Feeling Useful, Staying Sharp: The Interplay of Perceived Usefulness, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognitive Reserve in Cognitive Aging

Ella Cohn-Schwartz; Rabia Khalaila

doi:10.1177/07334648261470468

Feeling Useful, Staying Sharp: The Interplay of Perceived Usefulness, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognitive Reserve in Cognitive Aging

Ella Cohn-Schwartz
, Rabia Khalaila

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Objectives: We examined whether feeling useful to others is related to cognitive performance and whether this association is explained by depressive symptoms and moderated by cognitive reserve. Methods: The study used a sample of 476 adults aged 50+ from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A moderated mediation model examined the links between perceived usefulness and cognitive performance, the mediation of depressive symptoms, and the moderation of cognitive reserve. Results: We found a direct effect of perceived usefulness on cognitive performance. This association was partly explained by depressive symptoms, such that feeling useful to others was related to less depressive symptoms, which were related to better cognitive performance. These associations were pronounced among participants with low cognitive reserve. Discussion: These findings could guide interventions promoting purposeful engagement in later life, particularly targeting those with limited cognitive reserve.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Applied Gerontology
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648261470468
State	Accepted/In press - 2026
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Keywords

cognition
depression
reserve
usefulness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Gerontology
Geriatrics and Gerontology

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10.1177/07334648261470468

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title = "Feeling Useful, Staying Sharp: The Interplay of Perceived Usefulness, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognitive Reserve in Cognitive Aging",

abstract = "Objectives: We examined whether feeling useful to others is related to cognitive performance and whether this association is explained by depressive symptoms and moderated by cognitive reserve. Methods: The study used a sample of 476 adults aged 50+ from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A moderated mediation model examined the links between perceived usefulness and cognitive performance, the mediation of depressive symptoms, and the moderation of cognitive reserve. Results: We found a direct effect of perceived usefulness on cognitive performance. This association was partly explained by depressive symptoms, such that feeling useful to others was related to less depressive symptoms, which were related to better cognitive performance. These associations were pronounced among participants with low cognitive reserve. Discussion: These findings could guide interventions promoting purposeful engagement in later life, particularly targeting those with limited cognitive reserve.",

keywords = "cognition, depression, reserve, usefulness",

author = "Ella Cohn-Schwartz and Rabia Khalaila",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).",

year = "2026",

doi = "10.1177/07334648261470468",

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journal = "Journal of Applied Gerontology",

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AU - Cohn-Schwartz, Ella

AU - Khalaila, Rabia

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Objectives: We examined whether feeling useful to others is related to cognitive performance and whether this association is explained by depressive symptoms and moderated by cognitive reserve. Methods: The study used a sample of 476 adults aged 50+ from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A moderated mediation model examined the links between perceived usefulness and cognitive performance, the mediation of depressive symptoms, and the moderation of cognitive reserve. Results: We found a direct effect of perceived usefulness on cognitive performance. This association was partly explained by depressive symptoms, such that feeling useful to others was related to less depressive symptoms, which were related to better cognitive performance. These associations were pronounced among participants with low cognitive reserve. Discussion: These findings could guide interventions promoting purposeful engagement in later life, particularly targeting those with limited cognitive reserve.

AB - Objectives: We examined whether feeling useful to others is related to cognitive performance and whether this association is explained by depressive symptoms and moderated by cognitive reserve. Methods: The study used a sample of 476 adults aged 50+ from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A moderated mediation model examined the links between perceived usefulness and cognitive performance, the mediation of depressive symptoms, and the moderation of cognitive reserve. Results: We found a direct effect of perceived usefulness on cognitive performance. This association was partly explained by depressive symptoms, such that feeling useful to others was related to less depressive symptoms, which were related to better cognitive performance. These associations were pronounced among participants with low cognitive reserve. Discussion: These findings could guide interventions promoting purposeful engagement in later life, particularly targeting those with limited cognitive reserve.

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Feeling Useful, Staying Sharp: The Interplay of Perceived Usefulness, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognitive Reserve in Cognitive Aging

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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