Integrative data analysis through coordination of measurement and analysis protocol across independent longitudinal studies

Checking the inventory: Illustrating different methods for individual participant data meta-analytic structural equation modeling

Researchers may have at their disposal the raw data of the studies they wish to meta-analyze. The goal of this study is to identify, illustrate, and compare a range of possible analysis options for researchers to whom raw data are available, wanting to fit a structural equation model (SEM) to these data. This study illustrates techniques that directly analyze the raw data, such as multilevel and multigroup SEM, and techniques based on summary statistics, such as correlation-based meta-analytical structural equation modeling (MASEM), discussing differences in procedures, capabilities, and outcomes. This is done by analyzing a previously published collection of datasets using open source software. A path model reflecting the theory of planned behavior is fitted to these datasets using different techniques involving SEM. Apart from differences in handling of missing data, the ability to include study-level moderators, and conceptualization of heterogeneity, results show differences in parameter estimates and standard errors across methods. Further research is needed to properly formulate guidelines for applied researchers looking to conduct individual participant data MASEM.

A Coordinated Data Analysis of Four Studies Exploring Age Differences in Social Interactions and Loneliness During a Global Pandemic

OBJECTIVES

Examining loneliness and social isolation during population-wide historical events may shed light on important theoretical questions about age differences, including whether these differences hold across different regions and the time course of the unfolding event. We used a systematic, preregistered approach of coordinated data analysis (CDA) of 4 studies (total N = 1,307; total observations = 18,492) that varied in design (intensive repeated-measures and cross-sectional), region, timing, and timescale during the first year of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

METHODS

We harmonized our data sets to a common period within 2020-2021 and created a common set of variables. We used a combination of ordinary least squares regression and multilevel modeling to address the extent to which there was within- and between-person variation in the associations between social isolation and loneliness, and whether these associations varied as a function of age.

RESULTS

Within- and between-person effects of social interactions were negatively associated with loneliness in 1 study; in follow-up sensitivity analyses, these patterns held across early and later pandemic periods. Across all data sets, there was no evidence of age differences in the within-person or between-person associations of social interactions and loneliness.

DISCUSSION

Applying the CDA methodological framework allowed us to detect common and divergent patterns of social interactions and loneliness across samples, ages, regions, periods, and study designs.

Associations for Sense of Purpose with Smoking and Health Outcomes Among Adults with Diabetes

BACKGROUND

Health complications from diabetes place major strain on individuals, financially and emotionally. The onset and severity of these complications are largely driven by patients' behaviors, making psychosocial factors that influence behaviors key targets for interventions. One promising factor is sense of purpose or the degree to which a person believes their life has direction.

METHOD

The current study investigated whether sense of purpose predicts self-rated health, cardiovascular disease, and smoking status among adults with diabetes concurrently and prospectively. Moreover, it tested whether these associations held across multiple samples and cultures. Coordinated analysis using 12 datasets cross-sectionally and eight longitudinally (total N = 7277) estimated the degree to which sense of purpose is associated with subjective health, smoking status, and cardiovascular disease among adults with diabetes. Coordinated analysis allows for greater generalizability of results across cultures, time periods, and measurement instruments. Datasets were included if they concurrently included a measure of sense of purpose and diabetes status and at least one health measure: self-rated health, current smoking status, or heart condition status.

RESULTS

Sense of purpose was associated with higher self-rated health, smoking status, and cardiovascular disease cross-sectionally and self-rated health prospectively. Purpose was unassociated with changes in health over time.

CONCLUSION

These results highlight the relationship of a key individual difference, sense of purpose, to the behaviors and outcomes of adults with diabetes. While more research is needed to determine the boundaries of this relationship, it seems sense of purpose may be considered in the future as a potential target for intervention.

Approaches to protocol standardization and data harmonization in the ECHO-wide cohort study

The United States (U.S.) National Institutes of Health-funded Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)-wide Cohort was established to conduct high impact, transdisciplinary science to improve child health and development. The cohort is a collaborative research design in which both extant and new data are contributed by over 57,000 children across 69 cohorts. In this review article, we focus on two key challenging issues in the ECHO-wide Cohort: data collection standardization and data harmonization. Data standardization using a Common Data Model and derived analytical variables based on a team science approach should facilitate timely analyses and reduce errors due to data misuse. However, given the complexity of collaborative research designs, such as the ECHO-wide Cohort, dedicated time is needed for harmonization and derivation of analytic variables. These activities need to be done methodically and with transparency to enhance research reproducibility. IMPACT: Many collaborative research studies require data harmonization either prior to analyses or in the analyses of compiled data. The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort pools extant data with new data collection from over 57,000 children in 69 cohorts to conduct high-impact, transdisciplinary science to improve child health and development, and to provide a national database and biorepository for use by the scientific community at-large. We describe the tools, systems, and approaches we employed to facilitate harmonized data for impactful analyses of child health outcomes.

Older Adults' Social Profiles and Links to Functional and Biological Aging in the United States and Mexico

OBJECTIVE

Social stress-loneliness, isolation, and low relationship quality-increase risks of aging-related diseases. However, the ways in which they intersect to undermine healthy aging remain poorly understood. We used latent class analysis to identify groups of older adults based on their social stress in both the United States and Mexico. Thereafter, we examined their cross-sectional associations with markers of functional and biological aging.

METHOD

Participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 8316) and Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS; N = 15,001) reported their loneliness, isolation (i.e., living alone), and relationship quality with spouse, children, and friends. Outcomes included C-reactive protein, functional limitations, self-rated health, comorbidities, gait speed, and grip strength. Models controlled for demographics, health behaviors, and body mass index.

RESULTS

In both countries, five classes emerged, a supported group and four with elevated social stress: a) strained, b) isolated, c) spousal ambivalence, and d) unhappily married. Compared with the others, strained participants in both samples had greater functional limitations, poorer self-rated health, and more comorbidities, as well as slower gait in HRS and weaker grip in MHAS. Generally, supported participants fared better than the other groups. In HRS, C-reactive protein levels differed between the strained group and others, but these associations were explained by health behaviors and body mass index.

CONCLUSIONS

Older adults in both countries with strained relationships fared worst in their aging-related outcomes, revealing new insights about the links between toxic social stress and unhealthy aging.

Do We Become More Lonely With Age? A Coordinated Data Analysis of Nine Longitudinal Studies

Loneliness is a pervasive experience with adverse impacts on health and well-being. Despite its significance, notable gaps impede a full understanding of how loneliness changes across the adult life span and what factors influence these changes. To address this, we conducted a coordinated data analysis of nine longitudinal studies encompassing 128,118 participants ages 13 to 103 from over 20 countries. Using harmonized variables and models, we examined loneliness trajectories and predictors. Analyses revealed that loneliness follows a U-shaped curve, decreasing from young adulthood to midlife and increasing in older adulthood. These patterns were consistent across studies. Several baseline factors (i.e., sex, marital status, physical function, education) were linked to loneliness levels, but few moderated the loneliness trajectories. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of loneliness and underscore the need for targeted interventions to reduce social disparities throughout adulthood.

Sleep disturbances and change in multiple cognitive domains among older adults: a multicenter study of five Nordic cohorts

STUDY OBJECTIVES

We examined and compared cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between self-reported sleep disturbances and various cognitive domains in five separate Nordic European longitudinal aging studies (baseline N = 5631, mean age = 77.7, mean follow-up = 4.16 years).

