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Cognition and Sleep among Chinese Couples: A Longitudinal Actor–Partner Interdependence Model Analysis

Yu Guo, Institute for Population and Development Studies School of Public Policy and Administration Xi’an Jiaotong University
Quanbao Jiang, Institute for Population and development Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong University

Cognition is one of the factors that affect sleep duration. However, the existing literature considers this association solely at the individual-level. Using four waves (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2018) of the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, this study applied actor-partner interdependence modeling to examine the dyadic associations between cognition ability and nightly sleep duration within middle-aged and older couples in China (N=3442 couples). Our results showed that, for both wives and husbands, higher levels of cognition ability were significant associated with longer sleep duration of the same person(actor effect). For wives whose husbands reported higher cognition ability reported longer sleep duration(partner effects), whereas not significant when it converse. Furthermore, an increase in cognition ability of a wife/husband at a particular time point was significantly associated with a longer sleep duration of his wife/her husband at the next time points(partner effects). The findings suggest that the cognition among middle-aged and older adults in intimate partnerships is associated with their sleep status. Sleep is a dyadic interpersonal process, and might better be treated as a couple-level phenomenon than an individual one, particularly for women. Keywords: cognition ability, sleep duration, Longitudinal Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, older adults

Keywords: Population ageing, Older adults, Health and morbidity, Longitudinal studies

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  Presented in Session 92. Cognitive Health and Older Adults