The DOI matches its Crossref record; 44 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Social Support and Successful Aging: Investigating the Relationships Between Lifetime Cognitive Change and Life Satisfaction
Abstract
Abstract. Social networks or support may contribute to successful aging. The Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 had their mental ability assessed at age 11 and 79. Almost 500 participants also rated their life satisfaction, social networks, and support at age 80. After controlling for age-11 IQ, sex, years of education, and social class, loneliness was the only social network/support characteristic adding significantly to the prediction of age-79 IQ, explaining about 2% of the variance; in old age, increased loneliness was associated with lower cognitive ability. Social network/support factors accounted for 23% of the variance in satisfaction with life ratings, with the greatest contributions from reduced loneliness (~12%) and having someone to talk to (~6%). Social network/support characteristics explained a greater proportion of the variance in life satisfaction ratings compared with later life cognition, although an individual's level of loneliness emerged as the largest single social support predictor of both outcomes. Possible causal pathways for these associations, which need to be studied in future research, are discussed.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Cross-sectional associations between greater loneliness and lower cognitive ability have been documented in several studies (Gilmour, 2011; Gow et al., 2013; Gow, Pattie, Whiteman, Whalley, & Deary, 2007)”
From Longitudinal Associations Between Loneliness and Cognitive Ability in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (2019) · cites this paper as Gow, Pattie, Whiteman, Whalley, & Deary, 2007
In the citing paper
“cognitive impairments may hamper social interactions, prompt social withdrawal, and thus lead to loneliness.”
From Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms (2010) · cites this paper as [27]
In the citing paper
“impaired cognitive performance and cognitive decline over time [27–29]”
From Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms (2010) · cites this paper as [27]
In the citing paper
“Feelings of loneliness at age 79 predicted “lifetime cognitive change” as indicated by lower IQ at age 79 adjusting for IQ at age 11, living arrangements at age 11 and at age 79, sex, marital status, and ideal level of social support [27].”
From Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms (2010) · cites this paper as [27]
In the citing paper
“Similarly, perceived isolation has been found to predict lifetime change in IQ36 and changes in depressive symptoms37,38 beyond what could be predicted by objective isolation.”
From Social isolation (2011) · cites this paper as [36]
In the citing paper
“Living alone in later life may increase the risk of poor cognitive function (Gow, Pattie, Whiteman, Whalley, & Deary, 2007;Gow, Corley, Starr, & Deary, 2013;van Gelder et al., 2006;Yaffe et al., 2009)”
From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Gow et al., 2007
In the citing paper
“Individuals who live alone may have less frequent opportunity for social contact, may be more isolated (Carstensen, 1992;de Jong Gierveld & Havens, 2004;de Jong Gierveld, 2003;Kobayashi et al., 2009), and may feel more lonely (Newall et al., 2014;Victor et al., 2005) than those who live with others, which may result in reduced cognitive stimulation and lower cognitive reserve (Gow et al., 2007).”
From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Gow et al., 2007
In the citing paper
“The present findings are inconsistent with one study that reports an association between living alone and cognitive function determined by a measure of IQ at baseline (Gow et al., 2007).”
From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Gow et al., 2007
In the citing paper
“The measure of IQ used in Gow et al. (2007) assesses reasoning, arithmetic, following directions, and analogies.”
From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Gow et al., 2007
In the citing paper
“The measure of IQ used in Gow et al. (2007) assesses different cognitive abilities to those assessed by the CAMCOG and other global measures of cognitive function”
From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Gow et al., 2007
Citations
Cites
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. (1975) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6 · Cited by 88,282
The satisfaction with life scale
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13 · Cited by 31,768
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.117.3.497 · Cited by 23,245
Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis
Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310 · Cited by 18,093
Diener, E. (1984) · Social indicators research series · doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2350-6_2 · Cited by 12,609
ФАКТОРЫ ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО БЛАГОПОЛУЧИЯ ЛЮДЕЙ ПОЖИЛОГО ВОЗРАСТА
Р., Н. М., & Ю., Б. С. (2026) · CyberLeninK (CyberLeninka) · doi:10.60797/irj.2026.170.43 · Cited by 7,969
Human Aging: Usual and Successful
Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1987) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3299702 · Cited by 3,384
Well-Being Over Time in Britain and the USA
Oswald, A. J., & Blanchflower, D. G. (1999) · Cited by 2,774
Uchino, B. N., Cacioppo, J. T., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (1996) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.119.3.488 · Cited by 2,727
Beyond money: toward an economy of well-being
Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00501001.x · Cited by 2,555
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- 10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/S0047-2727(02)00168-8 · DOI
- 10.1037/0033-2909.95.3.542 · DOI · Paper page
- Scottish Council for Research in Education (1933). The intelligence of Scottish children: A national survey of an age-group. London: University of London Press, Ltd
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms
Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2010) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8 · Cited by 4,782
“Feelings of loneliness at age 79 predicted “lifetime cognitive change” as indicated by lower IQ at age 79 adjusting for IQ at age 11, living arrangements at age 11 and at age 79, sex, marital status, and ideal level of social support [27].”
Perceived social isolation and cognition
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2009) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.005 · Cited by 2,144
Social relationships and health: The toxic effects of perceived social isolation
Cacioppo, J. T., & Cacioppo, S. (2014) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12087 · Cited by 1,057
Toward a neurology of loneliness
Cacioppo, S., Capitanio, J. P., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0037618 · Cited by 623
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Norman, G. J., & Berntson, G. G. (2011) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06028.x · Cited by 554
Metadata
- Authors
- Gow, A. J., Pattie, A., Whiteman, M. C., Whalley, L. J., & Deary, I. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Individual Differences
- Publisher
- Hogrefe Publishing Group
- Published
- 2007-07
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 103-115
- ISSN
- 1614-0001 (ISSN-L)
- 2151-2299
- OpenAlex
- W2140961087
- Cited by
- 231
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 7.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Individual Differences (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- social support, successful aging, loneliness, social networks, life satisfaction, cognitive ability, Lothian Birth Cohort 1921, older adults, causal pathways
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review