METHODS

Comparable sleep parameters across studies included reduced sleep duration/quality, insomnia symptoms (sleep latency, waking up at night, and early awakenings), short and long sleep duration, and daytime napping. The cognitive domains were episodic memory, verbal fluency, perceptual speed, executive functioning, and global cognition (aggregated measure). A series of mixed linear models were run separately in each study and then compared to assess the level and rate of change in cognitive functioning across each sleep disturbance parameter. Models were adjusted for age, sex, education, hypnotic usage, depressive symptoms, lifestyle factors, cardiovascular, and metabolic conditions. By using a coordinated analytic approach, comparable construct-level measurements were generated, and results from identical statistical models were qualitatively compared across studies.

RESULTS

While the pattern of statistically significant results varied across studies, subjective sleep disturbances were consistently associated with worse cognition and steeper cognitive decline. Insomnia symptoms were associated with poorer episodic memory and participants sleeping less or more than 7-8 hours had a steeper decline in perceptual speed. In addition, daytime napping (>2 hours) was cross-sectionally and longitudinally associated with all examined cognitive domains. Most observed associations were study-specific (except for daytime napping), and a majority of association estimates remained significant after adjusting for covariates.

CONCLUSION

This rigorous multicenter investigation further supports the importance of sleep disturbance, including insomnia, long and short sleep duration, and daytime napping on baseline cognitive functioning and rate of change among older adults. These sleep factors may be targeted in future lifestyle interventions to reduce cognitive decline.

Attrition from longitudinal ageing studies and performance across domains of cognitive functioning: an individual participant data meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

This paper examined the magnitude of differences in performance across domains of cognitive functioning between participants who attrited from studies and those who did not, using data from longitudinal ageing studies where multiple cognitive tests were administered.

DESIGN

Individual participant data meta-analysis.

PARTICIPANTS

Data are from 10 epidemiological longitudinal studies on ageing (total n=209 518) from several Western countries (UK, USA, Mexico, etc). Each study had multiple waves of data (range of 2-17 waves), with multiple cognitive tests administered at each wave (range of 4-17 tests). Only waves with cognitive tests and information on participant dropout at the immediate next wave for adults aged 50 years or older were used in the meta-analysis.

MEASURES

For each pair of consecutive study waves, we compared the difference in cognitive scores (Cohen's d) between participants who dropped out at the next study wave and those who remained. Note that our operationalisation of dropout was inclusive of all causes (eg, mortality). The proportion of participant dropout at each wave was also computed.

RESULTS

The average proportion of dropouts between consecutive study waves was 0.26 (0.18 to 0.34). People who attrited were found to have significantly lower levels of cognitive functioning in all domains (at the wave 2-3 years before attrition) compared with those who did not attrit, with small-to-medium effect sizes (overall d=0.37 (0.30 to 0.43)).

CONCLUSIONS

Older adults who attrited from longitudinal ageing studies had lower cognitive functioning (assessed at the timepoint before attrition) across all domains as compared with individuals who remained. Cognitive functioning differences may contribute to selection bias in longitudinal ageing studies, impeding accurate conclusions in developmental research. In addition, examining the functional capabilities of attriters may be valuable for determining whether attriters experience functional limitations requiring healthcare attention.

Validity Evidence for the Brief Self-Control Scale in the Spanish Adult Population: A Systematic Study

The Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS) has been widely studied across languages and populations. However, research examining the Spanish version is scant and limited to the adolescent population. Our aim here was to provide validity evidence for use of the BSCS with Spanish adults by analyzing and comparing the psychometric properties of different versions of the scale (13-item, 10-item, 9-item, 8-item, and 7-item). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the internal structure based on one-factor and two-factor models. Results obtained in a sample of 676 Spanish adults showed adequate fit indices for the two-factor structure of the 9-item, 8-item, and 7-item versions of the BSCS, although only the 9-item and 8-item BSCS were found to be invariant across gender. Item homogeneity and reliability of factor scores for these two versions (9-item and 8-item) were satisfactory. We also provide novel validity evidence based on relationships with indicators of psychological adjustment and wellbeing. Scores on the 9-item and 8-item BSCS correlated with life satisfaction, flourishing, self-esteem, distress, depression, and loneliness, and hence both may be suitable for use in mental health assessment contexts.

An Early and Unequal Decline: Life Course Trajectories of Cognitive Aging in the United States

Objectives: Cognitive aging is a lifelong process with implications for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. This study aims to fill major gaps in research on the natural history of and social disparities in aging-related cognitive decline over the life span. Methods: We conducted integrative data analysis of four large U.S. population-based longitudinal studies of individuals aged 12 to 105 followed over two decades and modeled age trajectories of cognitive function in multiple domains. Results: We found evidence for the onset of cognitive decline in the 4th decade of life, varying gender differences with age, and persistent disadvantage among non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and those without college education. We further found improvement in cognitive function across 20th century birth cohorts but widening social inequalities in more recent cohorts. Discussion: These findings advance an understanding of early life origins of dementia risk and invite future research on strategies for promoting cognitive health for all Americans.

Cross-national comparisons of later-life cognitive function using data from the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP): Considerations and recommended best practices

The Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) is a major innovation that provides, for the first time, harmonized data for cross-national comparisons of later-life cognitive functions that are sensitive to linguistic, cultural, and educational differences across countries. However, cognitive function does not lend itself to direct comparison across diverse populations without careful consideration of the best practices for such comparisons. This perspective discusses theoretical and methodological considerations and offers a set of recommended best practices for conducting cross-national comparisons of risk factor associations using HCAP data. Because existing and planned HCAP studies provide cognition data representing an estimated 75% of the global population ≥65 years of age, these recommended best practices will support high-quality comparative analyses of cognitive aging around the world. The principles described in this perspective are applicable to any researcher aiming to integrate or compare harmonized data on cognitive outcomes and their risk and protective factors across diverse populations.

A developmental perspective on personality-relationship transactions: Evidence from three nationally representative samples

OBJECTIVE

Throughout their lives, people experience different relationship events, such as beginning or dissolving a romantic relationship. Personality traits predict the occurrence of such relationship events (i.e., selection effects), and relationship events predict changes in personality traits (i.e., socialization effects), summarized as personality-relationship transactions. So far, evidence was partly inconsistent as to how personality traits and relationship events are linked with each other. In this article, we argue that unnoticed age differences might have led to these inconsistencies. To systematically test for age differences in transactions, we conceptualize relationship events in terms of gains and losses and apply a developmental perspective on transactions.

METHODS

Using longitudinal data from three nationally representative samples (SOEP, HILDA, Understanding Society), we computed event-focused latent growth models and summarized the results meta-analytically.

RESULTS

The findings indicated some transactions. Of these, selection effects were stronger than socialization effects, and effects of gain-based events were stronger than effects of loss-based events. We observed few interactions with age.

CONCLUSION

Selection effects and, particularly, socialization effects, tend to be rare and fairly independent of age. We discuss a series of broader and narrower factors that may have an impact on the strength of transactions across adulthood.

Frailty is associated with the clinical expression of neuropsychological deficits in older adults

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The aim was to determine whether frailty is associated with the relationship between neuropsychological markers and global cognition in older adults.

METHODS

Cross-sectional analyzes were conducted of baseline data from three large cohort studies: National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC), Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP) and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Studies recruited North American participants along the spectrum of cognitive functioning (44% no cognitive impairment at baseline). A frailty index was computed in each dataset. Frailty indices, neuropsychological tests (including measures of processing speed, episodic, semantic and working memory) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were the variables of interest, with age, sex, education and apolipoprotein E ε4 evaluated as confounders.

