Social-Emotional Health and Cognitive Functioning Among Individuals from Families Enriched for Alcohol Use Disorder

Background Social-Emotional Health (SEH)—the quality of social relationships and emotional well-being—is crucial for maintaining health and cognitive functioning. Given elevated cognitive impairment risk in aging and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) populations, we investigated associations between specific SEH factors and cognitive and physical functioning in individuals from families enriched for AUD. Methods Data from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA, analytic N  = 1,476, 61% lifetime AUD) were analyzed, grouping participants into younger (22–49 years) and later-life (50 + years) adults. Six SEH factors, fluid cognition (e.g., logical reasoning), and crystallized cognition (e.g., vocabulary) were measured via the NIH Toolbox Cognition and Emotion batteries. Physical functioning (SF-36), a self-reported measure of general health, was included as a non-cognitive comparison, with age and gender tested as moderators. Results SEH associations with fluid cognition and physical functioning were robust and conditional on age and gender. In later-life adults, all three positive SEH factors (Emotional Support, Instrumental Support, Friendship) were associated with higher fluid cognition, while all three negative factors (Loneliness, Negative Affect, Perceived Stress) were associated with lower fluid cognition. These associations were predominantly observed in later-life women and were independent of lifetime AUD history. While physical functioning showed widespread SEH associations across groups, SEH was not associated with fluid cognition in younger adults. Conclusion SEH shows robust, age- and gender-specific associations with fluid cognition and physical health. The SEH-fluid cognition link appears to be a late-life phenomenon particularly salient for women and independent of an individual’s lifetime AUD history.