Katrina M Walsemann1, Stephanie Ureña1, Mateo P Farina2, Jennifer A Ailshire2. 1. School of Public Policy and Maryland Population Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. 2. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Although education is a key determinant of cognitive function, its role in determining Black-White disparities in cognitive function is unclear. This may be due, in part, to data limitations that have made it difficult to account for systemic educational inequities in the Jim Crow South experienced by older cohorts, including differences in the number of days Black students attended school compared to their White counterparts or Black peers in better-funded southern states. We determine if accounting for differential rates of school attendance across race, years, and states in the Jim Crow South better illuminates Black-White disparities in trajectories of cognitive function. METHODS: We linked historical state-level data on school attendance from the 1919/1920 to 1953/1954 Biennial Surveys of Education to the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of U.S. adults older than age 50. We restricted our sample to Black and White older adults who attended school in the Jim Crow South and began primary school in/after 1919/1920 and completed primary/secondary school by 1953/1954 (n = 4,343). We used linear mixed models to estimate trajectories of total cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory. RESULTS: Self-reported years of schooling explained 28%-33% of the Black-White disparity in level of cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory. Duration of school, a measure that accounted for differential rates of school attendance, explained 41%-55% of the Black-White disparity in these outcomes. DISCUSSION: Our study highlights the importance of using a more refined measure of schooling for understanding the education-cognitive health relationship.
OBJECTIVES: Although education is a key determinant of cognitive function, its role in determining Black-White disparities in cognitive function is unclear. This may be due, in part, to data limitations that have made it difficult to account for systemic educational inequities in the Jim Crow South experienced by older cohorts, including differences in the number of days Black students attended school compared to their White counterparts or Black peers in better-funded southern states. We determine if accounting for differential rates of school attendance across race, years, and states in the Jim Crow South better illuminates Black-White disparities in trajectories of cognitive function. METHODS: We linked historical state-level data on school attendance from the 1919/1920 to 1953/1954 Biennial Surveys of Education to the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of U.S. adults older than age 50. We restricted our sample to Black and White older adults who attended school in the Jim Crow South and began primary school in/after 1919/1920 and completed primary/secondary school by 1953/1954 (n = 4,343). We used linear mixed models to estimate trajectories of total cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory. RESULTS: Self-reported years of schooling explained 28%-33% of the Black-White disparity in level of cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory. Duration of school, a measure that accounted for differential rates of school attendance, explained 41%-55% of the Black-White disparity in these outcomes. DISCUSSION: Our study highlights the importance of using a more refined measure of schooling for understanding the education-cognitive health relationship.
Authors: Melissa Lamar; Alan J Lerner; Bryan D James; Lei Yu; Crystal M Glover; Robert S Wilson; Lisa L Barnes Journal: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci Date: 2020-08-13 Impact factor: 4.077
Authors: Paola Gilsanz; Elizabeth Rose Mayeda; M Maria Glymour; Charles P Quesenberry; Rachel A Whitmer Journal: JAMA Neurol Date: 2017-09-01 Impact factor: 18.302
Authors: Sze Yan Liu; M Maria Glymour; Laura B Zahodne; Christopher Weiss; Jennifer J Manly Journal: J Int Neuropsychol Soc Date: 2015-09-28 Impact factor: 2.892
Authors: Martin Lövdén; Laura Fratiglioni; M Maria Glymour; Ulman Lindenberger; Elliot M Tucker-Drob Journal: Psychol Sci Public Interest Date: 2020-08
Authors: Belinda L Needham; Talha Ali; Kristi L Allgood; Annie Ro; Jana L Hirschtick; Nancy L Fleischer Journal: J Racial Ethn Health Disparities Date: 2022-08-22