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Background: Perceived stress decreases memory performance and escalates the risk of developing cognitive impairment. Despite these concerning cognitive outcomes, longitudinal assessment of the relationship between perceived stress and memory complaints within a racially diverse sample remains scant., Method: 391 cognitively intact older adults ( M  = 77.31, SD  = 4.75) from the Einstein Aging Study were measured annually for up to nine years. Memory complaint items included self-reported frequency of forgetfulness, one-year memory decline, and 10-year memory decline. Multilevel models examined between-person and within-person associations between perceived stress and memory complaints while controlling for demographic differences and neuroticism., Results: Strong between-person associations emerged such that older adults with generally higher perceived stress were more likely to report memory complaints, and vice versa. No significant concurrent within-person associations emerged. One lagged association emerged showing that within-person increases in perceived stress translated to a higher likelihood of reporting 10-year memory decline at the next annual screening., Conclusion: Older adults with higher perceived stress are at risk for memory complaints over time. Further research into the relationship between perceived stress and memory complaints is necessary to augment our understanding of how risk factors of cognitive decline present throughout the aging process.

Objectives: The current study examined whether self-reported memory problems among cognitively intact older adults changed concurrently with, preceded, or followed depressive symptoms over time., Design: Data were collected annually via in-person comprehensive medical and neuropsychological examinations as part of the Einstein Aging Study., Setting: Community-dwelling older adults in an urban, multi-ethnic area of New York City were interviewed., Participants: The current study included a total of 1,162 older adults (Mage = 77.65, SD = 5.03, 63.39% female; 74.12% White). Data were utilized from up to 11 annual waves per participant., Measurements: Multilevel modeling tested concurrent and lagged associations between three types of memory self-report (frequency of memory problems, perceived one-year decline, and perceived ten-year decline) and depressive symptoms., Results: Results showed that self-reported frequency of memory problems covaried with depressive symptoms only in participants who were older at baseline. Changes in perceived one-year and ten-year memory decline were related to changes in depressive symptoms across all ages. Depressive symptoms increased the likelihood of perceived ten-year memory decline the next year; however, perceived ten-year memory decline did not predict future depressive symptoms. Additionally, no significant temporal relationship was observed between depressive symptoms and self-reported frequency of memory problems or perceived one-year memory decline., Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of testing the unique associations of different types of self-reported memory problems with depressive symptoms.

Self-reported memory problems are often the first indicator of cognitive decline; however, they are inconsistently associated with objective memory performance and are known to be influenced by individual factors, such as personality. The current study examined the relationships between personality traits and self-reported memory problems in cognitively intact older adults, and whether these associations differ across Black and White older adults. Data were collected annually via in-person comprehensive medical and neuropsychological examinations as part of the Einstein Aging Study. Community-dwelling older adults in an urban, multi-ethnic area of New York City were interviewed. The current study included a total of 425 older adults (Mage = 76.68, SD = 4.72, 62.59% female; 72.00% White). Multilevel modeling tested the associations of neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, and agreeableness with self-reported memory problems. Results showed that neuroticism was positively related to frequency of memory problems and perceived ten-year memory decline only when other personality traits were not accounted for. Extraversion was negatively related to frequency of memory problems and perceived ten-year decline for both White and Black participants. However, conscientiousness was negatively related to perceived ten-year decline for Black participants only. Our findings highlight the importance of examining the association of all five personality traits with self-reported memory problems, as well as examining whether these associations differ for participants from different race/ethnicities., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.