Social support & the reverse

[Searcher]

"A recent study among 5,475 men and 4,580 women aged over 50 showed that a single point increase in negative social support score resulted in a 31 percent rise in the risk of eventual dementia. Negative social support is where you experience a lot of critical, unreliable and annoying behaviors from others, especially people close to you."

Came across this in an intriguing article: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-forgivi ... our-brain/

Would be interesting to locate the study.

[McGido]

"A recent study among 5,475 men and 4,580 women aged over 50 showed that a single point increase in negative social support score resulted in a 31 percent rise in the risk of eventual dementia. Negative social support is where you experience a lot of critical, unreliable and annoying behaviors from others, especially people close to you."

Came across this in an intriguing article: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-forgivi ... our-brain/

Would be interesting to locate the study.

I wouldn't be surprised if much of what plagues our health is our own undoing. We all know the placebo effect is real. Now, just imagine reinforcing negative thoughts for years, even decades. I'm sure that manifests in ways we can't even begin to comprehend yet.

[NF52]

Would be interesting to locate the study.

To paraphrase: "Search, and ye shall find!"
Positive and Negative Experiences of Social Support and Risk of Dementia in Later Life: An Investigation Using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... po=75.0000
People were asked the following 6 questions ONE TIME at the beginning of the study, so the results should be viewed with caution.

Participants were aged 50 years and over with overall mean age 65 years and standard deviation 10 years. Overall, men were more likely (56%) to have dementia than women (44%). Participants with dementia were on average older at baseline (mean age = 76 years for men and 74 years for women) than the participants without dementia (mean age = 65 years for men and 64 years for women).

Positive experiences of support (4= A lot; 3 =Some; 2= A little; 1=No at all)
(a) How much do they really understand the way you feel about things?
(b) How much can you rely on them if you have a serious problem?
(c) How much can you open up to them if you need if you need to talk about your worries?

Negative experiences of support
(a) How much do they criticise you?
(b) How much do they let you down when you are counting on them?
(c) How much do they get on your nerves

Here's an interesting conclusion: It seems to help more if your kids are supportive than if you're spouse is; especially if you're a guy, since they showed up in this study (which used Dr. or family member or self-report to identify dementia).

Despite the effect of overall positive social support not being statistically significant in our study, we found that positive exchanges with children offered protection against cognitive impairment...Our results corroborate those from some studies [15] who reported that positive support from children, in particular, was associated with less depression symptoms in older people.

And the possible causal factors are commendably broad:

lack of supportive social relationships may promote health-damaging behaviors including smoking, alcohol drinking, sedentary lifestyle, poor dietary choices, and excess body weight...Similarly, diverse psychosocial processes, including personality traits or individual differences, emotions and moods, and perceptions of personal control, may enhance people’s coping strategies and adaptation to interpersonal stressors. Importantly, individual’s cognitive appraisal of the significance of an event or circumstances may mediate the impact of stressors on physical and mental health . In turn, the effects of these psychological factors and states may be mediated through diverse psychobiological processes, including neuroendocrine and inflammatory responses

[References in text omitted; emphasis added.]

[Jafa]

Thank you Searcher, a very interesting article. I remember reading a long time ago ( pre The Forum so didn’t bother with the source) that elderly people who believed they were loved (inference being they may not have been) did much better in all health respects.

[Orangeblossom]

Yes, I was reading of this in a book recently called The Middle Aged Brain, it mentioned this study and that positive social support was good, but not negative.