RESULTS

Across all studies, 23,819 participants aged 55-104 (57% female) were included in analyzes. Frailty index scores were significantly and inversely associated with MMSE scores and significantly moderated relationships between neuropsychological test scores and MMSE scores. In participants with higher frailty index scores, lower neuropsychological test scores were more strongly associated with lower MMSE scores (standardized interaction coefficients ranged from -0.19 to -1.17 in NACC, -0.03 to -2.27 in MAP and -0.04 to -0.38 in ADNI, depending on the neuropsychological test). These associations were consistent across the different databases and were mostly independent of the composition of frailty indices (i.e., after excluding possible symptoms of dementia).

CONCLUSIONS

Amongst older Americans, frailty is associated with the cognitive expression of neuropsychological deficits. Implementation of frailty assessment in routine neurological and neuropsychological practice should be considered to optimize care outcomes for older adults.

Association Between Dementia, Change in Home-Care Use, and Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study Using Data from Three Cohort Studies

Background

The emotional impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on people with dementia has been quantified. However, little is known about the impact of change in home-care use owing to the pandemic.

Objective

To determine the longitudinal association between dementia, change in home-care use, and depressive symptoms during the pandemic.

Methods

We included data of 43,782 home-dwelling older adults from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), Study of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), and National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). This study considered the latest main wave survey prior to the pandemic as the baseline, and the COVID-19 survey as follow-up. In a series of coordinated analyses, multilevel binomial logistic regression model was used to examine the association between baseline dementia, change in home-care use at follow-up, and presence of depressive symptoms.

Results

Dementia, using the ELSA, SHARE, and NHATS datasets, was identified in 2.9%, 2.3%, and 6.5% of older adults, and home-care use reduced in 1.7%, 2.8%, and 1.1% of individuals with dementia, respectively. Dementia was significantly associated with the increased risk of depressive symptoms in all three cohorts. However, the interaction between dementia and period (follow-up) was non-significant in SHARE and NHATS. Across all three cohorts, home-care use during the pandemic, regardless of change in amount, was significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms, compared to the non-use of home care.

Conclusions

These results highlight the need for tailoring dementia care at home to promote independence and provide sustainable emotional support.

Open Science Practices in Psychiatric Genetics: A Primer

Open science ensures that research is transparently reported and freely accessible for all to assess and collaboratively build on. Psychiatric genetics has led among the health sciences in implementing some open science practices in common study designs, such as replication as part of genome-wide association studies. However, thorough open science implementation guidelines are limited and largely not specific to data, privacy, and research conduct challenges in psychiatric genetics. Here, we present a primer of open science practices, including selection of a research topic with patients/nonacademic collaborators, equitable authorship and citation practices, design of replicable, reproducible studies, preregistrations, open data, and privacy issues. We provide tips for informative figures and inclusive, precise reporting. We discuss considerations in working with nonacademic collaborators and distributing research through preprints, blogs, social media, and accessible lecture materials. Finally, we provide extra resources to support every step of the research process.

Does (re-)entering the labour market at advanced ages protect against cognitive decline? A matching difference-in-differences approach

BACKGROUND

While prolonged labour market participation becomes increasingly important in ageing societies, evidence on the impacts of entering or exiting work beyond age 65 on cognitive functioning is scarce.

METHODS

We use data from two large population-representative data sets from South Korea and the USA to investigate and compare the effects of the labour market (re-)entry and exit by matching employment and other confounder trajectories prior to the exposure. We chose the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (N=1872, 2006-2020) for its exceptionally active labour participation in later life and the Health and Retirement Study (N=4070, 2006-2020) for its growing inequality among US older adults in labour participation. We use the matching difference-in-differences (DID) method, which allows us to make causal claims by reducing biases through matching.

RESULTS

We find general positive effects of entering the labour market in South Korea (DID estimate: 0.653, 95% CI 0.167 to 1.133), while in the USA such benefit is not salient (DID estimate: 0.049, 95% CI -0.262 to 0.431). Exiting the late-life labour market leads to cognitive decline in both South Korea (DID estimate: -0.438, 95% CI -0.770 to -0.088) and the USA (DID estimate: -0.432, 95% CI -0.698 to -0.165).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that Korean participants cognitively benefited from late-life labour market participation, while US participants did not. Differences in participant characteristics and reasons for labour market participation may have led to the differential findings. We found the negative effects of exiting the late-life labour force in both countries.

Estimating reliabilities and correcting for sampling error in indices of within-person dynamics derived from intensive longitudinal data

Psychology has witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of intensive longitudinal data (ILD) to study within-person processes, accompanied by a growing number of indices used to capture individual differences in within-person dynamics (WPD). The reliability of WPD indices is rarely investigated and reported in empirical studies. Unreliability in these indices can bias parameter estimates and yield erroneous conclusions. We propose an approach to (a) estimate the reliability and (b) correct for sampling error of WPD indices using "Level-1 variance-known" (V-known) multilevel models (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). When WPD indices are calculated for each individual, the sampling variance of the observed WPD scores is typically falsely assumed to be zero. V-known models replace this "zero" with an approximate sampling variance fixed at Level 1 to estimate the true variance of the index at Level 2, following random effects meta-analysis principles. We demonstrate how V-known models can be applied to a broad range of emotion dynamics commonly derived from ILD, including indices of the average level (mean), variability (intraindividual standard deviation), instability (probability of acute change), bipolarity (correlation), differentiation (intraclass correlation), inertia (autocorrelation), and relative variability (relative standard deviation) of emotions. A simulation study shows the usefulness of V-known models to recover the true reliability of these indices. Using a 21-day diary study, we illustrate the implementation of the proposed approach to obtain reliability estimates and to correct for unreliability of WPD indices in real data. The techniques may facilitate psychometrically sound inferences from WPD indices in this burgeoning research area.

Personality traits and health care use: A coordinated analysis of 15 international samples

Some people use health care services more than others. Identifying factors associated with health care use has the potential to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of health care. In line with the Andersen behavioral model of health care utilization and initial empirical findings, personality traits may be key predisposing factors associated with health care use. Across 15 samples, the present study examined cross-sectional and prospective associations between Big Five personality traits and the likelihood of dental visits, general medical practitioner visits, and hospitalizations. Using coordinated data analysis, we estimated models within each of 15 samples individually (sample Ns ranged from 516 to 305,762), and then calculated weighted mean effect sizes using random-effects meta-analysis across samples (total N = 358,803). According to the synthesized results, people higher in conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and openness, and lower in neuroticism were more likely to visit the dentist; people higher in neuroticism were more likely to visit general medical practitioners; and people lower in conscientiousness and agreeableness and higher in neuroticism were more likely to be hospitalized. Associations tended to be small with odds ratios around 1.20 (rs ≈ .05). These findings provide evidence across 15 international samples for small but consistent associations between personality traits and health care use and demonstrate that personality-health care associations differ by type of care. We discuss directions for future research, including examining more specific personality facets (e.g., productiveness vs. responsibility) as well as important dimensions of health care (e.g., preventative vs. reactive care; acute vs. chronic care). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

From the Individual to the Group: Using Idiographic Analyses and Two-Stage Random Effects Meta-Analysis to Obtain Population Level Inferences for within-Person Processes

In psychology, the use of portable technology and wearable devices to ease participant burden in data collection is on the rise. This creates increased interest in collecting real-time or near real-time data from individuals within their natural environments. As a result, vast amounts of observational time series data are generated. Often, motivation for collecting this data hinges on understanding within-person processes that underlie psychological phenomena. Motivated by the body of Dr. Peter Molenaar's life work calling for analytical approaches that consider potential heterogeneity and non-ergodicity, the focus of this paper is on using idiographic analyses to generate population inferences for within-person processes. Meta-analysis techniques using one-stage and two-stage random effects meta-analysis as implemented in single-case experimental designs are presented. The case for preferring a two-stage approach for meta-analysis of single-subject observational time series data is made and demonstrated using an empirical example. This provides a novel implementation of the methodology as prior implementations focus on applications to short time series with experimental designs. Inspired by Dr. Molenaar's work, we describe how an approach, two-stage random effects meta-analysis (2SRE-MA), aligns with recent calls to consider idiographic approaches when making population-level inferences regarding within-person processes.

Social Health and Change in Cognitive Capability among Older Adults: Findings from Four European Longitudinal Studies

INTRODUCTION

In this study, we examine whether social health markers measured at baseline are associated with differences in cognitive capability and the rate of cognitive decline over an 11-to-18-year period among older adults and compare results across studies.

METHODS

We applied an integrated data analysis approach to 16,858 participants (mean age 65 years; 56% female) from the National Survey for Health and Development (NSHD), the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), and the Rotterdam Study. We used multilevel models to examine social health in relation to cognitive capability and the rate of cognitive decline.

RESULTS

Pooled estimates show distinct relationships between markers of social health and cognitive domains, e.g., a large network size (≥6 people vs. none) was associated with higher executive function (0.17 standard deviation [SD] [95% CI: 0.00, 0.34], I2 = 27%) but not with memory (0.08 SD [95% CI: -0.02, 0.18], I2 = 19%). We also observed pooled associations between being married or cohabiting, having a large network size, and participating in social activities with slower decline in cognitive capability. However, estimates were close to zero, e.g., 0.01 SD/year (95% CI: 0.01, 0.02) I2 = 19% for marital status and executive function. There were clear study-specific differences: results for average processing speed were the most homogenous, and results for average memory were the most heterogeneous.

CONCLUSION

Overall, markers of good social health have a positive association with cognitive capability. However, we found differential associations between specific markers of social health and cognitive domains and differences between studies. These findings highlight the importance of examining between-study differences and considering the context specificity of findings in developing and deploying interventions.

An integrative approach for the analysis of risk and health across the life course: challenges, innovations, and opportunities for life course research

Life course epidemiology seeks to understand the intricate relationships between risk factors and health outcomes across different stages of life to inform prevention and intervention strategies to optimize health throughout the lifespan. However, extant evidence has predominantly been based on separate analyses of data from individual birth cohorts or panel studies, which may not be sufficient to unravel the complex interplay of risk and health across different contexts. We highlight the importance of a multi-study perspective that enables researchers to: (a) Compare and contrast findings from different contexts and populations, which can help identify generalizable patterns and context-specific factors; (b) Examine the robustness of associations and the potential for effect modification by factors such as age, sex, and socioeconomic status; and (c) Improve statistical power and precision by pooling data from multiple studies, thereby allowing for the investigation of rare exposures and outcomes. This integrative framework combines the advantages of multi-study data with a life course perspective to guide research in understanding life course risk and resilience on adult health outcomes by: (a) Encouraging the use of harmonized measures across studies to facilitate comparisons and synthesis of findings; (b) Promoting the adoption of advanced analytical techniques that can accommodate the complexities of multi-study, longitudinal data; and (c) Fostering collaboration between researchers, data repositories, and funding agencies to support the integration of longitudinal data from diverse sources. An integrative approach can help inform the development of individualized risk scores and personalized interventions to promote health and well-being at various life stages.

Differences in the longitudinal change of behaviours related to dementia in long-term care: a growth mixture modelling approach

BACKGROUND

There is still a need for more information about the different trajectories of responsive behaviours that people living with dementia present in long-term care homes (LTC).

OBJECTIVE

This study identified subgroups of individuals with similar trajectories of responsive behaviours related to dementia in LTC and evaluated the role of demographic variables, depressive symptomatology, social engagement, cognitive functioning, and activities of daily living (ADL) on class membership.

METHODS

Growth mixture models were run using data from the Continuing Care Reporting System.

RESULTS

Results suggest that change in responsive behaviours is best represented by seven classes of trajectories. The largest class was composed of individuals who presented the lowest frequency of behaviours upon entry in LTC that increased at a slow linear rate. The other classes were composed of individuals who presented different frequencies of behaviours upon entry in LTC and varying rates of change (e.g., individuals who presented a low frequency of behaviours upon entry in LTC that increased at a linear rate followed by a decrease in the later months, individuals who presented a high frequency of responsive behaviours upon entry in LTC and that remained stable). Cognitive functioning, social engagement, depressive symptomatology, and ADL were markers of class membership.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings can help identify individuals at increased risk of presenting a high frequency of responsive behaviours and highlight interventions that could decrease behaviours in LTC.

Socioeconomic and Contextual Differentials in Memory Decline: A Cross-Country Investigation Between England and China

OBJECTIVES

Although cognitive functioning is strongly associated with biological changes in the brain during the aging process, very little is known about the role of sociocultural differentials between the western and eastern parts of the world. We examined the associations between individual socioeconomic markers (e.g., education, household wealth) and contextual levels characteristics (e.g., urbanicity) with memory performance and memory decline over up to 8 years of follow-up in England and China.

METHODS

The analytical samples included participants aged 50+ from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (n = 6,687) and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (n = 10,252). Mixed linear models were employed to examine the association between baseline individual socioeconomic markers (education, wealth) and contextual-level characteristics (urbanicity) on the change in memory over time.

RESULTS

Our analyses showed that higher education and wealth were associated with better baseline memory in both England and China. Still, the impact of contextual-level characteristics such as urbanicity differed between the 2 countries. For English individuals, living in a rural area showed an advantage in memory, while the opposite pattern was observed in China. Memory decline appeared to be socioeconomically patterned by higher education, wealth, and urbanicity in China but not in England.

DISCUSSION

Our findings highlight substantial socioeconomic and contextual inequity in memory performance in both England and China, as well as in the rate of memory decline primarily in China. Public health strategies for preventing memory decline should target the socioeconomic gaps at the individual and contextual levels to protect those particularly disadvantaged.

Closing the Gap Between Observational Research and Randomized Controlled Trials for Prevention of Alzheimer Disease and Dementia

Although observational studies have identified modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD), randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of risk factor modification for ADRD prevention have been inconsistent or inconclusive. This finding suggests a need to improve translation between observational studies and RCTs. However, many common features of observational studies reduce their relevance to designing related RCTs. Observational studies routinely differ from RCTs with respect to eligibility criteria, study population, length of follow-up, treatment conditions, outcomes, and effect estimates. Using the motivating example of blood pressure reduction for ADRD prevention, we illustrate the need for a tighter connection between observational studies and RCTs, discuss barriers to using typically reported observational evidence in developing RCTs, and highlight methods that may be used to make observational research more relevant to clinical trial design. We conclude that the questions asked and answered by observational research can be made more relevant to clinical trial design and that better use of observational data may increase the likelihood of successful, or at least definitive, trials. Although we focus on improving translation of observational studies on risk factors for ADRD to RCTs in ADRD prevention, the overarching themes are broadly applicable to many areas of biomedical research.

Within-person decline in pregnancy smoking is observable prior to pregnancy awareness: Evidence across two independent observational cohorts

Decreased consumption of nicotine and other drugs during pregnancy appears to be a cross-species phenomenon from which mechanism(s) capable of interrupting addictive processes could be elucidated. Whether pregnancy influences smoking behaviour independent of women's knowledge of the pregnancy, however, has not been considered. Using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), we estimated within-person change in mean cigarettes/day smoked across the estimated date of conception but prior to individually reported dates of pregnancy recognition using longitudinal smoking data from two independent observational cohorts, the Growing Up Healthy (GUH, n = 271) and Midwest Infant Development Studies (MIDS, n = 145). Participants smoked an average of half a pack/day in the month immediately before conception (M (SD) = 12(8.1) and 9.5(6.7) cigarettes/day in GUH and MIDS, respectively). We observed within-person declines in smoking after conception, both before (MGUH  = -0.9; 95% CI -1.6, -0.2; p = 0.01; MMIDS  = -1.1; 95% CI -1.9, -0.3; p = 0.01) and after (MGUH  = -4.8; 95% CI -5.5, -4.1; p < 0.001; MMIDS  = -3.3; 95% CI -4.4, -2.5; p < 0.001) women were aware of having conceived, even when women who had quit and women who were planning to conceive were excluded from analyses. Pregnancy may interrupt smoking-related processes via mechanisms not previously considered. Plausible candidates and directions for future research are discussed.

Challenges of data sharing in European Covid-19 projects: A learning opportunity for advancing pandemic preparedness and response

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a massive investment into collaborative research projects with a focus on producing data to support public health decisions. We relay our direct experience of four projects funded under the Horizon2020 programme, namely ReCoDID, ORCHESTRA, unCoVer and SYNCHROS. The projects provide insight into the complexities of sharing patient level data from observational cohorts. We focus on compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ethics approvals when sharing data across national borders. We discuss procedures for data mapping; submission of new international codes to standards organisation; federated approach; and centralised data curation. Finally, we put forward recommendations for the development of guidelines for the application of GDPR in case of major public health threats; mandatory standards for data collection in funding frameworks; training and capacity building for data owners; cataloguing of international use of metadata standards; and dedicated funding for identified critical areas.

Better together: Advancing life course research through multi-cohort analytic approaches

Longitudinal cohorts can provide timely and cost-efficient evidence about the best points of health service and preventive interventions over the life course. Working systematically across cohorts has the potential to further exploit these valuable data assets, such as by improving the precision of estimates, enhancing (or appropriately reducing) confidence in the replicability of findings, and investigating interrelated questions within a broader theoretical model. In this conceptual review, we explore the opportunities and challenges presented by multi-cohort approaches in life course research. Specifically, we: 1) describe key motivations for multi-cohort work and the analytic approaches that are commonly used in each case; 2) flag some of the scientific and pragmatic challenges that arise when adopting these approaches; and 3) outline emerging directions for multi-cohort work in life course research. Harnessing their potential while thoughtfully considering limitations of multi-cohort approaches can contribute to the robust and granular evidence base needed to promote health and wellbeing over the life span.

Relationships between daily stress responses in everyday life and nightly sleep

Stress and sleep are related, but the nature and time course of this relation is not well understood. We explored the within-person associations of three components of emotional responses to everyday stressors, indexed by negative affect, reactivity (initial response to a stressor), recovery (persistence of the post-stressor response), and pile-up (accumulation of stress episodes), with sleep indicators. We conducted coordinated analyses of data in several studies employing ecological momentary assessments, which captured naturally occurring, self-reported stress and sleep. We defined proximal reactivity as the emotional response to the stressor moment in question compared to an immediate pre-stressor state, and distal reactivity as the emotional response to the stressor moment in question compared to a typical stressor-free state for that person. Results in two of three studies showed that people reported significantly lower sleep quality following days on which they experienced higher levels of distal reactivity to stressors. Days with greater distal reactivity also predicted significantly more difficulty falling asleep in one of two studies. There was no clear association between proximal reactivity and subsequent sleep. Associations of recovery or pile-up with subsequent sleep emerged only in single studies. Poorer sleep quality was significantly related to higher next day levels of negative affect in all three studies, but there were no consistent relations between sleep and next day stress reactivity, recovery, or pile-up. These exploratory analyses suggest that distal reactivity is associated with a heightened risk of experiencing poor sleep quality the following night, and as such the former may serve as a candidate for potential targets for the remediation of the negative effects of stress on sleep.

Grip Strength Trajectories and Cognition in English and Chilean Older Adults: A Cross-Cohort Study

Growing evidence about the link between cognitive and physical decline suggests the early changes in physical functioning as a potential biomarker for cognitive impairment. Thus, we compared grip-strength trajectories over 12-16 years in three groups classified according to their cognitive status (two stable patterns, normal and impaired cognitive performance, and a declining pattern) in two representative UK and Chilean older adult samples. The samples consisted of 7069 UK (ELSA) and 1363 Chilean participants (ALEXANDROS). Linear Mixed models were performed. Adjustments included socio-demographics and health variables. The Declined and Impaired group had significantly lower grip-strength at baseline when compared to the Non-Impaired. In ELSA, the Declined and Impaired showed a faster decline in their grip strength compared to the Non-Impaired group but differences disappeared in the fully adjusted models. In ALEXANDROS, the differences were only found between the Declined and Non-Impaired and they were partially attenuated by covariates. Our study provides robust evidence of the association between grip strength and cognitive performance and how socio-economic factors might be key to understanding this association and their variability across countries. This has implications for future epidemiological research, as hand-grip strength measurements have the potential to be used as an indicator of cognitive performance.

Daily Memory Lapses and Affect: Mediation Effects on Life Satisfaction

Memory lapses are a type of daily challenge that are common to most people and are associated with negative mood outcomes. How daily challenges are associated and linked to broad domains, like life satisfaction and well-being, has been underexamined. Life satisfaction is often assessed from a macro-level that emphasizes average differences over longer timeframes, yet daily experiences (i.e., micro-level) may accumulate to shape these characteristics. In the current study, we examined if daily memory lapses (e.g., difficulties with word-finding or forgetting a meeting) were associated with life satisfaction, and whether this relationship was mediated by the associated changes in positive and negative affect due to daily memory lapses. In a coordinated analysis of two datasets (N = 561, ages 25-93 years), we used multilevel structural equation modeling to assess how daily memory lapses may influence the broader outcome of global life satisfaction. The pattern of results was similar across datasets: memory lapses were associated with reduced positive affect and increased negative affect. Further, the daily affect associated with daily memory lapses significantly mediated the relationship between lapses and life satisfaction, while the direct relationship between memory lapses and life satisfaction was non-significant. This study provides support for the role of daily challenges, specifically memory lapses, influencing broader constructs such as psychological well-being by identifying the key factor of affective responses. Future work should identify other salient daily challenges, as well as explore if reducing the affective response to challenges through targeted interventions would mitigate impacts on distal functioning.

