Subjective cognitive complaints, memory performance, and depressive affect in old age: a change-oriented approach

The question of whether and how subjective cognitive complaints are related to actual cognitive performance represents a central issue in applied cognitive aging research. Until recently, however, many studies have failed to find a strong association between subjective cognitive complaints and actual cognitive performance. In our study, we examine two alternative explanations: a) for methodological reasons, strong associations exist only when latent changes rather than differences are examined, and b) strong associations exist only between changes in depression and complaints, not between changes in cognitive performance and complaints. With 427 participants (M = 63 years) and two measurements, we examine both the relation between functioning, complaints, and depressive affect at each measurement point, and the relation between changes in functioning, changes in complaints, and changes in depressive affect between the measurement points with latent difference variables. The results indicate that there are substantial relations between changes in functioning, changes in depression, and changes in complaints.