Perceived social support is associated with poorer cognitive performance in African-American men
Kisser J, Sprung MR, Waldstein SR, Evans MK, Zonderman AB. Perceived social support is associated with poorer cognitive performance in African-American men. Paper presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society; 14-17 March 2012; New Orleans. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2012;43:S23.
Higher levels of perceived social support have been associated with better cognitive function in predominantly White samples. We examined relations of social support to cognitive performance in 1,178 African American (AA) and White participants in the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study - a community-based, epidemiological study of an area probability sample of Baltimore, MD. After excluding those with stroke, dementia, neurological disorder, HIV+, TIA, cancer, and psychiatric disorder (n= 411), baseline participants (44% male; 44% White; M age=47; M education= 12.8) completed the MacArthur emotional and instrumental support scales and the Benton Visual Retention Test, California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Digit Span, Trail Making Test, and Animal Fluency. Multiple regression analyses, computed separately for emotional and instrumental support, were stratified by race and sex and adjusted for age, education, poverty status, literacy, medical comorbidities, antihypertensive use, alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use, nega- tive emotions, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose . In AA men only, significant associations were noted between greater emotional support and poorer performance on Digits Backward (p<.02) and Trails B (p<.001); greater instrumental support was associated with lower CVLT (p < .05), Digits Forward (p < .04) and Backward (p < .03), and Trails B (p=.002). Thus, among AA men, greater emotional support was related to worse performance on tests of attention, concentration, verbal learning, and mental flexibility. These unexpected findings may reflect the potentially burdensome impact of social support. Alternatively AA men with poorer cognitive function may be more likely to seek social support than AA women or Whites.
Kisser J, Sprung MR, Waldstein SR, Evans MK, Zonderman AB. Perceived social support is associated with poorer cognitive performance in African-American men. Paper presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society; 14-17 March 2012; New Orleans. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2012;43:S23.
Higher levels of perceived social support have been associated with better cognitive function in predominantly White samples. We examined relations of social support to cognitive performance in 1,178 African American (AA) and White participants in the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study - a community-based, epidemiological study of an area probability sample of Baltimore, MD. After excluding those with stroke, dementia, neurological disorder, HIV+, TIA, cancer, and psychiatric disorder (n= 411), baseline participants (44% male; 44% White; M age=47; M education= 12.8) completed the MacArthur emotional and instrumental support scales and the Benton Visual Retention Test, California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Digit Span, Trail Making Test, and Animal Fluency. Multiple regression analyses, computed separately for emotional and instrumental support, were stratified by race and sex and adjusted for age, education, poverty status, literacy, medical comorbidities, antihypertensive use, alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use, nega- tive emotions, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose . In AA men only, significant associations were noted between greater emotional support and poorer performance on Digits Backward (p<.02) and Trails B (p<.001); greater instrumental support was associated with lower CVLT (p < .05), Digits Forward (p < .04) and Backward (p < .03), and Trails B (p=.002). Thus, among AA men, greater emotional support was related to worse performance on tests of attention, concentration, verbal learning, and mental flexibility. These unexpected findings may reflect the potentially burdensome impact of social support. Alternatively AA men with poorer cognitive function may be more likely to seek social support than AA women or Whites.
