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Symposium

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Intimate Relationships, Social Isolation, and Cognition

Friday, November 10, 2023
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
Location: Room 303

This symposium considers the cognitive impacts of a spectrum of social relationships, including both intimate partnerships and, in contrast, social isolation. Drawing on rich data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), and the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), the papers showcase empirical linkages between older adults’ cognitive health with a set of exposures including marital status and relationship characteristics, social activities, and a lack of social connections. We begin with papers that examine the impact of particular marital relationship attributes and social behaviors on cognition and health. One paper employs the WLS to explore the impact of concordance and discordance in marital couples’ reports of similarity with and closeness to their spouse on cognition, while the second draws on NSHAP to consider the cognitive consequences of various domains of couples’ sexuality. The third paper uses the HRS to examine couples’ co-trajectories of physical, mental, and cognitive health, focusing particularly on how a spouse's cognitive decline influences the other partner’s subsequent health trajectory. The fourth paper shifts our attention to variation by marital status in the cognitive impacts of leisure activities via data from MHAS, while the fifth focuses specifically socially-isolated older adults in the HRS and highlights variation in the relationship between social isolation and dementia by race and ethnicity. The symposium will conclude with a discussion of future directions for research on the cognitive consequences of relationships, social connections, and social isolation.

Learning Objectives:

  • After attending this session, participants will become familiar with data sources and methodologies for incorporating data on marital relationships and characteristics into research on cognition
  • After attending this session, participants will understand the factors shaping the relationships between social isolation and dementia

Presentations:

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
    Marital Closeness, Spousal Similarity, and Cognition: The Gendered Impact of Discordant Perceptions

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Yue Qin, MA (she/her/hers) – University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
    Sexual Frequency and Cognitive Domains: Evidence From the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Shen Shannon, PhD (she/her/hers) – Hope College

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
    Impact of Husband's Dementia: Innovative Methods to Study Health Profiles and Co-Trajectories Between Couples

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Yan Zhang, PhD (she/her/hers) – East Carolina University

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
    Leisure Activities, Marital Status, and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life in Mexico

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Maria Monserud, PhD – University of Houston

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
    Social Isolation and Risk of Dementia: Do Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Matter?

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Zhiyong Lin, PhD (he/him/his) – University of Texas at San Antonio