Some publications to wrap the year up

During the past year, Ariane has collaborated with several renowned scholars on important topics on healthy aging: the role of becoming a caregiver for one's health in later life, and the impact of climate change. Three papers emerged from this research, all of which being available open access (see the links below).

Key takeaways:

👉🏽 Providing care for someone in later life can pose a risk for physical and mental health, particularly if it is to your (step-)parents(-in-law). However, providing support downwardly (to children, including looking after grandchildren) is not clearly associated with health, and might come with slight benefits. (w/ Anna Manzoni, based on SHARE data from 2004-2019)

👉🏽 Becoming a caregiver is not associated with worsening cognitive functioning. To the countrary we find a slight improvement in memory functioning, which remains after caregiving ends. The effect did not depend on the intensity of care, and allostatic load was not associated with becoming a caregiver for women. (w/ Patrick Präg & Klara Raiber, based on ELSA data)

👉🏽 Socio-environmental crises such as pandemics and climate change can accelerate cognitive aging. The exposure to warmer average summer temperatures was associated with slightly faster decrease in memory functioning. Exposure to lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic showed greater average memory decline than the baseline decline rate that would have happened during a non-pandemic period of the same length. (w/Martina Brandt, based on the German SHARE sample from 2004-2021)

Bertogg, Ariane and Anna Manzoni. Intergenerational Support and Later Life Health: Associations by Role, Type and Direction of Support. Journal of Marriage and Family, online first. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.70049

Bertogg, Ariane, Patrick Präg, und Klara Raiber. Dynamics of later-life caregiving and health. Insights from biomarker data and cognitive tests. Social Science Research, 131(103205). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2025.103205

Bertogg, Ariane and Martina Brandt. Socio-environmental crises and cognitive ageing. Exploring the cognitive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate crises on older adults’ memory and verbal fluency. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 77, 849–879. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-025-01028-7