Life Course Socioeconomic Status and Cognitive Decline among U.S. Adults: Trends and Underlying Mechanisms

• In Event: 368 - Regular Session. Aging

Abstract

While the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with late life cognitive outcomes has been well established in the literature, such research does not conceptualize SES as a longitudinal and multidimensional construct with effects that depend on the timing, duration, and magnitude of socioeconomic advantage or disadvantage. Further, few studies seek to identify the mechanisms that explain why SES affects late life cognition. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the present study utilizes a life course perspective to (1) test the associations of early life and adult SES across multiple socioeconomic domains with late-life age trajectories of cognitive decline, and (2) explore the social, psychological, behavioral, and physiological mechanisms that may explain these associations. Results from growth curve models find evidence for effects of both early life and adult SES on late life cognitive decline, whereby both early life and adult SES have independent and additive associations with adult cognitive functioning. Further, linear growth models reveal significant socioeconomic disparities in age trajectories of cognitive decline, such that the effects of early life SES on cognitive function converge with age, while the effects of adult SES on cognitive function diverge with age. Further analysis will test for mediating mechanisms that explain these disparities.

Author

• Kristen Marie Schorpp, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill