Education, Psychological Resilience, and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life

• In Event: Aging and the Life Course Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): 1: Dementia and Cognitive Aging

Abstract

Psychological Resilience (PR) has been established as a robust predictor of health and wellbeing in later life, but its long-term associations with cognitive function are not well established. Further, education has a recognized and robust association with cognitive function and could be especially important (mediating or moderating effects) in understanding PR’s long-term effects on cognitive functioning. Using data from the 2006-2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and latent growth curve models, we investigate the independent and interdependent relationship between education, PR, and cognitive function trajectories across three cognitive outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest that, consistent with other health outcomes, PR has a lasting and robust protective association with cognitive function that is substantively meaningful (disparities consistent with 4-6 years of aging and standardized effects 1/3 to ½ in magnitude compared to education). We also find that although education increases both PR and cognition, these life course factors (education and later life PR) work relatively independently of one another in relation to cognitive function. Tests of interaction effects (moderation) also reveal that the effects of PR on cognitive function are consistent across levels of education. These findings suggest that PR, which may be a malleable resource in later life with potential for intervention, has substantial and lasting protective effects for cognitive function that are net of education selection and not conditional on education level. Further analyses will incorporate more recent waves and cohorts in the HRS (through 2018), along with probes of other potential selective forces and confounders such as personality characteristics, marriage, and health.

Authors

• Miles G. Taylor, FSU

• Dawn Celeste Carr, Florida State University