Exposure to the troubles in Northern Ireland, memory functioning, and social activity engagement: results from NICOLA.

Autor: McHugh Power JE; Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Education House, Co Kildare, Republic of Ireland.; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland., Feeney J; School of Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland., Fowler E; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland., McMichael AJ; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland., Hyland P; Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Education House, Co Kildare, Republic of Ireland., Lawlor BA; School of Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland., Cruise S; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland., Potter C; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland., Young I; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland., McGuinness B; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland., Kee F; Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: European journal of ageing [Eur J Ageing] 2022 Feb 10; Vol. 19 (4), pp. 1099-1109. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Feb 10 (Print Publication: 2022).
DOI: 10.1007/s10433-022-00683-5
Abstrakt: We investigated the potential impact of a cohort traumatic exposure, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, on memory functioning in later life, and the potential moderating effect of social activity engagement. Using data from 6571 participants aged 60 + in the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) cohort, we used a structural equation modelling framework to explore associations between traumatic exposure during the Troubles and memory functioning. As expected, social activity engagement was positively associated with memory functioning, β  = .102. Traumatic exposure was also positively associated with memory functioning, β  = .053. This association was stronger at low levels of social activity engagement; among those with higher levels, there was little association, interaction β  = - 0.054. The positive association between traumatic exposure during the Troubles and memory functioning was not moderated by the age at which the exposures occurred (based on analysis of a subsample with available data), interaction β  = - 0.015. We conclude that superior memory functioning was associated with higher levels of traumatic exposure during the Troubles, particularly among those with lower levels of social activity engagement, and regardless of the age at which the exposures occurred. Future longitudinal analyses are required to build on these results, which potentially have implications for life-course epidemiology, in relation to critical periods for traumatising experiences.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-022-00683-5.
Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at the School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Biomedical Sciences in Queen’s University Belfast and therefore has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. All participants gave written informed consent before participating. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
(© The Author(s) 2022.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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