Little evidence for consistent initial elevation bias in self-reported momentary affect: A coordinated analysis of ecological momentary assessment studies

Response bias characterized by decreases in self-reported subjective states when measured repeatedly over short time-frames is a potential concern in social science. Recent work suggests that this initial elevation bias (IEB) is pronounced among young adult students' self-reports of affect when using ambulatory methods, but it is unclear if such bias extends broadly across samples, designs, and constructs. We examined the conditions wherein reliable and robust IEB may manifest by conducting a coordinated analysis of seven ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies with diverse lifespan samples to test the generalizability of IEB across study designs and affective constructs (momentary negative and positive affect). Overall, evidence for substantial IEB across studies was weak. No reliable evidence emerged for IEB in negative affect, with evidence for a small magnitude IEB for positive affect when comparing initial reports with reports made 1 week later, although the latter was not evident in other comparisons and was attenuated to nonsignificance when controlling for temporal factors. The magnitude and direction of IEB varied, but in mostly nonsystematic ways, as a function of study design and affective valence. Meta-analytic summary revealed consistently low combined effect sizes (Cohen's ds ranging from -.05 to .14). We found little evidence that IEB in momentary affect is sufficiently reliable, robust, or generalizable across designs and constructs to pose broad and/or serious concerns for EMA studies. Nonetheless, we recommend systematically examining the potential for IEB across study designs and constructs to help identify the conditions/contexts where IEB may or may not manifest. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Abnormal cognitive aging in people with HIV: Evidence from Data Integration between two countries' cohort studies

OBJECTIVES

Previous research has shown inconsistent results on whether cognitive aging is abnormal in people with HIV (PWH) because of low sample size, cross-sectional design, and nonstandard neuropsychological methods. To address these issues, we integrated data from two longitudinal studies: Australian HIV and Brain Ageing Research Program (N = 102) and CNS HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) study (N = 924) and determined the effect of abnormal aging on neurocognitive impairment (NCI) among PWH.

METHODS

Both studies used the same neuropsychological test battery. NCI was defined based on demographically corrected global deficit score (≥0.5 = impaired). Both studies also assessed comorbidities, neuropsychiatric conditions and functional status using similar tools. To determine the cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of age on the risk of NCI, a generalized linear mixed-effect model tested main and interaction effects of age group (young, <50 vs. old, ≥50) and time on NCI adjusting the effects of covariates.

RESULTS

Older PWH had 83% higher chance of NCI compared with younger PWH [odds ratio (OR) = 1.83 (1.15-2.90), P < 0.05]. Older participants also had a greater risk of increases in NCI over the follow-up [OR = 1.66 (1.05-2.64), P < 0.05] than younger participants. Nonwhite ethnicity (P < 0.05), having a contributing (P < 0.05) or confounding (P < 0.001) comorbidity, greater cognitive symptoms (P < 0.001), and abnormal creatinine level (P < 0.05), plasma viral load greater than 200 copies/ml (P < 0.05), being from the Australian cohort (P < 0.05) were also associated with a higher risk of NCI.

CONCLUSION

Data integration may serve as a strategy to increase sample size and study power to better assess abnormal cognitive aging effect in PWH, which was significant in the current study.

The Association Between Five Factor Model Personality Traits and Verbal and Numeric Reasoning

Five-factor model (FFM) personality traits are related to basic cognitive functions and risk of cognitive impairment in late life. The present study addresses whether FFM traits are also associated with a more complex cognitive function, reasoning, across adulthood. We used seven samples to examine the relation between personality and verbal (total N= 39,177) and numeric (total N= 76,388) reasoning. A meta-analysis indicated higher Neuroticism was associated modestly with worse performance on verbal and numeric reasoning tasks. Openness was associated with better verbal reasoning and was unrelated to numeric reasoning. Surprisingly, Extraversion was associated modestly with worse performance in both domains, and Conscientiousness was essentially unrelated to reasoning. Agreeableness was unrelated to reasoning. There was significant heterogeneity across the samples but only limited evidence for moderation by age or sex. Consistent with other cognitive domains, the results suggested that Neuroticism is related to worse performance globally, whereas Openness tends to be associated with better verbal abilities. Among the unexpected findings was the better reasoning of introverts. The pattern also suggests that the common positive association between Conscientiousness and cognition does not extend to reasoning and suggests that Conscientiousness may support healthier cognitive aging through basic cognitive functions rather than through complex functions like reasoning.

Challenges and opportunities in preregistration of coordinated data analysis: A tutorial and template

The credibility revolution in social science has led to the recommendation and adoption of practices to increase the replicability of scientific findings. Many of the recommended practices, such as replication and preregistration, present unique challenges for aging research given its reliance on long-term longitudinal data. In this tutorial, we propose preregistered coordinated data analysis as a promising approach that involves both replication and preregistration, but that overcomes the aforementioned challenges by using existing data. We discuss the benefits of preregistering coordinated data analysis and provide an add-on template to be used in conjunction with existing preregistration templates for preregistering coordinated data analysis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Data overuse in aging research: Emerging issues and potential solutions

Aging and lifespan development researchers have been fortunate to have public access to many longitudinal datasets. These data are valuable and see high utilization, yet this has a considerable downside. Many of these are heavily overused. Overuse of publicly available datasets creates dependency among published research papers giving the false impression of independent contributions to knowledge by reporting the same associations over multiple papers. This is a potentially serious problem in the aging literature given the high use of a relatively small number of well-known studies. Any irregularities or sampling biases in this relatively small number of samples have outsize influence on perceived answers to key aging questions. We detail this problem, focusing on issues of dependency among studies, sampling bias and overfitting, and contradictory estimates of the same effect from the same data in independent publications. We provide solutions, including greater use of data sharing, pre-registrations, holdout samples, split-sample cross-validation, and coordinated analysis. We argue these valuable datasets are public resources that are being diminished by overuse, with parallels in environmental science. Taking a conservation perspective, we hold that these practices (pre-registration, holdout samples) can preserve data resources for future generations of researchers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Coordinated data analysis: Knowledge accumulation in lifespan developmental psychology

Coordinated analysis is a powerful form of integrative analysis, and is well suited in its capacity to promote cumulative scientific knowledge, particularly in subfields of psychology that focus on the processes of lifespan development and aging. Coordinated analysis uses raw data from individual studies to create similar hypothesis tests for a given research question across multiple datasets, thereby making it less vulnerable to common criticisms of meta-analysis such as file drawer effects or publication bias. Coordinated analysis can sometimes use random effects meta-analysis to summarize results, which does not assume a single true effect size for a given statistical test. By fitting parallel models in separate datasets, coordinated analysis preserves the heterogeneity among studies, and provides a window into the generalizability and external validity of a set of results. The current article achieves three goals: First, it describes the phases of a coordinated analysis so that interested researchers can more easily adopt these methods in their labs. Second, it discusses the importance of coordinated analysis within the context of the credibility revolution in psychology. Third, it encourages the use of existing data networks and repositories for conducting coordinated analysis, in order to enhance accessibility and inclusivity. Subfields of research that require time- or resource- intensive data collection, such as longitudinal aging research, would benefit by adopting these methods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceived Partner Responsiveness Forecasts Behavioral Intimacy as Measured by Affectionate Touch

Affectionate touch is an important behavior in close relationships throughout the lifespan. Research has investigated the relational and individual psychological and physical benefits of affectionate touch, but the situational factors that give rise to it have been overlooked. Theorizing from the interpersonal process model of intimacy, the current studies tested whether perceived partner responsiveness forecasts affectionate touch in romantic couples. Following a preliminary integrative data analysis (N = 842), three prospective studies use ecologically valid behavioral (Studies 1 and 2) and daily (Studies 2 and 3) data, showing a positive association between perceived partner responsiveness and affectionate touch. Furthermore, in Study 3, we tested a theoretical extension of the interpersonal process of intimacy, finding that affectionate touch forecasts the partner's perception of the touch-giver's responsiveness the next day. Findings suggest affectionate touch may be an untested mechanism at the heart of the interpersonal process of intimacy.

