scholarly journals Racial Disparities in Cognitive Function: The Roles of Cumulative Stress Exposures Across the Life Course

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 504-504
Author(s):  
Ruijia Chen ◽  
Jennifer Weuve ◽  
Laura Kubzansky ◽  
David Williams
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coping Resources ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Cumulative Stress ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Introduction: Racial disparities in cognitive function have been well-documented in the literature, but factors driving the disparities remain under explored. This study aims to quantify the extent to which cumulative stress exposures across the life course explain Black–White disparities in executive function and episodic memory. Method: Data were drawn from the 2004–2006 wave of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) and the MIDUS refresher study (N=5,967, 5,277 White, 690 Black). Cumulative stress exposures were assessed by using 10 domains of stressors (e.g., financial stress, childhood adversity). Cognitive function was assessed using the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone. Marginal structural models were conducted to quantify the proportion of the effect of race/ethnicity status on cognitive function that can be explained by cumulative stress exposures. Result: Blacks reported higher levels of cumulative stress exposures and lower average levels of executive function and episodic memory than Whites. Cumulative stress exposures explained 8.43% of the disparities in executive function and 13.21 % of the disparities in episodic memory. Cumulative stress exposures had stronger effects on racial disparities in cognitive function in the older age group (age≥ 55 years old) than in the younger age group (age < 55 years old). Conclusion: Cumulative stress exposures explain modest proportions of racial disparities in levels of cognitive function. Interventions that focus on reducing stress exposures or improving coping resources among Blacks may help lessen racial disparities in cognitive function at the population level.

Racial Disparities in Cognitive Function among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: The Roles of Cumulative Stress Exposures Across the Life Course

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruijia Chen ◽  
Jennifer Weuve ◽  
Supriya Misra ◽  
Adolfo Cuevas ◽  
Laura D Kubzansky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Cumulative Stress ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Stress Work

Abstract Background Racial disparities in cognitive function are well documented, but factors driving these disparities remain underexplored. This study aims to quantify the extent to which cumulative stress exposures across the life course explain Black–White disparities in executive function and episodic memory in middle-aged and older adults. Methods Data were drawn from the 2004–2006 wave of the Midlife Development in the United States Study (MIDUS 2) and the MIDUS Refresher study (N = 5,947; 5,262 White, 685 Black). Cumulative stress exposures were assessed by 10 domains (i.e., childhood stress, stressful life events in adulthood, financial stress, work psychological stress, work physical stress, work-family conflicts, neighborhood disorder, relationship stress, perceived inequality, perceived discrimination). Cognitive function was assessed using the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone. Marginal structural models were used to quantify the proportion of the effect of race/ethnicity status on cognitive function mediated through cumulative stress exposures. Results After adjusting for age, sex, and sample, on average, Black participants had lower levels of executive function (difference: -0.83 standard deviation units, 95% CI -0.91, -0.75) and episodic memory (difference: -0.53 standard deviation units, 95% CI -0.60, -0.45) scores than White participants. Cumulative stress exposures accounted for 8.4% of the disparity in executive function and 13.2% of the disparity in episodic memory. Conclusions Cumulative stress exposures across the life course explained modest proportions of Black-White disparities in cognitive function in this large cross-sectional study.

scholarly journals Mind-Body Practice, Personality Traits, and Cognitive Performance: A 10-Year Study in US Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 713-713
Author(s):  
Kallol Kumar Bhattacharyya ◽  
Gizem Hueluer ◽  
Debra Dobbs
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Cognitive Outcomes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Negative Effect

