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Gender matters: Productive social engagement and the subsequent cognitive changes among older adults

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  • Lee, Yeonjin
  • Jean Yeung, Wei-Jun

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between productive social engagement and cognitive functioning trajectories of older adults in South Korea and how the nature of the relationships differs for men and women. We exploit data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey of South Korea from 2006 to 2014 and apply the Growth Mixture Modeling approach to disentangle health causation from health selection processes. We find that socially productive activities are associated with more favorable cognitive functioning trajectories, independent of an individual's baseline health and cognitive status. The odds of maintaining higher cognitive functioning are greater for men who had participated in socially productive activities on a monthly basis. Social engagement protects against rapid cognitive decline for women, particularly for those with lower education. Among men, social activities in friendship/alumni organizations are likely to help maintain good cognitive functioning in older age while for women with lower cognition, religious activities may protect against cognitive decline.

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  • Lee, Yeonjin & Jean Yeung, Wei-Jun, 2019. "Gender matters: Productive social engagement and the subsequent cognitive changes among older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 87-95.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:229:y:2019:i:c:p:87-95
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.08.024
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    Cited by:

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    2. Seungwon Jeong & Yusuke Inoue & Katsunori Kondo & Kazushige Ide & Yasuhiro Miyaguni & Eisaku Okada & Tokunori Takeda & Toshiyuki Ojima, 2019. "Correlations between Forgetfulness and Social Participation: Community Diagnosing Indicators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-11, July.

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