Cognitive Disparities: The Impact of the Great Depression and Cumulative Inequality on Later-Life Cognitive Function

Abstract

Population aging has driven a spate of recent research on later-life cognitive function. Greater longevity increases the lifetime risk of memory diseases that compromise the cognitive abilities vital to well-being. Alzheimer's disease, thought to be the most common underlying pathology for elders' cognitive dysfunction (Willis and Hakim 2013), is already the sixth leading cause of death in the United States (Alzheimer's Association 2016). Understanding social determinants of pathological cognitive decline is key to crafting interventions, but evidence is inconclusive for how social factors interact over the life course to affect cognitive function. I study whether early-life exposure to the Great Depression is directly associated with later-life cognitive function, influences risky behaviors over the life course, and/or accumulates with other life-course disadvantages. Using growth curve models to analyze the Health and Retirement Study, I find that early-life exposure to the Great Depression is associated with fluid cognition, controlling for intervening factors-evidence for a critical period model. I find little support for a social trajectory model. Disadvantage accumulates over the life course to predict worse cognitive function, providing strong evidence for a cumulative inequality model.

Does postponing retirement affect cognitive function? A counterfactual experiment to disentangle life course risk factors

“…We offer only a brief overview of these risk factors, as they have been reviewed extensively elsewhere (e.g., Livingston et al, 2017 ). Evidence suggests that early-life SES and/or exposure to hardship are associated with both early-life cognitive development ( Currie, 2009 ; Torche, 2018 ) and later-life cognitive decline, even net of intervening life-course risk factors ( Hale, 2017 ). Consistently, the most important modifiable predictor of cognitive function is educational attainment ( Leggett et al, 2017 ).…”

Are Positive Childhood Experiences Linked to Better Cognitive Functioning in Later Life?: Examining the Role of Life Course Pathways

“…Using the Health and Retirement Study, Luo and Waite (2005) showed that older adults who grew up with parents with less than 8 years of school have lower levels of cognitive function than those who did not. Nutritional deprivation and poverty, likewise, appear to have negative long-term effects (Barnes et al, 2012; Hale, 2017). Research also shows that early experiences shape the progression of cognitive decline; cognitive function across multiple domains drops most precipitously over a 12-year period for those growing up in disadvantaged homes (Lyu & Burr, 2016).…”

Gender Differences in the Impact of Depression on Cognitive Decline Among Korean Older Adults

“…[2][3][4][5] Cognitive function plays a crucial role in the daily life function of older adults, and it is a clear indicator of mental health and well-being in this population. 6 Poor cognitive function among older adults is a precursor to dementia, the global cost of which is approximately US$818 billion. 7 Currently, dementia is not curable.…”