Intersectional Inequalities in Cognitive Aging Trajectories and Neighborhood Disorder

• In Event: Disrupting Health Inequities Across the Life Course (Co-sponsored by Aging and the Life Course Section)

Abstract

There are notable differences in aging trajectories across different racial-ethnic groups. However, there is largely unexplored variation within each racial-ethnic group. Nativity, citizenship, and the legal status of household members can influence life-course health outcomes but have not been examined in tandem. Additionally, examining how neighborhood environments shape these trajectories is an important extension to the scholarship on aging. Using four waves of data from the 2014 Survey on Income and Program Participation (SIPP) (N= 144,388 person-years) and a series of multi-level growth curve models, I answer how the race-ethnicity, nativity, and legal status interact to influence cognitive aging trajectories, while showing how exposure to neighborhood disorder affects the pace of cognitive aging. My findings provide a glimpse at the heterogeneity that exists within racial-ethnic groups while underscoring the importance of neighborhood factors in shaping trajectories of age-related cognitive decline.

Author

• Richard Patti, University of Mississippi