Race/Ethnic Differences, Skin Tone, and Memory Among Older Latinos in the United States

Abstract

Objectives U.S. Latino populations are diverse. Research on racial identity, skin tone and Latino health is imperative for understanding and combatting racism and colorism. We examined differences in memory performance: among non-Latinos and Latinos who identified as Black, other and white in the U.S.; and then among Puerto Ricans in Boston whose skin tones ranged from dark, medium, light to ‘white’. Methods We used 2010 Health and Retirement Study and 2004 Boston Puerto Rican Health Survey data, respectively, to examine racial and color differences in memory performance among 50+ year older adults in the U.S. and Puerto Rican older adults in Boston. We applied OLS regression to immediate and delayed word recall test scores and adjusted for education, health conditions and health behaviors. Results In adjusted models, white non-Latinos had better memory performance than white Latinos. Black Latinos, other Latinos, and Black non-Latinos had lower delayed word recall scores than white Latinos. Black Latinos and Black non-Latinos had similar scores. Intra-Latino racial disparities endured despite inclusion of education and other covariates. Among Puerto Ricans in Boston, medium-toned individuals had higher scores than ‘white’-toned individuals. Discussion Findings support the importance of examining self-identified race and skin tone in Latino aging research. Further investigation is needed to understand the stubborn intra-Latino racial disparities in memory performance and surprising adverse cognitive performance among ‘white’-toned relative to darker-toned Puerto Ricans in Boston.

Life Course Religious Attendance and Cognitive Health at Midlife: Exploring Gendered Contingencies

“…Additional analyses sought to explore whether the findings reported above were further contingent on race/ethnicity. Black and Hispanic older adults tend to experience a younger age of cognitive impairment onset, higher lifetime risk of cognitive problems and dementia, and spend more years of their lives cognitively impaired compared to Whites (Farina et al, 2020; Garcia et al, 2019; Hale et al, 2020; Jang et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2022; Muñoz et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2016). In addition, Black and Hispanic women do tend to have higher levels of religious participation than their White counterparts (Chatters et al, 1999; Sullins, 2006).…”