Social support has positive effects on cognitive functioning and buffers cognitive decline in older adults. This study examined the relation between social support and executive functioning in middle-aged adults. A community-based sample of African Americans completed the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, a measure of functional social support, and two cognitive tests measuring executive functioning, the Stroop Color Word
Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST). Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the relations among the different facets of perceived social support and performance on the cognitive tasks. After controlling for age, gender, and education, results indicated that greater belonging, self-esteem, appraisal, and tangible support were significant predictors of Stroop performance. In addition, greater tangible support significantly predicted WCST performance. These findings add to previous literature on social support and cognition; however, findings for middle-aged adults are unique and suggest that social support has positive effects on cognitive function in African Americans prior to old age.
 Executive functions regulate one’s thoughts and behaviors. They allow us to make decisions, initiate and stop actions, monitor and change our behaviors as needed, and adapt to changing situations (Friedman et al, 2008; Suchy, 2009).
 Overall cognitive ability, including executive functioning, declines with increasing age
(Nieto et al., 2008).

African Americans are at a greater risk for an increased rate of cognitive decline due to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke (Whitfield & Aiken-Morgan, 2008).
 Social support has positive effects on cognitive functioning and buffers cognitive decline in older adults (Seeman et al., 2001; Bourne et al., 2007).
 African Americans have a unique support system that may differentially impact cognitive performance and serve as a protective factor (Whitfield & Aiken-Morgan, 2008).
 African Americans who have less social support may be more likely to succumb to cognitive decline due to health risk factors and age.
 To date, few studies examine social support and its effects on cognitive functioning in
African Americans.
 To examine specific aspects of functional social support that may impact executive functioning, inhibition and set-shifting, in a middle-aged sample of African Americans.
 Participants were 139 middle-aged African Americans, residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
 The study site was the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) located at Howard
University Hospital.
 Participants completed the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), the Stroop
Color and Word Task, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST).
l: ”There is at least one person I know whose advice I trust.”
: ”If I were put in jail, there is someone I can call who would bail me out.”
: “I have someone who takes pride in my accomplishments.”
: ”I regularly meet or talk with with members of my family or friends.
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
Age
Years of Education
Appraisal Support
Tangible Support
Self-Esteem Support
Belonging Support
Total Support
Stroop Interference Score
Stroop Color Word Score
WCST Perseverative Errors
WCST Categories
Mean
45.60
13.81
18.04
21.86
20.92
22.42
83.88
-1.17
37.37
22.63
4.52
SD
11.56
2.39
5.09
6.38
4.63
5.71
19.31
10.17
11.82
12.77
2.75
Interference Score Color Word Score
β R 2 Sig. β R 2 Sig.
Appraisal Support
Tangible Support
.22*
.28**
.13
.15
.019
.001
.19*
.28*
.26
.30
.027
.001
Self-Esteem Support
Belonging Support
Total Support
.19*
.28**
.27**
.12
.16
.16
.030
.001
.003
.18*
.25**
.24**
.26
.29
.29
.027
.002
.004
*p < .05; **p < .01
Perseverative Errors Categories Completed
β R 2 Sig. β R 2 Sig.
Appraisal Support -.13
.23
.13
.14
.29
.09
Tangible Support
Self-Esteem Support
-.17*
-.04
.24
.22
.04
.64
.17*
.04
.30
.28
.03
.63
Belonging Support
Total Support
-.15
-.16
.24
.22
.06
.06
.09
.13
.30
.30
.26
.11
*p < .05; **p < .01


 Greater appraisal, belonging, and self-esteem support predicted better inhibition ability. Appraisal, belonging, and self-esteem support all provide a form of emotional support. Greater emotional support is significantly associated with greater cognitive performance (Seeman et al., 2001).
 Greater tangible support predicted better inhibition ability. Tangible support also carries emotional meaning to the individual who receives it (Semmer et al.,2008).
Tangible support attenuates the response to stressful situations by directly resolving an instrumental problem (Cohen & Wills, 1985). By reducing one’s stress response, cognitive functioning is enhanced (Seeman et al., 1997).
 Emotional support is hypothesized to buffer cognitive decline by reducing physiological arousal to stressful situations (Seeman et al., 2001). Physiological arousal may influence inhibition by affecting an individual’s ability to stop automatic and impulsive responses. Emotional support may have an impact on the inhibitory process due to its calming effect on physiological arousal.
 Greater tangible support predicted better shifting ability. Tangible support may carry a unique influence over and beyond emotional support. The availability of tangible support affords one direct help for solving problems and may indirectly enhance one’s overall problem-solving capacity.
 The findings are particularly significant because they suggest that social support has positive effects on cognitive functioning prior to old age.
 Developing clinical interventions that strengthen or improve the perception of social support need to be a priority for clinicians to enhance the cognitive well-being of African Americans.
 Increasing one’s social support at an earlier age may be more useful as a preventive measure to maintain executive functioning than as a reactionary intervention to boost cognitive ability in old age.
 This research is part of a larger study entitled “Stress and Psychoneuroimmunological
Factors in Renal Health and Disease” that is funded by The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities under grant #1P20MD00051204, “A Research Center to Reduce Ethnic
Disparities in ESRD.”
 This poster was made possible by Howard University's General Clinical Research Center grant #2MO1-RR010284 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR or NIH.
 We would also like to acknowledge the Health Promotion and Risk Reduction Research
Center (HealthPARC) for their assistance with the project.