Abstract It is widely established that physical activity is associated with better cognitive outcomes, and accumulating evidence suggests that mind-body practice (MBP) may yield similar benefits. Personality is related to both daily activities and cognition, but its role in the association between MBP and cognition is not well understood. The current study examines bidirectional temporal associations between personality traits, MBP, and cognition in healthy adults. We used data from waves 2 and 3 (2004-2014) of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study from a total of 2,050 individuals (age: M=64 years, SD=11, range=42 to 92; 56% women). We applied a cross-lagged regression analysis to examine bidirectional effects between MBP, Big Five personality traits, and two cognitive domains (episodic memory and executive function) and controlled for sociodemographic factors, health, and functional status covariates in wave 2. After controlling for covariates, MBP was independently associated with a more favorable change in episodic memory, but not in executive function. Regarding cross-lagged effects of cognitive function, episodic memory was related to subsequent MBP and agreeableness, and executive function was related to subsequent MBP, openness, and conscientiousness. Agreeableness had a negative effect on subsequent executive function. The findings point toward bidirectional associations between cognitive function MBP, while there was no evidence for cross-lagged associations between personality and MBP. Future research should guide us whether MBP can counteract cognitive decline as an alternative and complementary practice and the role that personality can play in such interventions.

scholarly journals Black Deaths Matter: Race, Relationship Loss, and Effects on Survivors

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Umberson
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Unique Type ◽  
Unique Source ◽  
The Life Course

Close relationships are a resource for mental and physical health that, like other social resources, is unequally distributed in the population. This article focuses on racial disparities in the loss of relationships across the life course. Racial disparities in life expectancy in the United States mean that black Americans experience the deaths of more friends and family members than do white Americans from childhood through later life. I argue that these losses are a unique type of stress and adversity that, through interconnected biopsychosocial pathways, contribute to disadvantage in health over the life course. I focus particularly on how the interconnected pathways associated with loss undermine opportunities for and increase risks to social ties throughout life, adding to disadvantage in health. I call on social scientists and policy makers to draw greater attention to this unique source of disadvantage for black children, adults, and families.

scholarly journals Movement Therapy and Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A 10-Year Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 364-365
Author(s):  
Kallol Kumar Bhattacharyya ◽  
Hongdao Meng ◽  
Gizem Hueluer ◽  
Kathryn Hyer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Movement Therapy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Activities ◽  
Pharmacological Intervention ◽  
Community Living ◽  
Middle Aged

Abstract Cognitive function is an important component of healthy aging and physical activities have been shown to support late life cognitive function. However, it is unclear whether non-traditional physical activities provide additional benefits for cognitive function above and beyond traditional leisure physical activities. This study examines the associations between movement therapy and cognitive function in the US population. We used data from the waves 1, 2 and 3 (1995-2014) of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. MIDUS included a national probability sample of community-living adults aged 25-75 years old in 1995 (wave 1) and added the wave 2 cognitive functioning tests of executive function and episodic memory. We applied multivariate linear regression models to estimate the effect of movement therapy (wave 2) on the cognitive episodic memory and executive function (wave 3) while controlling the covariates (wave 2 sociodemographic factors, health, and cognitive function). A total of 2097 individuals aged 42-92 years (mean 64.4, sd 10.9, 55.6% women) were included in the analysis. Movement therapy was independently associated with better episodic memory (beta=0.117, p=0.02), but not with executive function (beta=0.039, p=0.14), after including control variables. The results suggest that movement therapy may be an effective non-pharmacological intervention to attenuate age-related cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults. Future research should test whether these findings can be replicated in similar populations and if confirmed, interventions should incorporate a wider range of physical activities in community-living older adults with the goal of maintaining and improving physical and cognitive health.

ADDRESSING RACIAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTH USING LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVES

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia G. Colen
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
African American Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Socioeconomic Mobility ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Racial Disparities In Health

AbstractIn the United States, African Americans face stark inequalities in health. The life course perspective offers a unique viewpoint through which racial disparities in morbidity and mortality may be understood as the result of repeated exposures to risk factors during both childhood and adulthood. However, the utility of this approach is limited by its failure to investigate the degree to which racial/ethnic minorities are able to translate gains in socioeconomic status into favorable health outcomes, both for themselves and for their children. In order to adequately reflect the realities of marginalized groups, life course models must explore the interactive nature of linkages across lifecourse stages, pay particular attention to the unique processes that create and maintain health disparities over time, and consider the specific contexts in which these processes occur. To this end, I examine the ways in which exclusionary forces and discriminatory conditions are likely to prevent African American women and their children from reaping the health benefits typically associated with upward socioeconomic mobility.

