Occupational complexity and lifetime cognitive abilities.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine associations between complexity of main lifetime occupation and cognitive performance in later life.

Methods

Occupational complexity ratings for data, people, and things were collected from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles for 1,066 individuals (men = 534, women = 532) in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. IQ data were available from mean age 11 years. Cognitive ability data across the domains of general ability, processing speed, and memory were available at mean age 70 years.

Results

General linear model analyses indicated that complexity of work with people and data were associated with better cognitive performance at age 70, after including age 11 IQ, years of education, and social deprivation.

Conclusions

The current findings are supp

SUBMITTER: Smart EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4277669 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature