Associations of positive and negative social exchanges with cognitive functioning: A population-based, longitudinal study of older adults

Emerging evidence indicates that positive social exchanges (e.g.,supportive interactions) are associated with better cognition in olderadulthood. However little is known regarding associations betweennegative exchanges (e.g., disagreements, tensions) and cognition. Thepresent study examined associations of positive and negativeexchanges with cognition in a sample of 2551 older adults (aged 60to 64 at baseline) assessed at three time points over an 8-year inter-val. Positive exchanges were associated with better performance ontests of memory (immediate recall), speed (symbol digit modalities),and verbal ability (spot-the-word) at baseline, while negativeexchanges were associated with better memory and verbal ability.Increases in positive exchanges over the study interval were associ-ated with slower rates of decline in memory and verbal test per-formance, while increases in negative exchanges were associated withslower decline in speed. Results highlight the complex, context spe-cific nature of associations between quality of social exchanges andhealth-related outcomes.