The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between cognition, measured via the Digit Symbol Substitution Task, and subjective well-being (measured using the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect scale) in a community-based sample of middle-aged and older adults. Specifically, we examined both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal relationships between processing speed and subjective well-being. Data are from participants between 40-85 years-old (at baseline) who participated in the German Aging Survey across four waves. Results showed that processing speed was a weak but consistent predictor of positive affect, while age was associated with decreases in negative affect and positive affect, and increases in life satisfaction cross-sectionally. Conversely, cross-lagged panel analyses showed that the temporal relationship between processing speed and positive affect was close to zero, and non-significant. The results of this study shed additional light on the relationship between subjective well-being and cognition.
Keywords: German Aging Survey; Subjective well-being; digit symbol substitution task; positive affect; processing speed.