Cross-Domain Interface of Cognitive Functioning, Personality, Well-Being and Health

Lifespan psychological research has long been interested in structural relations among intraindividual changes within and between domains of functioning. One promising approach to shed light on these notions is applying a wholistic perspective on differential change that relies on person-level, multiple-indicator, longitudinal data. This approach supplements normative approaches that model 'average change' trajectories at a variable level.  The data requirements to fully test hypotheses generated from this approach are considerable.  Longitudinal information measured with sufficient frequency to capture not only major transitions but smaller changes in levels; an inventory of measures with sufficient scope to allow the analyses of changes within and between domains of functioning while at the same time controlling for other traits and statuses implicated in the health processes that produce such functional changes; sufficient demographic information so allow us to situate patterns of change within certain social contexts or subpopulations; and a relatively large and divers sample of respondents, whose inclusion in the study was generated by a known probability distribution.

Differential Aging:  Berlin Aging Study

One recent example for the utility of such a perspective comes from analyses of Gerstorf, Smith, and Baltes using six-year longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study (http://www.base-berlin.mpg.de/). Having identified three subgroups with distinct within-person psychological profiles across cognitive, personality, and social integration constructs, they were able to define highly similar subgroup profiles into which about two thirds of participants could be classified.  Baseline subgroups differed in level and slope of change and two outcomes, well-being and mortality. Independent of subgroup membership, subgroup-to-subgroup change was associated with greater decline and predicted post-study mortality. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of a wholistic approach for long-term prediction of outcomes and within-person systemic variability.

Gerstorf, D., Smith, J., & Baltes, P. B. (2006). A systemic-wholistic approach to differential aging: Longitudinal findings from the Berlin Aging Study. Psychology and Aging, 21, 645-663.

Another promising approach to study lifespan psychological questions of structural dynamics among intraindividual changes within and between domains of functioning are recent innovations in longitudinal methodology that allow articulating and testing such questions more precisely than was previously possible. For example, Gerstorf, Lövdén, Röcke, Smith, and Lindenberger (2007) examined cross-domain associations between perceptual speed and wellbeing using 13-year longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study (http://www.base-berlin.mpg.de/). Reports of well-being were found to influence subsequent decline in perceptual speed. No evidence was found for a directed effect in the other direction. Potential covariates, such as initial health constraints, personality, or social participation, did not account for these differential lead-lag associations. These results are of general importance for understanding patterns of aging across different functional domains, as they suggest that well-being is not only a consequence of but also a source for successful (cognitive) aging.

 Gerstorf, D., Lövdén, M., Röcke, C., Smith, J., & Lindenberger, U. (2007). Well-being affects changes in perceptual speed in advanced old age: Longitudinal evidence for a dynamic link. Developmental Psychology, 43, 705-718.

Differential Aging:  Seattle Longitudinal Study

Dr. K. Warner Schaie began the Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS) in 1956 in cooperation with the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (GHC). Dr. Sherry L. Willis became principal co-investigator of the study in 1983. The purpose of this research project is to study various aspects of psychological development during the adult years. Originally, in 1956, five hundred GHC members were randomly selected. They ranged in age from their early 20s to late 60s.

The study has continued in seven-year intervals since 1956: 1963, 1970, 1977, 1984, 1991, 1998, and 2005. At each interval, all persons who had previously participated in the study were asked to participate again. In addition at each seven-year interval, a new group of people randomly selected from the Group Health membership have been asked to participate. Approximately 6000 people have now participated at some time in this study. Of the original participants, 26 people remain who have now been in the study for 50 years.

Current participants range in age from 22 to 101 years. In addition to the main study, we have collected data in 1989/90, 1996/97, and 2003/04 from many adult children as well as sisters and brother of our main study participants in order to determine the extent of family similarity in mental abilities and other psychological characteristics. Many of these relatives were studied again in 1996/97 and in 2003/04.  In 2002, grandchildren of our main study also began to participate, making the SLS the first three-generation study of cognitive abilities ever conducted in this country.

For more information on the project, visit the Seattle Longitudinal Study.

Birren, J. E., & Schaie, K. W. (Eds.) (2006). Handbook of the psychology of aging (6th edit.). San Diego, CA: Elsevier.  

Birren, J. E., & Schaie, K. W. (Eds.) (2006). Schaie, K. W., & Carstensen, L. L. (Eds.) (2006). Social structures, self-regulation and agig. New York: Springer Publishing Co.  

Schaie, K. W. and Willis, S. L. (2005). Intellectual Functioning in adulthood: Growth, maintenance, decline, and modifiability. The American Society on Aging and Metlife Foundation.

Schaie, K. W. (2005). Developmental influences on adult intelligence: The Seattle Longitudinal Study. New York: Oxford University Press.