Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
5-2020
Abstract
ObjectivesA growing body of research indicates that older adults are at greater risk for poorer cognition if they experienced low socioeconomic status (SES) as children. Guided by life course epidemiology, this study aimed to advance understanding of processes through which childhood SES influences cognition decades later, with attention to the role of scholastic performance in adolescence and SES in midlife.MethodWe used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which has followed a cohort of high school graduates since they were 18 years old in 1957. Childhood SES was measured prospectively in adolescence, and measures of memory and language/executive functioning were based on neurocognitive assessments at age 72. We used participants’ scores on a statewide standardized test in high school as an indicator of scholastic performance in adolescence. The measure of SES in midlife included years of postsecondary education, income, and occupation status at age 53.ResultsFindings from structural equation models indicated that scholastic performance in adolescence and midlife status attainment together fully mediated associations between childhood SES and both memory and language/executive functioning at age 72. Adolescent scholastic performance was directly associated with later-life cognition, as well as indirectly through midlife status attainment.DiscussionFindings provide support for both latency and social pathway processes when considering how SES in childhood influences later-life cognition. Results contribute to growing calls for social policies and programs to support optimal brain health at multiple phases throughout the life course, especially among individuals with lower SES as children.
Keywords
Cognitive aging, Life course, Social determinants, Social inequalities, Socioeconomic status
Discipline
Gerontology
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
Volume
76
Issue
6
First Page
1206
Last Page
1217
ISSN
1079-5014
Identifier
10.1093/geronb/gbaa062
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
GREENFIELD, Emily A., MOORMAN, Sara, & RIEGER, Annika Marie.(2020). Life Course Pathways From Childhood Socioeconomic Status to Later-Life Cognition: Evidence From the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 76(6), 1206-1217.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3860
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
http://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa062