David Camacho leads publication exploring the relationship of loneliness and cognitive functioning in Black, Latino, and White midlife and older adults in the United States.
David Camacho and co-authors published “Loneliness and Global Cognitive Functioning in Racially and Ethnically Diverse US Older Adults” in Frontiers in Psychology, section Psychology of Aging.
In this study the authors explore Wave 3 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 2,757). Loneliness was assessed using two measures including one item from the CES-D and the Felt Loneliness Measure. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) tool.
Loneliness appears to be an important predictor of cognitive functioning. However, the association of loneliness and cognitive functioning varied when using the CES-D loneliness item or the NFLM. Counterintuitively, greater NFLM loneliness was positively associated with higher MoCA scores for Latino participants only. The authors advocate for further research with racially and ethnically diverse midlife and older adults, particularly to understand the counterintuitive findings for Latino participants.