Daily Social Interactions and Well-Being in Older Adults: The Role of Interaction Modality

Abstract Older adults increasingly use digital communication technologies to stay connected to others. In the present study, we examine the role of social interactions for older adults’ daily well-being focusing on three interaction modalities (face-to-face, telephone, and digital). We use data from 116 participants (age: M = 72 years, SD = 5, range = 65 to 94; 41% women), who reported on their social interactions and well-being over 21 days. Our findings show that frequency of face-to-face interactions is more consistently related to well-being than telephone or digital interactions. On days where participants report more face-to-face social interactions than their own average, they report higher positive affect and lower loneliness than usual. Similar effects are not found for telephone or digital interactions. In summary, our findings suggest that face-to-face social interactions are uniquely relevant to older adults’ daily well-being. We discuss implications of these findings for future research.

Increasingly more studies are showing that daily activities can be beneficial to wellbeing and cognitive abilities of older adults, but discussions about through which psychological mechanisms daily activities are associated with wellbeing and cognitive health have been scarce. This symposium, including three ambulatory assessment studies and one cross-sectional study, presents emerging theoretical hypotheses and recent empirical findings on this matter. Specifically, with 5-6 days of observations from 313 older adults, Brown and colleagues show that greater daily activity diversity is related to older adults' higher overall cognitive functioning (executive functioning, memory, and crystallized intelligence). Hueluer and colleagues examine the moderating role of interaction modality on the relation of daily social interactions with wellbeing using data from 116 older adults over 21 days. Their results show that more face-to-face interactions -but not telephone or digital interactions -are associated with higher positive affect and lower loneliness. With data from 153 older adults over 15 days, Luo and colleagues show the mediating effect of positive affect in the association between momentary working memory performance and subsequent social activity engagement. Sharifian and colleagues show the mediating effects of solitary-cognitive activities in the association between depressive symptoms and global cognition, using cross-sectional data from 453 older adults, and also examine the moderating role of race. Finally, Tom Hess will serve as a discussant and provide an integrative discussion of the papers, informed by his extensive work on daily activities, motivation, and aging.

MOMENTARY WORKING MEMORY AND MOMENTARY ACTIVITIES IN HEALTHY OLDER ADULTS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF AFFECTIVE STATES
Minxia Luo, Robert Moulder, and Christina Röcke,

University of Zurich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Research has shown cognitive ability in older age is associated with activity engagement, but little is known about what psychological mechanisms are linking the two constructs. This study investigates an emotional pathway, in which affective states mediate the temporal associations between momentary working memory and momentary activities in older age. We examined data from 153 healthy older adults aged 65 to 91 who completed a smartphonebased ambulatory assessment survey seven times a day over 15 days. In each assessment point, participants reported their momentary activities (e.g., social activities, mentally stimulating activities) and affective states (i.e., positive affect, negative affect) and took a working memory task. Initial results suggest that during an approximate time period of six hours (i.e., across three assessment points), working memory performance influences subsequent likelihood of social activity engagement. Moreover, positive affect mediates this temporal association. Results will be discussed in the context of cognitive aging research. Active lifestyles are related to better cognitive health. More work is needed, however, to examine whether participating in a variety of daily activities (i.e., activity diversity) has unique importance beyond amount of activity. The current study examined associations between daily activity diversity and cognitive functioning among community-dwelling older adults (N = 313, ages 65-90). Participants completed a cognitive battery, then responded to ecological momentary assessments of their participation in 10 common activity types (e.g., exercise, chores, social visits, volunteering) every 3 hours for 5-6 days, and wore accelerometers to track daily step counts and duration of activity. Multiple regression models revealed that greater daily activity diversity related to higher overall cognitive functioning, executive functioning, memory, and crystallized intelligence. These associations remained significant after adjusting for step count and duration of activity. Findings suggest daily activity diversity has unique importance beyond sheer amount of activity for cognitive health in later adulthood.

University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States
Older adults increasingly use digital communication technologies to stay connected to others. In the present study, we examine the role of social interactions for older adults' daily well-being focusing on three interaction modalities (face-to-face, telephone, and digital). We use data from 116 participants (age: M = 72 years, SD = 5, range = 65 to 94; 41% women), who reported on their social interactions and well-being over 21 days. Our findings show that frequency of face-to-face interactions is more consistently related to well-being than telephone or digital interactions. On days where participants report more face-to-face social interactions than their own average, they report higher positive affect and lower loneliness than usual. Similar effects are not found for telephone or digital interactions. In summary, our findings suggest that face-to-face social interactions are uniquely relevant to older adults' daily well-being. We discuss implications of these findings for future research.

DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, LEISURE ACTIVITY ENGAGEMENT, AND GLOBAL COGNITION IN NON-HISPANIC WHITE AND BLACK OLDER ADULTS
A. Zarina Kraal, 1 Laura Zahodne, 2 and Neika Sharifian, 1 , 1. University of Michigan,Ann Arbor,Michigan,United States,2. Clinical Science,Ann Arbor,Michigan,United States Prior research has linked more depressive symptoms to worse global cognition in older adulthood through lower leisure activity engagement. Less is known regarding which types of activities drive these associations. Additionally, Innovation in Aging, 2021, Vol. 5, No. S1

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GSA 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting