Parental Death and Cognitive Impairment: An Examination by Gender and Race–Ethnicity

Abstract

Objectives We provide the first nationally representative longitudinal study of cognitive impairment in relation to parental death from childhood through early adulthood, midlife, and later adulthood, with attention to heterogeneity in the experience of parental death. Method We analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study (2000-2016). The sample included 13,392 respondents, contributing 72,860 person-periods. Cognitive impairment was assessed using the modified version of the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS). Discrete-time hazard regression models were estimated to predict the odds of cognitive impairment. Results Both exposure and timing of parental death were related to risk of cognitive impairment in late life and associations vary by gender. The detrimental effect of a father’s death was comparable for daughters and sons although exposure to mother’s death had stronger effects on daughter’s than son’s risk of cognitive impairment. Father’s death at younger ages had the strongest effect on sons’ late-life risk of cognitive impairment whereas mother’s death in middle adulthood had the strongest effect on daughters’ risk. We found no significant racial-ethnic variation in the association between parental death and cognitive impairment. Discussion It is important to explore the gender-specific pathways through which parental death leads to increased risk of cognitive impairment so that effective interventions can be implemented to reduce risk.

Multiple Family Member Deaths and Cardiometabolic Health among Black and White Older Adults

“…Second, we underscore the racial context of bereavement in the United States, wherein Black adults experience an unequal burden of family deaths (Umberson et al 2017) and inequities in cardiometabolic health (Bibbins-Domingo et al 2009; Mitchell et al 2019; Williams et al 2010). Whereas recent research documents that unequal exposure to bereavement contributes to racial disadvantage in psychological distress (Umberson and Donnelly 2021), dementia (Cha, Thomas, and Umberson 2021; Liu, Lin, and Umberson 2022; Umberson et al 2020), and mortality risk (Donnelly et al 2020; Liu, Umberson, and Xu 2020), we extend prior research by examining the health consequences of racial inequities in exposure to multiple family member deaths across the life course. Therefore, the present study emphasizes that differential exposure to repeated bereavement events across the life course may contribute to racial inequities in cardiometabolic health for aging adults.…”

“…Compared to white adults, Black adults are also more likely to experience the death of a parent, to be widowed, and to experience a sibling death (Umberson et al 2017). Recent research shows that these disparities contribute to the higher rates of dementia (Cha et al 2021; Liu et al 2022) and mortality (Liu et al 2020) among aging Black adults.…”

Exposure to Family Member Deaths Across the Life Course for Hispanic Individuals

“…A blended stress and life course per spec tive (Pearlin et al 2005) empha sizes the profound effects of stress ful events early in the life course. For exam ple, the death of a par ent in child hood or young adult hood has last ing effects on men tal health (Kamis et al 2022;Leopold and Lechner 2015;Maier and Lachman 2000), cog ni tive impairment (Conde-Sala and Garre-Olmo 2020; Liu et al 2022), and mor tal ity risk (Smith et al 2014) in mid to later life. Taken together, dif fer en tial expo sure to fam ily memberdeaths,espe ciallyearlyinthelifecourse,couldinflu encedif fer en tialtra jec to ries of health for Black, His panic, and White adults, thereby lead ing to health inequities later in life.…”

“…The death of a fam ily mem ber is often a turn ing point in a per son's life and has last ing con se quences for men tal health, phys i cal health, and mor tal ity risk (Jacobs and Bovasso 2009;Maier and Lachman 2000;Smith et al 2014;Stroebe et al 2007;Umberson 2017). The death of a par ent in child hood can have espe cially pro found effects on long-term health and well-being (Kamis et al 2022;Liu et al 2022;Maier and Lachman 2000;Mitchell et al 2017;Shonkoff et al 2012;Shonkoff et al 2021;Smith et al 2014). An unequal bur den of fam ily mem ber death among His panic and non-His panic Black pop u la tions, espe cially early in the life course, likely fuels inequities in health across the life course.…”

“Outside the Skin”: The Persistence of Black–White Disparities in U.S. Early-Life Mortality

“…Umberson and col leagues pro vided com pel ling evi dence that these racial dif fer ences in early death are a cru cial, if understudied, part of the chronic and cumu la tive path way under ly ing worse health among Black Amer i cans (Umberson 2017;Umberson et al 2017). The sud den and unex pected death of a child, sib ling, spouse, or par ent-all of which are CORRECTED PROOFS pos si bil i ties given the age range under study-is asso ci ated with greater psy cho log i cal dis tress, worse phys i cal health, cog ni tive decline, and higher risk of mor tal ity (Donnelly et al 2019;Liu et al 2022;Umberson and Donnelly 2022;Umberson et al 2020). Critically, because these early deaths occur with far greater fre quency among Black ado les cents and young adults, these sustained losses likely exert a chronic and cumu la tive toll that explains a sig nifi cant pro por tion of racial disparities in health.…”