Page 57 - IJPS-8-1

International Journal of
Population Studies Cognitive functioning and active life engagement

Impairments in cognitive functioning may decrease because it was the first time that the time-use diary data were
rural older adults’ ability to participate in economic and specifically collected in the WESAP questionnaire survey.
physical activities that need considerable motor skills and Pooling data from Wave 6 and 7 allowed us to examine,
function in decision making. Some evidence shows that whether the baseline cognitive functioning and its decline
health status is associated with paid work participation, were associated with time-use patterns 3 years later. Our
but is not associated with other activities (Sabbath, Matz- sample consists of 1243 older adults age 60 and older who were
Costa, Rowe, et al., 2016). Severe levels of limitations in interviewed in 2015. After removing 128 respondents who
cognitive functioning may also influence participation died before the 2018 survey, 95 who were lost to follow-up
in activities that need some cognitive reserves, such in 2018, and five cases with missing values in daily time-use
as household work, caregiving activities, and socially and functioning, a total of 1015 older adults were included in
connected activity. For example, individuals with possible this study. Compared with the excluded samples, the included
and probable dementia were less likely to engage in social ones were younger, more likely to be married and living with
connecting activities (Parisi, Roberts, Szanton, et al., 2017). others, with higher income and more social support.
Among older adults who have hip fracture, cognitive 2.2. Measures
impairment is associated with less exercises (Lenze,
Munin, Dew, et al., 2004). In a study that included 2.2.1. Outcome: Time-use on daily activities
adults with multiple sclerosis, cognitive impairment was The pattern of time-use which reflects active life engagement
associated with restrictions in participations in domestic, of older adults was assessed by a comprehensive 24-h recall
leisure, and mobility activities (Ben Ari, Johansson, measure. Following the general time-use data collection
Ytterberg, et al., 2014). While these studies were conducted guidelines, this instrument was developed for participants’
in outpatient clinics and hospitals, limited studies have time used during the day before the date of survey
focused on community-dwelling older adults. More completion. Investigators applied this time-use instrument
recently, in a systematic review and meta-analysis, Stolwyk to calculate the amount of time spent on each activity
et al., (2021) and his colleagues found that the decline of from a list of 17 items, such as housekeeping, caregiving,
cognitive functioning is associated with reduced active working at home, working away from home, leisure time,
life engagement (Stolwyk, Mihaljcic, Wong, et al., 2021). and sleep. To explore how the functional health of older
Therefore, we expect that low level cognitive functioning adults specifically influence different domains of their
and its decline are associated with low levels of active life active life engagement in a rural China’s social setting, we
engagement among older adults in rural China. grouped activity items into the following five categories:
economic work (i.e., paid work and earning money from
2. Data and Methods farming, business, manufacturing), household work
2.1. Data collection (i.e., the activities for household maintenance such as
cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and caregiving activities
Data were drawn from the longitudinal study on “Well- to grandchildren, parents, or spouse), recreational
being of Elderly Survey in Anhui Province (WESAP),” a activities (i.e., watching television/movie, reading books/
panel survey conducted every 3 years between 2001 and newspapers, listening to the radio, and surfing the internet),
2018 in rural townships of Chaohu, Anhui province. physical activities (i.e., sports, walking, or dancing), and
A total of seven waves of surveys were completed by socially connected activities (i.e., making phone calls,
trained interviewers. Using a stratified multistage sampling chatting, and playing chess). Sedentary time for rest (e.g.,
design, 1800 older adults aged 60 and older from 72 napping or doze off) was also included as a reversed
randomly selected villages within six rural townships were measure of active life engagement. These groupings
interviewed in the first wave in 2001 and 1715 provided distinguished the two dimensions of daily activities (social
valid information. The number of original respondents vs. solitary and active vs. sedentary) based on prior studies
who participated in the follow-up surveys in 2003, 2006, of time-use among older adults and the active engagement
2009, and 2012 was 1391, 1067, 807, and 605, respectively. literature (Lee, Chi, and Palinkas, 2019; Lennartsson and
To replace the deceased and lost to follow-up elders, the Silverstein, 2001; Simone and Haas, 2013). Following the
2009 and 2015 surveys also randomly recruited 420 (aged two-dimension measure of daily activities, the more time
60–68) and 480 (aged 60–65) refreshment cohorts from spent on both social and active activities (e.g., economic
the same villages using the same sampling design. work), social activities (e.g., social connected activities),
This study focused on respondents who participated in or active activities (e.g., physical activities), the less time
the sixth (2015) and the seventh (2018) waves of the survey. spent on both solitary and sedentary activities (e.g.,
The sixth wave served as the baseline in the current analysis, sedentary time), and the more active life engagement is.

Volume 8 Issue 1 (2022) 51 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i1.1301