Psychological and Cognitive Well-Being: Prevention, Risk Factors and Planned Intervention throughout the Lifespan

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to introduce this Healthcare Special Issue entitled “Psychological and Cognitive Well-Being: Prevention, Risk Factors and Planned Intervention throughout the Lifespan”.

During recent decades, it has become clearer that, from a bio-psycho-social perspective, studying health means including a more specific focus on different psychological variables and, most preeminently, mental health. This became even more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the lingering effects of the pandemic included a high percentage of patients who recovered from COVID-19 showing mental health-related symptoms. Moreover, the general population reported increased mental health vulnerability, possibly due to the additional stress caused by prolonged social isolation, work insecurity, perceived health risks, etc. Many studies have highlighted how the pandemic has negatively influenced the well-being of youngest populations, even more than expected.

Starting from these premises, the study of both cognitive and psychological well-being throughout the lifespan has gained much attention not only from the research community and academia but also from mass media and the general public.

To be more specific, evidence supports the fact that there are likely several complex and multilevel factors that can be considered protective or risk factors for both cognitive and psychological well-being across the lifespan.

For instance, an increased body of literature has focused on the “cognitive reserve” (CR) model that hypothesizes the involvement of multiple protective factors protecting against potential cognitive decline in aging. Researchers have suggested that specific lifestyle factors and personal experiences (such as education, work, time and frequency of leisure activities, etc.), in combination with genetic factors, can make some people more resilient than others as they age. Thus, people with a higher CR will show lower rates of cognitive decline and a reduced risk of developing different types of neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, some studies also confirmed how CR can protect against cognitive decline in different pathological conditions, such as neurological (e.g., traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, etc.) or psychiatric (sleep disturbance, schizophrenia, psychosis, etc.). The CR has also been reported to play a protective role in healthy subjects by making their cognitive processes more efficient and/or protecting them from negative mental health outcomes following stressful events (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). Although much is known about CR, there is still much to be discovered about the characterization of several different factors possibly associated with CR (such as creative thinking, bilingualism, and so on). Moreover, a full comprehension of the processes involved in cognitive well-being during the entire lifespan and the possible roles that CR-related mechanisms might play are still under-studied: these findings might have an important role in the development of interventions to increase overall well-being at a societal level.

Adding to this, over recent years, many researchers have focused on psychological well-being by exploring its trajectories throughout the lifespan, considering different contexts (school, work, etc.) and the influence of a wide range of factors such as physical activity, emotional intelligence, social and peer support, religious affiliation and beliefs, and so on. However, to the best of our knowledge, less is known about the possible relationship between cognitive and psychological well-being, the variables that might mediate or moderate this relationship, and how this relationship might change during one’s lifespan.

It is clear that the understanding of how mental health and well-being can be promoted is a critical societal challenge that cannot be ignored. Both the challenge and the relevance derive from the fact that well-being and mental health are protective or risk factors for many psychological diseases. They also play a long-term role in preventing or mitigating the potential development of health-threatening syndromes, such as psychopathologies or neurodegenerative diseases.

So, studies investigating these variables and their relationships, or the underlying psychophysiological processes, are of relevance for this Special Issue. Studies can thus encompass, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Preventive or risk factors for cognitive and psychological wellbeing.
2. The relationship between well-being and different genetic, psychological, cognitive and clinical variables.
3. Intervention studies aimed at enhancing cognitive or psychological well-being.
4. Neuroscientific approaches to investigate mechanisms related to CR or brain resilience, including behavioral, structural (volume; white matter tract integrity) or functional (resting-state or activation fMRI studies, metabolism) imaging studies.

Dr. Giulia Fusi
Dr. Barbara Colombo
Guest Editors

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• well-being
• cognition
• prevention
• risk factors
• intervention
• cognitive reserve
• mental health