Gender matters: Productive social engagement and the subsequent cognitive changes among older adults

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between productive social engagement and cognitive functioning trajectories of older adults in South Korea and how the nature of the relationships differs for men and women. We exploit data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey of South Korea from 2006 to 2014 and apply the Growth Mixture Modeling approach to disentangle health causation from health selection processes. We find that socially productive activities are associated with more favorable cognitive functioning trajectories, independent of an individual's baseline health and cognitive status. The odds of maintaining higher cognitive functioning are greater for men who had participated in socially productive activities on a monthly basis. Social engagement protects against rapid cognitive decline for women, particularly for those with lower education. Among men, social activities in friendship/alumni organizations are likely to help maintain good cognitive functioning in older age while for women with lower cognition, religious activities may protect against cognitive decline.

Keywords: Cognitive health; Gender; Growth mixture modeling; Social engagement; South Korea.