Gender-Specific Relationship Between Executive Function and Self-Rated Health

Educational Attainment and Perceived Need for Future ADL Assistance

The current study examined whether educational attainment was associated with perceived need of assistance with future activities of daily living (ADL) among middle-aged and early older-aged adults in the United States. Data for 54,946 adults aged 40-65 years from the 2011-2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) were analyzed using ordered logistic regression. Adults with more education will on average need less ADL assistance than adults with less education. Paradoxically, this study found that higher levels of formal education were associated with perceiving more need for future ADL assistance. This association was also found to vary between males and females. Building knowledge of long-term care planning into existing public educational structures and providing this knowledge to adults no longer involved in the formal educational system through medical providers may lead to better anticipation of future care needs.

The impact of epidemic infectious diseases on the relationship between subjective well-being and social class identity in older adults: The mediating role of Self-rated health

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between subjective well-being, social class identity, and Self-rated health among older persons,. Focusing on the mediating role of health and the impact of epidemic infectious diseases on these relationships.

METHODS

Based on the 2018 and 2021 China General Social Survey (CGSS) databases, the data were screened, and processed. Using Stata17, we employed ordered probit regression to examine the relationships among variables and Bootstrap methods to assess mediation effects, and the CGSS data for 2018 and 2021 were compared and analyzed.

RESULTS

Our results revealed that factors such as social class identity, health status, and personal income significantly positively impact older persons' subjective well-being (P<0.01). Notably, there was a partial mediating effect of health status between the subjective well-being of the elderly and social class identity. And findings showed that when older adults were affected by epidemic diseases, their subjective well-being, social class identity, and Self-rated health remained significantly positively correlated. Subjective well-being, social class identity. What is more noteworthy is that when affected by epidemic infectious diseases, older adults' subjective well-being, social class identity, and Self-rated health remained significantly positively correlated. The mediating role of self-rated health in older adults' subjective well-being and social class identity increased from 9.6% to 12.4%.

CONCLUSIONS

In the face of epidemic infectious diseases, we need to pay more attention to the Self-rated health of the elderly, and the Chinese government should take effective measures to improve their health level, which will in turn improve the subjective well-being of the elderly and realize the goal of healthy aging.

Psychometric properties of the Teenage Executive Functioning Inventory (TEXI): A confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance by gender in Bangladeshi adolescents

The Teenage Executive Functioning Inventory (TEXI) is a newly developed, reliable, and valid measure to assess deficits in executive functioning. The present study aimed to adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Bangla version of the TEXI in a sample of Bangladeshi adolescents. The cross-sectional research on 360 Bangladeshi adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years was carried out. Initially, the 20-item TEXI was translated into Bangla and pretested. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test factor structure and measurement invariance across genders. The CFA identified a two-factor solution, including working memory and inhibition, thereby replicating the original model. Multi-group CFA further suggested configural, metric, scaler, and residual measurement invariance between genders in a Bangladeshi sample. The internal consistency reliability of the TEXI was adequate. Construct and criterion-related validity were confirmed by establishing substantial and statistically significant correlations between the two factors within the TEXI and the associations between academic performance and the overall TEXI score. The Bangla version of the TEXI is a valuable measurement tool for evaluating executive dysfunction among adolescents. This study opens the door to future research on adolescents' executive functioning deficits and their relationship with other real-life behaviors.

The Scale Assessment of Executive Functions-Adult (SAEF-A): Construction of a valid ecological instrument

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to validate the SAEF-A (Scale Assessment Of Executive Functions-Adult) test, a new instrument for measuring executive functions in adults.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study participants are residents of Fez-Meknes over 18 years old. Two groups were enrolled: people with epilepsy and a healthy group. We constructed the tests in all three Moroccan languages: Darija, Tamazight, and Arabic. We validated the SAEF-A test according to Bernaud's instructions compared to the BRIEF-A test.

RESULTS

The Alpha Cronbach and Split Half were 92% and 88%, respectively. Exploratory research results highlight five facets of perceived value. Significant convergent validation existed between the BRIEF-A subscales and the SAEF-A scale. The results show that the people with epilepsy sample can be discriminated from the healthy ones in all dimensions, except planning, with a minor difference.

CONCLUSIONS

The results provide good reliability and validity for the SAEF-A. It will be helpful in studies of Moroccan adults and other people.

Validation of a proxy-reported SARC-F questionnaire for current and retrospective screening of sarcopenia-related functional impairments

BACKGROUND

The strength, assistance walking, rise from a chair, climb stairs, and falls (SARC-F) questionnaire is a well-established instrument for screening of sarcopenia and sarcopenia-related functional impairments. As it is based on self-reporting, its use precludes patients who are unable to answer the questionnaire as a consequence of severe acute diseases or cognitive impairment. Therefore, we aimed to validate a proxy-reported version of the SARC-F for both ad-hoc as well as retrospective screening for severe sarcopenia-related functional impairments.

METHODS

Patients aged ≥60 years completed the SARC-F and performed the short physical performance battery (SPPB) at baseline (T1). Proxies in Cohort A gave a simultaneous assessment of the patients' functional status with the proxy-reported SARC-F at T1 and again, retrospectively, after 3 months (T2). Proxies in Cohort B only completed the SARC-F retrospectively at T2. The questionnaires' performances were assessed through sensitivity/specificity analyses and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. For non-inferiority analyses, results of both the patient-reported and proxy-reported SARC-F were correlated with the SPPB total score as well as the results of the chair-rise test subcategory; the respective correlation coefficients were tested against each other.

RESULTS

One hundred and four patients and 135 proxies participated. Using a SPPB score < 9 points as the reference standard, the proxy-reported SARC-F identified patients at high risk for sarcopenia-related functional impairment with a sensitivity of 0.81 (ad-hoc), 0.88 (retrospective Cohort A), and 0.87 (retrospective Cohort B) as well as a specificity of 0.89 (ad-hoc), 0.78 (retrospective Cohort A), and 0.64 (retrospective Cohort B). Areas under the ROC curves were ≥ 0.9 for the ad-hoc proxy-reported SARC-F and the retrospective proxy-reported SARC-F in both cohorts. The proxy-reported SARC-F showed a non-inferior correlation with the SPPB compared with the patient-reported SARC-F for ad-hoc (P = <0.001) as well as retrospective screening for severe sarcopenia-related functional impairment in both Cohorts A (P = 0.007) and B (P = 0.026).

CONCLUSIONS

Proxy-reported SARC-F is a valid instrument for both ad-hoc as well as retrospective screening for sarcopenia-related functional impairment and could become the standard tool for evaluating this risk in older adults with severe acute disease, for example, in patients with quickly evolving haematological conditions.

Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9-10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences

AIM

This study tested sex differences in the association between hippocampal volume and working memory of a national sample of 9-10-year-old children in the US. As the hippocampus is functionally lateralized (especially in task-related activities), we explored the results for the right and the left hippocampus.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study data. This analysis included baseline ABCD data (n = 10,093) of children between ages 9 and 10 years. The predictor variable was right and left hippocampal volume measured by structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). The primary outcome, list sorting working memory, was measured using the NIH toolbox measure. Sex was the moderator. Age, race, ethnicity, household income, parental education, and family structure were the covariates.

RESULTS

In the overall sample, larger right (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) and left (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) hippocampal volumes were associated with higher children's working memory. Sex had statistically significant interactions with the right (b = -0.0018; p = 0.001) and left (b = -0.0012; p = 0.022) hippocampal volumes on children's working memory. These interactions indicated stronger positive associations between right and left hippocampal volume and working memory for females compared to males.

CONCLUSION

While right and left hippocampal volumes are determinants of children's list sorting working memory, these effects seem to be more salient for female than male children. Research is needed on the role of socialization, sex hormones, and brain functional connectivity as potential mechanisms that may explain the observed sex differences in the role of hippocampal volume as a correlate of working memory.

Social Capital and Self-Rated Health: Empirical Evidence from China

This study assesses the relationship between social capital and self-reported health (SRH) by comparing different genders and ages. It utilizes data from the 2016 China Family Panel Study data with a sample of 30,657 adult individuals from 25 provincial-level administrative regions in China. This was a cross-sectional study conducted with computer-assisted face-to-face interviews to assess social capital and self-rated health among Chinese adults. A multi-level Poisson regression model is employed to model social capital-related dependent variables using the independent variable of fair/poor health status. In terms of social relations, mobile phone use can improve men's health. However, this effect is insignificant for women. Moreover, gender and age interact with the relationship between social capital and individual health. The relationship between trust and self-rated health is not significantly different between men and women. The frequency of feeling lonely and the lack of feelings for the community in which they live have a negative impact on self-rated health, but there are no obvious differences in terms of gender. The number of meals per week with family members is negatively correlated with men's SRH, but there is no correlation with adult women 41 and above. Lack of help from neighbors is negatively correlated with men's health, but not with that of adult women 40 and below. Being a member of the Chinese Communist Party or a member of the Chinese Communist Youth League is positively correlated with SRH for women 60 and above.

Effect of self-rated health status on functioning difficulties among older adults in Ghana: Coarsened exact matching method of analysis of the World Health Organization's study on global AGEing and adult health, Wave 2

BACKGROUND

Functional difficulty assessment has been proven as a key factor in the health evaluation of adults. Previous studies have shown a reduction in health and functional difficulties with increasing age. This analysis was conducted to quantify the effect of poor self-rated health on functional difficulty among older adults in Ghana.

METHOD

This analysis was based on the World Health Organization Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health in Ghana for older adults 50 years and above. Fifteen standard functioning difficulty tools were extracted and used for the analysis. Three predictive models with the Coarsened Exact Matching method involving Negative Binomial, Logistics and Ordered logistic regression were performed using Stata 14.

RESULTS

Overall, the prevalence of poor Self-rated health was 34.9% and that of functional difficulties among older adults in Ghana was 69.4%. Female sex, increasing age, being separated, having no religious affiliation, not currently working and being underweight were associated with and significantly influence poor Self-rated health [AOR(95%CI)p-value = 1.41(1.08-1.83)0.011, 3.85(2.62-5.64)0.000, 1.45(1.08-1.94)0.013, 2.62(1.68-4.07)0.000, 2.4(1.85-3.12)0.000 and 1.39(1.06-1.81)0.017 respectively]. In addition, poor Self-rated health and geographical location (rural vs. urban)significantly influence functioning difficulties among older adults in Ghana as predicted by the three models [Negative Binomial: PR(95%CI) = 1.62(1.43-1.82), Binary logistic: AOR(95%CI) = 3.67(2.79-4.81) and ordered logistic: AOR(95%CI) = 2.53(1.14-2.03)].

CONCLUSION

Poor SRH is more pronounced among older adult females in Ghana. Some determinants of poor SRH include; age, geographical location (urban vs. rural), marital status, religion, and employment status. This provides pointers to important socio-demographic determinants with implications on the social function of older adults in line with the theme of the national aging policy of 2010, 'ageing with security and dignity' and ultimately in the national quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.