Angelina R Sutin

Research topics

Matched from this investigator's NIH project titles and abstracts.

• Cognitive Aging
• Alzheimer's and Dementia
• Emotion and Affective Neuroscience

Active NIH awards

• Purpose in life: Mechanisms to support healthier cognitive aging and reduce risk of Alzheimer's disease

  5R01AG074573-05

  NIA · FY 2025 · $606K

  Project Summary Purpose in life is the belief that one’s life and activities are goal-oriented, directed, and worthwhile. This belief is associated consistently with better outcomes, including greater engagement in health promoting behavior (e.g., less smoking, more physical activity), fewer chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes), and ultimately greater longevity. Independent of behavioral and clinical factors, purpose in life is associated with better cognitive outcomes, including lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). ADRD remains a significant challenge to patients, their families, and the healthcare system, as it is one of the leading causes of death that lacks disease-modifying treatments or cures. There is a growing literature that shows that purpose in life is protective across the arc of the ADRD disease spectrum: It is associated with better performance on cognitive tasks and less cognitive decline prior to dementia onset, it is protective against cognitive impairments, both mild and severe, and, even after diagnosis, it is associated with fewer behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. In a parallel literature, there is consistent evidence from randomized controlled trials that purpose in life is malleable and can be increased through intervention. Purpose in life is thus poised to be a powerful target of intervention to improve cognitive outcomes, from maintaining cognitive function in middle adulthood to improving outcomes in dementia care. The next step in intervention development is to identify the putative mechanisms of action hypothesized to change in response to the intervention and explain the relation between purpose and better cognitive outcomes. Once these mechanisms are identified, interventions that increase purpose to improve cognitive outcomes can be developed and tested. As a step toward this long-term goal, the present study will use ecological momentary assessments (EMA) to identify the daily mechanisms responsible for the association between purpose in life and healthier cognitive outcomes. In particular, we will test the hypothesis that purpose in life is associated with greater momentary engagement and better momentary cognition, which will support healthier cognitive function over time. We will address these associations in three groups considered critical populations for intervention: older adults with subjective cognitive impairment, older adults with healthy cognition, and middle-aged adults. This research will provide much needed information on putative mechanisms of action that explain how purpose protects cognition. Such information is critical to develop purpose interventions that promote healthier cognitive aging.

• A mechanistic and dyadic approach to identify how interpersonal conscientiousness supports cognitive health and lowers risk of dementia

  1RF1AG083878-01

  NIA · FY 2023 · $2.3M

  Project Summary The burden of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) takes a significant toll on the individual living with dementia, their families and communities, and the healthcare system. Without effective intervention and prevention strategies, the prevalence of AD is expected to more than double over the next 30 years. It is critical to identify protective factors that can be leveraged for more effective prevention before the onset of the disease. Conscientiousness is a personality trait that is associated consistently with better health outcomes, which extends to dementia: Conscientiousness is one of the most replicated psychological factors that is protective against cognitive impairment. Most work on Conscientiousness has focused on its agentic aspects (e.g., self-control, achievement striving). Conscientiousness, however, has a distinct interpersonal component that is often overlooked in the relation with health in general and cognition in particular. This interpersonal component – Interpersonal Conscientiousness – defined as either responsibility or dutifulness, is protective against dementia, an effect that has replicated in three independent samples. In addition, its protective association with dementia is independent of the agentic components of this trait and extends to cognitive function prior to dementia. Interpersonal Conscientiousness is thus a robust and novel psychological factor that is a promising target of intervention for healthier cognitive outcomes in older adulthood. The objective of this proposal is to provide much needed stage 0 evidence that is necessary for intervention development. Specifically, this research aims to identify the clinical/physiological, behavioral, psychological, and relational mechanisms through which Interpersonal Conscientiousness leads to better cognitive outcomes. The proposed research addresses these mechanisms and cognition as typically measured in lab settings and the daily expression of these mechanisms and momentary cognitive performance measured with ecological momentary assessment in everyday life. It seeks to identify the pathways through which Interpersonal Conscientiousness protects cognition and promotes better daily cognitive function across a critical period of the lifespan – midlife and the transition to old age (ages 40-70) – a period particularly relevant for prevention because it is generally before the onset of neurodegeneration. In addition, this research addresses actor and partner effects within committed relationships to test whether the protective effect of Interpersonal Conscientiousness extends from one member of the couple to the other. This work will lead to new knowledge on how Interpersonal Conscientiousness promotes healthier cognitive aging and will point to new prevention and intervention targets for promoting healthier cognitive aging across adulthood to support better outcomes in older adulthood.

Earlier awards

• Purpose in life: Mechanisms to support healthier cognitive aging and reduce risk of Alzheimer's diseaseFY 2024 · $634K
• Prenatal and Early Life Antecedents of Personality: An Intergenerational Lifespan ApproachFY 2023 · $2.2M
• Purpose in life: Mechanisms to support healthier cognitive aging and reduce risk of Alzheimer's diseaseFY 2023 · $737K