The mediating effect of social support between self-perceptions of aging and fear of dementia in community-dwelling older adults

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of social support between self-perceptions of aging and fear of dementia among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: A total of 656 older adults were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The Brief Aging Perceptions Questionnaire, Social Support Rating Scale, and Fear of Dementia Scale were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0 and PROCESS macro. Results: Fear of dementia was positively correlated with self-perceptions of aging (/3=0.266) and negatively correlated with social support (/3=-0.326), and self-perceptions of aging were negatively correlated with social support (/3=-0.105). Mediation analysis showed that social support had a partial mediating effect between self-perceptions of aging and fear of dementia, and the mediating effect accounted for 11.33 % of the total effect. Conclusions: These findings highlighted the significant role of improving social support in developing interventions to reduce older adults' fear of dementia. (c) 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.