How Informal Caregiving Shapes the Relationship Between Activity Diversity and Cognition

This study investigated how informal caregiving moderates the relationship between leisure activity engagement and cognition using data from the Health and Retirement Study. Cognitive performance outcomes included total cognition and episodic memory. Leisure activity engagement was assessed by both the frequency and the diversity (variety) of activities. Caregivers ( N = 6,275) were younger (M caregivers = 66.65 years, SD = 10.0; M non-caregivers = 70.32, SD = 9.9, p < .001), had a higher proportion of non-White individuals (31.62% vs. 14.82%), and females (63.06% vs. 57.76%) compared to non-caregivers ( N = 4,271). Compared to non-caregivers, caregivers reported more frequent and more diverse activity engagement (p < .001), yet had lower total cognition (p < .001) and memory scores (p = 0.006). For both activity measures, higher scores were related to better total cognition and memory (p < .001). Moderation analyses indicated that higher activity frequency and diversity were related with better total cognition and memory, but the beneficial impact was attenuated among caregivers. Future work should investigate this relationship by considering caregiver-specific factors.