Lifespan Socioeconomic Context: Associations With Cognitive Functioning in Later Life

Scott, April B.; Reed, Rebecca; Garcia-Willingham, Natasha E.; Lawrence, Karen A.; Segerstrom, Suzanne C.

doi:10.1093/geronb/gby071

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…These associations remained after adjusting for family SES or largely remained after adjusting for perceptions of neighborhood safety. Thus, these social disparities merit further study to assess their prospective role in increasing developmental disparities in health and mental health and in the differences in neurocognition and brain structure in adulthood . These associations were largely consistent across 21 US metropolitan areas, suggesting a widespread and potentially generalizable pattern.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Thus, these social disparities merit further study to assess their prospective role in increasing developmental disparities in health and mental health [15][16][17]79 and in the differences in neurocognition and brain structure in adulthood. [80][81][82][83][84][85] These associations were largely consistent across 21 US metropolitan areas, suggesting a widespread and potentially generalizable pattern. Moreover, associations were primarily attributed to the local variation in neighborhood disadvantage within metropolitan areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Association of Local Variation in Neighborhood Disadvantage in Metropolitan Areas With Youth Neurocognition and Brain Structure

et al. 2021

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IMPORTANCE Neighborhood disadvantage is an important social determinant of health in childhood and adolescence. Less is known about the association of neighborhood disadvantage with youth neurocognition and brain structure, and particularly whether associations are similar across metropolitan areas and are attributed to local differences in disadvantage.OBJECTIVE To test whether neighborhood disadvantage is associated with youth neurocognitive performance and with global and regional measures of brain structure after adjusting for family socioeconomic status and perceptions of neighborhood characteristics, and to assess whether these associations (1) are pervasive or limited, (2) vary across metropolitan areas, and (3) are attributed to local variation in disadvantage within metropolitan areas. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional study analyzed baseline data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a cohort study conducted at 21 sites across the US. Participants were children aged 9.00 to 10.99 years at enrollment. They and their parent or caregiver completed a baseline visit between October 1, 2016, and October 31, 2018. EXPOSURES Neighborhood disadvantage factor based on US census tract characteristics. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Neurocognition was measured with the NIH ToolboxCognition Battery, and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess whole-brain and regional measures of structure. Linear mixed-effects models examined the association between neighborhood disadvantage and outcomes after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. RESULTSOf the 11 875 children in the ABCD Study cohort, 8598 children (72.4%) were included in this analysis. The study sample had a mean (SD) age of 118.8 (7.4) months and included 4526 boys (52.6%). Every 1-unit increase in the neighborhood disadvantage factor was associated with lower performance on 6 of 7 subtests, such as Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention (unstandardized Β = −0.5; 95% CI, −0.7 to −0.2; false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected P = .001) and List Sorting Working Memory (unstandardized Β = −0.7; 95% CI, −1.0 to −0.3; FDR-corrected P < .001), as well as on all composite measures of neurocognition, such as the Total Cognition Composite (unstandardized Β = −0.7; 95% CI, −0.9 to −0.5; FDR-corrected P < .001). Each 1-unit increase in neighborhood disadvantage was associated with lower whole-brain cortical surface area (unstandardized Β = −692.6 mm 2 ; 95% CI, −1154.9 to −230.4 mm 2 ; FDR-corrected P = .007) and subcortical volume (unstandardized Β = −113.9 mm 3 ; 95% CI, −198.5 to −29.4 mm 3 ; FDR-corrected P = .03) as well as with regional surface area differences, primarily in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes. Associations largely remained after adjusting for perceptions of neighborhood safety and were both consistent across metropolitan areas and primarily explained by local variation in each area.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This study found that, in the US, local variation in neighborhood disadvant...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Association of Local Variation in Neighborhood Disadvantage in Metropolitan Areas With Youth Neurocognition and Brain Structure

et al. 2021

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“…This result does not agree with previous findings as the economically disadvantaged group was expected to obtain lower scores [ 30 ]. A previous study which examined how early ages’ Socioeconomic Context (SEC) affects cognitive functions throughout an entire life span [ 76 ], showed that higher SECs in early ages and adulthood were related to better scores in verbal memory recognition. The literature regarding memory of participants with a background of poverty shows a link between lower family income and the hypo-reactivity of the cortisol response, which has been shown to be linked to associative memory in children [ 77 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Living in Vulnerable Conditions Undermines Cognitive Development: Evidence from the Pediatric Population of Guatemala

et al. 2021

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Low-socioeconomic backgrounds represent a risk factor for children’s cognitive development and well-being. Evidence from many studies highlights that cognitive processes may be adversely affected by vulnerable contexts. The aim of this study was to determine if living in vulnerable conditions affects childhood cognitive development. To achieve this, we assessed the performance of a sample of 347 Guatemalan children and adolescents aged from 6 to 17 years (M = 10.8, SD = 3) in a series of 10 neuropsychological tasks recently standardized for the pediatric population of this country. Two-fifths of the sample (41.5%) could be considered to have vulnerable backgrounds, coming from families with low-socioeconomic status or having had a high exposure to violence. As expected, results showed lower scores in language and attention for the vulnerable group. However, contrary to expectations, consistent systematic differences were not found in the executive function tasks. Vulnerable children obtained lower scores in cognitive flexibility compared to the non-vulnerable group, but higher scores in inhibition and problem-solving tasks. These results suggest the importance of developing pediatric standards of cognitive performance that take environmental vulnerable conditions into consideration. These findings, one of the first obtained in the Guatemalan population, also provide relevant information for specific educational interventions and public health policies which will enhance vulnerable children and adolescent cognitive development.

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“…Participants were derived from an imaging sub-study of a longitudinal cohort study on self-regulation, brain, and cognitive health in older adults (D. R. Evans & Segerstrom, 2015; Geiger et al, 2019; Scott et al, 2019; Segerstrom et al, 2022). To be eligible, participants had to be 60 years or older and nonsmokers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting cognitive decline in high-functioning older adults: The relationship between subjective cognitive concerns, frequency of high neuropsychological test scores, and the frontoparietal control network

Karr,

Hakun,

Elbich

et al. 2023

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

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Objective: Neuropsychologists have difficulty detecting cognitive decline in high-functioning older adults because greater neurological change must occur before cognitive performances are low enough to indicate decline or impairment. For high-functioning older adults, early neurological changes may correspond with subjective cognitive concerns and an absence of high scores. This study compared high-functioning older adults with and without subjective cognitive concerns, hypothesizing those with cognitive concerns would have fewer high scores on neuropsychological testing and lower frontoparietal network volume, thickness, and connectivity. Method: Participants had high estimated premorbid functioning (e.g., estimated intelligence ≥75th percentile or college-educated) and were divided based on subjective cognitive concerns. Participants with cognitive concerns (n = 35; 74.0 ± 9.6 years old, 62.9% female, 94.3% White) and without cognitive concerns (n = 33; 71.2 ± 7.1 years old, 75.8% female, 100% White) completed a neuropsychological battery of memory and executive function tests and underwent structural and resting-state magnetic resonance imaging, calculating frontoparietal network volume, thickness, and connectivity. Results: Participants with and without cognitive concerns had comparable numbers of low test scores (≤16th percentile), p = .103, d = .40. Participants with cognitive concerns had fewer high scores (≥75th percentile), p = .004, d = .71, and lower mean frontoparietal network volumes (left: p = .004, d = .74; right: p = .011, d = .66) and cortical thickness (left: p = .010, d = .66; right: p = .033, d = .54), but did not differ in network connectivity. Conclusions: Among high-functioning older adults, subjective cognitive decline may correspond with an absence of high scores on neuropsychological testing and underlying changes in the frontoparietal network that would not be detected by a traditional focus on low cognitive test scores.

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Lifespan Socioeconomic Context: Associations With Cognitive Functioning in Later Life

Cited by 14 publications

References 46 publications

Association of Local Variation in Neighborhood Disadvantage in Metropolitan Areas With Youth Neurocognition and Brain Structure

Association of Local Variation in Neighborhood Disadvantage in Metropolitan Areas With Youth Neurocognition and Brain Structure

How Living in Vulnerable Conditions Undermines Cognitive Development: Evidence from the Pediatric Population of Guatemala

Detecting cognitive decline in high-functioning older adults: The relationship between subjective cognitive concerns, frequency of high neuropsychological test scores, and the frontoparietal control network

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