Trajectories of Frailty With Aging: Coordinated Analysis of Five Longitudinal Studies

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

There is an urgent need to better understand frailty and its predisposing factors. Although numerous cross-sectional studies have identified various risk and protective factors of frailty, there is a limited understanding of longitudinal frailty progression. Furthermore, discrepancies in the methodologies of these studies hamper comparability of results. Here, we use a coordinated analytical approach in 5 independent cohorts to evaluate longitudinal trajectories of frailty and the effect of 3 previously identified critical risk factors: sex, age, and education.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We derived a frailty index (FI) for 5 cohorts based on the accumulation of deficits approach. Four linear and quadratic growth curve models were fit in each cohort independently. Models were adjusted for sex/gender, age, years of education, and a sex/gender-by-age interaction term.

RESULTS

Models describing linear progression of frailty best fit the data. Annual increases in FI ranged from 0.002 in the Invecchiare in Chianti cohort to 0.009 in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). Women had consistently higher levels of frailty than men in all cohorts, ranging from an increase in the mean FI in women from 0.014 in the Health and Retirement Study cohort to 0.046 in the LASA cohort. However, the associations between sex/gender and rate of frailty progression were mixed. There was significant heterogeneity in within-person trajectories of frailty about the mean curves.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Our findings of linear longitudinal increases in frailty highlight important avenues for future research. Specifically, we encourage further research to identify potential effect modifiers or groups that would benefit from targeted or personalized interventions.

Education, Occupational Complexity, and Incident Dementia: A COSMIC Collaborative Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

Education and occupational complexity are main sources of mental engagement during early life and adulthood respectively, but research findings are not conclusive regarding protective effects of these factors against late-life dementia.

OBJECTIVE

This project aimed to examine the unique contributions of education and occupational complexity to incident dementia, and to assess the mediating effects of occupational complexity on the association between education and dementia across diverse cohorts.

METHOD

We used data from 10,195 participants (median baseline age = 74.1, range = 58∼103), representing 9 international datasets from 6 countries over 4 continents. Using a coordinated analysis approach, the accelerated failure time model was applied to each dataset, followed by meta-analysis. In addition, causal mediation analyses were performed.

RESULT

The meta-analytic results indicated that both education and occupational complexity were independently associated with increased dementia-free survival time, with 28%of the effect of education mediated by occupational complexity. There was evidence of threshold effects for education, with increased dementia-free survival time associated with 'high school completion' or 'above high school' compared to 'middle school completion or below'.

CONCLUSION

Using datasets from a wide range of geographical regions, we found that both early life education and adulthood occupational complexity were independently predictive of dementia. Education and occupational experiences occur during early life and adulthood respectively, and dementia prevention efforts could thus be made at different stages of the life course.

Harmonizing Ratings From Different School Environment Assessment Methods: A Simplified Approach

BACKGROUND

This study describes a method for harmonizing data collected with different tools to compute a rating of compliance with national recommendations for school physical activity (PA) and nutrition environments.

METHODS

We reviewed questionnaire items from 84 elementary schools that participated in the Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration (CORD) project, which was 3 distinct childhood obesity prevention projects in 7 communities in California, Massachusetts, and Texas. Each project used tools specific to its programs, schools, and communities. While this approach increased the feasibility of data collection, it created a challenge with the need to combine data across projects. We evaluated all questionnaire items and retained only those items that assessed one or more recommendations and constructed several items to indicate compliance or noncompliance with the respective associated recommendations.

RESULTS

Ten constructed items covered 11 of the 20 recommendations. Analysis indicated that the scores detected variability in compliance both among communities and among school within communities.

CONCLUSIONS

The scores captured differences in compliance with the national recommendations at multiple levels. Our method, designed for creating common scores, may be useful in integrated data analysis, systematic reviews, or future studies requiring harmonizing of data collected via different tools.

Revisiting the hypothesis that friends buffer against diminished self-esteem arising from poor quality parent-adolescent relationships: A replication study

This replication study revisited conclusions from 2 previous investigations (Gauze, Bukowski, Aquan-Assee, & Sippola, 1996; van Aken & Asendorpf, 1997), which suggested that support from friends buffers against diminished self-esteem arising from poor quality relationships with mothers during the transition into adolescence. The aim of this replication study was to conduct an independent test of these findings with both concurrent and longitudinal data. Concurrent data for replication analyses were drawn from 4 projects, involving a total of 959 boys and 1,119 girls (ages 10 to 14) from Canada and the United States. Three samples reported participant ethnic descent: Africa (12.1%), Asia (5.6%), Europe (65.3%), Latin America (12.1%), and Native North America (0.9%). Child and mother reports of mother-child relationship quality assayed (a) maternal social support (in 3 data sets), and (b) family cohesion and adaptability (in 2 data sets). Main effects were replicated but hypothesized buffering effects were not. Maternal social support and friend social support were independently associated with adolescent self-esteem, concurrently, but not longitudinally. Family cohesion (but not adaptability) was associated with adolescent self-esteem, concurrently and longitudinally. Friend social support did not moderate associations between mother-child relationship quality and adolescent self-esteem, concurrently or longitudinally. The findings are consistent with a cumulative effects model wherein friends uniquely contribute to adolescent self-worth, over and above the contribution of mothers. The findings do not support claims that friends moderate associations between mother-child relationship quality and adolescent self-esteem. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The challenge of ensuring affordability, sustainability, consistency, and adaptability in the common metrics agenda

Mental health research grapples with research waste and stunted field progression caused by inconsistent outcome measurement across studies and clinical settings, which means there is no common language for considering findings. Although recognising that no gold standard measures exist and that all existing measures are flawed in one way or another, anxiety and depression research is spearheading a common metrics movement to harmonise measurement, with several initiatives over the past 5 years recommending the consistent use of specific scales to allow read-across of measurements between studies. For this approach to flourish, however, common metrics must be acceptable and adaptable to a range of contexts and populations, and global access should be as easy and affordable as possible, including in low-income countries. Within a measurement landscape dominated by fixed proprietary measures and with competing views of what should be measured, achieving this goal poses a range of challenges. In this Personal View, we consider tensions between affordability, sustainability, consistency, and adaptability that, if not addressed, risk undermining the common metrics agenda. We outline a three-pronged way forward that involves funders taking more direct responsibility for measure development and dissemination; a move towards managing measure dissemination and adaptation via open-access measure hubs; and transitioning from fixed questionnaires to item banks. We argue that now is the time to start thinking of mental health metrics as 21st century tools to be co-owned and co-created by the mental health community, with support from dedicated infrastructure, coordinating bodies, and funders.

Integrative data analysis of self-efficacy in 4 clinical trials for alcohol use disorder

BACKGROUND

Self-efficacy has been proposed as a key predictor of alcohol treatment outcomes and a potential mechanism of success in achieving abstinence or drinking reductions following alcohol treatment. Integrative data analysis, where data from multiple studies are combined for analyses, can be used to synthesize analyses across multiple alcohol treatment trials by creating a commensurate measure and controlling for differential item functioning (DIF) to determine whether alcohol treatments improve self-efficacy.

METHOD

The current study used moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA) to examine the effect of treatment on self-efficacy across four different treatment studies (N = 3720; 72.5% male, 68.4% non-Hispanic white). Self-efficacy was measured using the Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale (AASE) in the COMBINE Study (n = 1383) and Project MATCH (n = 1726), and the Drug Taking Confidence Questionnaire (DTCQ) in two studies of Telephone Continuing Care (TEL Study 1: n = 303; TEL Study 2: n = 212). DIF was examined across time, study, treatment condition, marital status, age, and sex.

