The Relationship Between Social Support and Subjective Cognitive Functioning Across Adulthood

Subjective cognitive functioning (SCF) is the self-appraisal of one's objective cognition, including both perceived cognitive ability and perceived cognitive impairment. Research has demonstrated perceived subjective cognitive impairment to be an important precursor to objective cognitive declines associated with increased age. Although previous work has shown a consistent positive relationship between social support and objective cognition throughout adulthood, few studies have examined the relationship between social support and SCF. Participants (N  =  1,877; age range: 18-99) from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project completed assessments of multiple domains of SCF and social support. Results demonstrated a significant association between negative support interactions and poorer SCF, beyond the influence of sociodemographic, well-being, and health factors. Exploratory analyses indicated that the magnitude of the relationships between social support and SCF were generally the same across age. These findings suggest that negative interactions may adversely impact an individual's self-appraisals of cognition.