Social support, neurocognition, and posttraumatic stress disorder: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Objective Most research investigating neurocognitive changes in participants with PTSD has focused on young adults. Numerous studies have recognized the crucial role of social support in diminishing the likelihood of developing PTSD. The current study evaluates the cognitive performance of middle-aged and older adults with symptoms of PTSD, and examines if perceived social support can act as a cognitive reserve factor. Method The study was conducted using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a nationwide study on health and aging. The current study included 1,096 participants in the PTSD group and 22,158 participants in the comparison group, all between the ages of 45 and 85. Participants completed the MOS (Medical Outcomes Study) Social Support Survey as well as neuropsychological tests in the domains of executive functioning, declarative memory, and prospective memory. Results The PTSD group had worse performance in the domains of executive functioning and prospective memory than the comparison group. Furthermore, when examining global cognitive impairments (impairment was defined as scoring 1.5 or more standard deviations below age and education adjusted comparison group), the PTSD group demonstrated greater impairment rates than the comparison group on two or more tests. Moderation analyses revealed that greater social support was associated with better executive functioning for the comparison group, although this was not found to be true for the PTSD group. Conclusion The PTSD group experienced greater cognitive deficits compared to the comparison group. Higher levels of perceived social support were associated with better performance on neurocognitive measures for the comparison group. However, social support did not appear to moderate this relationship for the PTSD group.