, we examined the relationship between purpose and decision making and tested the hypothesis that purpose benefits decision making, particularly when cognition is limited. Methods: Participants were 1081 community-based older adults without dementia. Healthcare and financial decision making was measured via a 12-item performance-based instrument. Purpose was measured via a 10-item scale. Results: In a linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, and education, higher global cognition was associated with better performance on the decision making measure, as expected. Purpose was not directly related to decision making. However, the interaction of purpose with cognition was significant, such that greater purpose was associated with better decision making among persons with lower cognition. Discussion: Purpose in life may promote better decision making among older adults with lower cognition.
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    Well-Being and Aging-Related Decline in Financial and Health Literacy in Advanced Age
    (Oxford University Press, 2023) Stewart, Christopher C.; Yu, Lei; Glover, Crystal; Mottola, Gary; Valdes, Olivia; Wilson, Robert S.; Bennett, David A.; Boyle, Patricia A.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Objectives: Emerging evidence suggests that financial and health literacy deteriorates in advanced age. By contrast, well-being promotes health in aging. This study tested the hypothesis that well-being is associated with slower aging-related literacy decline. Methods: Participants were 1,099 community-based older adults without dementia at baseline. Financial and health literacy was assessed at baseline and annually thereafter via a 32-item measure. Well-being was assessed at baseline via the 18-item version of Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being. Results: During up to 12 years of annual follow-up, literacy declined about 1 percentage point per year on average (β = -0.91, standard error [SE] = 0.08, p < .001); however, there was considerable variation in change in literacy between participants (random slopes variance = 1.24, SE = 0.15, p < .001). In a linear mixed-effects model adjusted for age, sex, and education, higher well-being was associated with higher starting level of literacy (β = 2.31, SE = 0.67, p = .001) and, critically, slower literacy decline (β = 0.29, SE = 0.11, p = .01). The association of higher well-being with slower literacy decline persisted in models that additionally adjusted for income, medical conditions, depressive symptoms, and a robust measure of global cognition. Discussion: This study suggests that well-being helps stave off aging-related literacy decline.