RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Occupational complexity and lifetime cognitive abilities
JF Neurology
JO Neurology
FD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
SP 2285
OP 2291
DO 10.1212/WNL.0000000000001075
VO 83
IS 24
A1 Emily L. Smart
A1 Alan J. Gow
A1 Ian J. Deary
YR 2014
UL http://n.neurology.org/content/83/24/2285.abstract
AB Objective: To examine associations between complexity of main lifetime occupation and cognitive performance in later life.Methods: Occupational complexity ratings for data, people, and things were collected from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles for 1,066 individuals (men = 534, women = 532) in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. IQ data were available from mean age 11 years. Cognitive ability data across the domains of general ability, processing speed, and memory were available at mean age 70 years.Results: General linear model analyses indicated that complexity of work with people and data were associated with better cognitive performance at age 70, after including age 11 IQ, years of education, and social deprivation.Conclusions: The current findings are supportive of the differential preservation hypotheses that more stimulating environments preserve cognitive ability in later life, although the continued effects into old age are still debated. Studies that have early-life cognitive ability measures are rare, and the current study offers interesting prospects for future research that may further the understanding of successful aging.DOT=Dictionary of Occupational Titles; g=general cognitive ability; LBC1936=Lothian Birth Cohort 1936; MHT=Moray House Test; PCA=principal component analysis; SMS1947=Scottish Mental Survey 1947