Friendship and Cognitive Functioning among Married and Widowed Chinese Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES Guided by the social convoy model, this study investigated the association between friendship and cognitive functioning among older Chinese adults, as well as the moderating effect of marital status (married vs. widowed). We also explored whether depression might account for the link between friendship and cognitive functioning. METHOD We used data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey in 2014 (N = 8,482). Cognitive functioning was measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination instrument and friendship was assessed with a three-item Lubben Social Network Scale. Linear regression and path analyses within a structural equation modeling framework were performed to examine the hypotheses. RESULTS Results indicated that friendship was significantly related to better cognitive functioning among older Chinese adults (β = 0.083, p <.001) and marital status moderated this association (β = -0.058, p <.01). In addition, depression partially mediated the relationship between friendship and cognitive functioning (β = 0.015, p <.001). DISCUSSION The results implied that friendship is important for maintaining cognitive functioning in later life and widowed older Chinese adults may benefit more from friendship in its relationship to cognitive functioning than married older Chinese adults. Further, one potential pathway linking friendship to cognitive functioning may be through depression; however, more research is needed to support this finding. Intervention programs aimed at building friendship opportunities may be one way to achieve better cognitive aging.