RESULTS

We identified 12 items from the AASE and DTCQ to create a commensurate measure of self-efficacy using MNLFA. All active treatments, including cognitive-behavioral treatment, a combined behavioral intervention, medication management, motivation enhancement treatment, telephone continuing care, twelve-step facilitation, and relapse prevention, were associated with significant increases in self-efficacy from baseline to posttreatment that were maintained for up to a year. Importantly, treatment as usual in community settings, which consisted of weekly group therapy that included addiction counseling and twelve-step recovery support, was not associated with significant increases in self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

Alcohol self-efficacy increases following treatment and numerous evidence-based treatments are associated with significant increases in self-efficacy, which are maintained over time. Community treatment that focuses solely on addiction counseling and twelve-step support may not promote increases in self-efficacy.

Within-Person Associations Among Self-Perceptions of Memory, Depressive Symptoms, and Activity Participation in Older Adults

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Self-perceptions of memory problems may impact older adults' mood as well as their activity participation, thereby negatively affecting health and well-being. We examined within-person associations among self-reported memory, depressive symptoms, as well as physical, social, and cognitive activity participation in older adults without cognitive impairment.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Samples were drawn from the Einstein Aging Study (EAS), National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP), and Minority Aging Research Study (MARS), with over 8,000 participants (65+ years) included across data sets. In a series of coordinated analyses, multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine within-person relationships over periods of up to 20 years.

RESULTS

Across EAS, NHATS, and MAP/MARS samples, we found that older adults' self-perceptions of memory did not directly covary with activity participation over time. However, we did find an indirect association in NHATS such that within-person changes in depressive symptoms were associated with changes in self-reported memory, and these contributed to lower physical as well as social activity participation.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Older adults' activity participation is important for health, but maximizing engagement requires understanding potentially impeding factors. We found some evidence that as self-perceptions of memory change over time, associated depressive symptoms may contribute to lower activity participation. Inconsistent findings across data sets, however, suggest future research is needed to understand individual characteristics that may influence these relationships.

Proof of Concept Example for Use of Simulation to Allow Data Pooling Despite Privacy Restrictions

BACKGROUND

Integrating results from multiple samples is often desirable, but privacy restrictions may preclude full data pooling, and most datasets do not include fully harmonized variable sets. We propose a simulation-based method leveraging partial information across datasets to guide creation of synthetic data based on explicit assumptions about the underlying causal structure that permits pooled analyses that adjust for all desired confounders in the context of privacy restrictions.

METHODS

This proof-of-concept project uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. We specified an estimand of interest and a directed acyclic graph (DAG) summarizing the presumed causal structure for the effect of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) on cognitive change. We derived publicly reportable statistics to describe the joint distribution of each variable in our DAG. These summary estimates were used as data-generating rules to create synthetic datasets. After pooling, we imputed missing covariates in the synthetic datasets and used the synthetic data to estimate the pooled effect of HbA1c on cognitive change, adjusting for all desired covariates.

RESULTS

Distributions of covariates and model coefficients and associated standard errors for our model estimating the effect of HbA1c on cognitive change were similar across cohort-specific original and preimputation synthetic data. The estimate from the pooled synthetic incorporates control for confounders measured in either original dataset.

DISCUSSION

Our approach has advantages over meta-analysis or individual-level pooling/data harmonization when privacy concerns preclude data sharing and key confounders are not uniformly measured across datasets.

Longitudinal Relationships Between Subjective Cognitive Decline and Objective Memory: Depressive Symptoms Mediate Between-Person Associations

BACKGROUND

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) may be an early indicator of cognitive impairment, but depressive symptoms can confound this relationship. Associations may be influenced by differences between individuals (i.e., between-persons) or how each individual changes in their experiences over time (i.e., within-persons).

OBJECTIVE

We examined depressive symptoms as a mediator of the between- and within-person associations of SCD and objective memory in older adults.

METHODS

Coordinated analyses were conducted across four datasets drawn from large longitudinal studies. Samples (range: n = 1,889 to n = 15,841) included participants 65 years of age or older with no dementia at baseline. We used multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the mediation of SCD and objective memory through depressive symptoms, as well as direct relationships among SCD, objective memory, and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

Older adults who were more likely to report SCD had lower objective memory on average (between-person associations), and depressive symptoms partially mediated this relationship in three of four datasets. However, changes in depressive symptoms did not mediate the relationship between reports of SCD and declines in objective memory in three of four datasets (within-person associations).

CONCLUSION

Individual differences in depressive symptoms, and not changes in an individual's depressive symptoms over time, partially explain the link between SCD and objective memory. Older adults with SCD and depressive symptoms may be at greater risk for poor cognitive outcomes. Future research should explore how perceived changes in memory affect other aspects of psychological well-being, and how these relationships influence cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease risk.

A Coordinated Multi-study Analysis of the Longitudinal Association Between Handgrip Strength and Cognitive Function in Older Adults

OBJECTIVE

Handgrip strength, an indicator of overall muscle strength, has been found to be associated with slower rate of cognitive decline and decreased risk for cognitive impairment and dementia. However, evaluating the replicability of associations between aging-related changes in physical and cognitive functioning is challenging due to differences in study designs and analytical models. A multiple-study coordinated analysis approach was used to generate new longitudinal results based on comparable construct-level measurements and identical statistical models and to facilitate replication and research synthesis.

METHODS

We performed coordinated analysis on 9 cohort studies affiliated with the Integrative Analysis of Longitudinal Studies of Aging and Dementia (IALSA) research network. Bivariate linear mixed models were used to examine associations among individual differences in baseline level, rate of change, and occasion-specific variation across grip strength and indicators of cognitive function, including mental status, processing speed, attention and working memory, perceptual reasoning, verbal ability, and learning and memory. Results were summarized using meta-analysis.

RESULTS

After adjustment for covariates, we found an overall moderate association between change in grip strength and change in each cognitive domain for both males and females: Average correlation coefficient was 0.55 (95% CI = 0.44-0.56). We also found a high level of heterogeneity in this association across studies.

DISCUSSION

Meta-analytic results from nine longitudinal studies showed consistently positive associations between linear rates of change in grip strength and changes in cognitive functioning. Future work will benefit from the examination of individual patterns of change to understand the heterogeneity in rates of aging and health-related changes across physical and cognitive biomarkers.

Heterogeneity in Association Between Cognitive Function and Gait Speed Among Older Adults: An Integrative Data Analysis Study

BACKGROUND

Increasing evidence shows that cognition and gait speed are associated and are important measures of health among older adults. However, previous studies have used different methods to assess these 2 outcomes and lack sufficient sample size to examine heterogeneity among subgroups. This study examined how the relationship between global cognitive function and gait speed are influenced by age, gender, and race utilizing an integrated data analysis approach.

METHOD

Data on cognition (Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA], Mini-Mental Status Examination [MMSE], and Modified Mini-Mental State Examination [3MSE]) and gait speed (range: 4-400 m) were acquired and harmonized from 25 research studies (n = 2802) of adults aged 50+ from the Wake Forest Older American Independence Center. Multilevel regression models examined the relationship between predicted values of global cognitive function (MoCA) and gait speed (4-m walk), including heterogeneity by age, race, and gender.

RESULTS

Global cognitive function and gait speed exhibited a consistent positive relationship among whites with increasing age, while this was less consistent for African Americans. That is, there was a low correlation between global cognitive function and gait speed among African Americans aged 50-59, a positive correlation in their 60s and 70s, then a negative correlation thereafter.

CONCLUSION

Global cognition and gait speed exhibited a curvilinear U-shaped relationship among whites; however, the association becomes inverse in African Americans. More research is needed to understand this racial divergence and could aid in identifying interventions to maintain cognitive and gait abilities across subgroups.