The Relationship between Physical Activity, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognitive Functioning

<p>The number of older individuals experiencing age related cognitive decline (ARCD) continues to grow exponentially. Memory, executive functioning, and cognitive processing speed have shown to be particularly sensitive to the effects of aging. The same regions of the brain associated with executive functioning and memory are also associated with mood. Researchers have shown an association between ARCD and depression. Research on physical activity (PA) continues to show a beneficial influence on cognition, physical health, and mood. Developmentally, women and men have normal differences in cognitive functioning. As women and men age, these differences can increase. In addition, researchers have shown that level of PA engagement between men and women can differ. Given these established relationships, continued investigation of how these variables interact is important. The aim of the current study is to use a healthy aging population to investigate the interaction of PA, depressive symptoms, and gender on cognitive functioning. Results showed that the overall optimal linear combination of PA, depressive symptoms, gender, and all interactions accounted for about 6.4% of the variance in memory performance (p < .05). Gender was also shown to be a significant predictor of memory performance (p < .01). Depressive symptoms were shown to be a significant predictor of executive functioning performance (p < .05). All other models were non-significant.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year

2017

Author dc:creator

• Palma, Imari-Ashley F.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Aréchiga, Adam L.
• Lee, Grace J.
• Morrell, Holly E. R.

• Clinical Psychology
• Psychology
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Memory - Age Factors; Cognition - Age Factors; Depression; Executive Functions - Physiology;
• Cognitive Decline; Executive Functioning; Effects of Aging; Depressive symptoms; Gender

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/485

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-1482