scholarly journals Food Insecurity Is Associated with Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review of Findings across the Life Course

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-222
Author(s):  
Michael F. Royer ◽  
Nicolas Guerithault ◽  
B. Blair Braden ◽  
Melissa N. Laska ◽  
Meg Bruening
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Food Security Status ◽  
The Life Course

Food insecurity (FI) has negative implications across the life course that include poor health outcomes among both children and adults. However, the behavioral mechanisms by which FI impacts health behaviors are not clear. By understanding how FI is related to cognitive function/brain structure across the life course, we can design more targeted interventions. A systematic literature review was performed by conducting comprehensive database searches in Google Scholar and PubMed. Inclusion criteria required studies to include measures of FI and cognitive function/brain structure in humans. Study sample, design, outcomes, and biases were extracted. In total, 17 studies met the inclusion criteria. Cognitive domains included general cognition (n = 13), executive function (n = 10), visuospatial abilities (n = 4), and verbal memory (n = 8). No studies examined brain structure. Most studies (88%) indicated significant inverse associations between FI and cognitive function across all stages of the life course, particularly for general cognition and executive function. Significant inverse associations were observed between FI and either general cognition or executive function among children (n = 3) and adults (n = 12). All studies considered confounding variables; however, given that all were observational, no causality can be inferred from the findings. These findings indicate that FI is related to lower cognitive function across the life course. Research should explore how changes in food security status impacts cognitive function and brain structure to develop optimal FI interventions and improve cognitive health.

Cumulative Stress and Health

2018 ◽  
pp. 74-86
Author(s):  
Natalie Slopen ◽  
Celena Meyer ◽  
David R. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Social Stressors ◽  
Cumulative Stress ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Genetic Contributions ◽  
Stress And Health

Stressors have adverse effects on physical and mental health across the life span, and the accumulation of stressors is particularly damaging. Sociologists argue that the failure of prior research to account for a broad range of social stressors has underestimated the contributions of stress exposure to health behaviors and health status and to socioeconomic and racial/ethnic health inequities. The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study provides an unparalleled opportunity for studying the health consequences of stressor accumulation. The topic of cumulative stress is introduced, and challenges in operationalizing this construct are described. Examples of studies from MIDUS are highlighted that have considered multiple social stressors simultaneously, the interaction between daily and chronic stressors, genetic contributions to the effects of stressor on health, and accumulation of stressors at multiple points in the life course. Drawing on principles and models from life course epidemiology and developmental science, future research directions are discussed.

scholarly journals Bidirectional Associations between Obesity and Cognitive Function in Midlife Adults: A Longitudinal Study

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andree Hartanto ◽  
Jose Yong ◽  
Wei Toh
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Bidirectional Associations ◽  
Obesity Indices ◽  
Midlife Adults ◽  
Bidirectional Relations

The links between obesity and cognition remain equivocal due to a variety of methodological limitations with current research, such as an overreliance on body mass index (BMI) as a measure of obesity, the use of cross-sectional designs, and inadequate specification over the domains of cognitive function to be examined. To address these issues, we used data from the Cognitive Project of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, a large-scale, longitudinal dataset on non-institutionalized midlife adults (N = 2652), which enabled us to examine the long-term bidirectional relations between obesity and two latent factors of cognition—executive function and episodic memory—while controlling for potential confounds. Results showed that, over a span of nine years, an increase in obesity in Time 1 is associated with a decline in episodic memory in Time 2 (but not executive function), while an increase in executive function in Time 1 (but not episodic memory) is associated with a reduction in obesity in Time 2. These results were elucidated when obesity was indexed with waist-to-hip ratio but not with BMI. Our findings highlight important directions for further research, in particular the use of more valid obesity indices and a greater focus on the bidirectional effects between obesity and cognition.

Folklore and Folklife of American Age Groups and Aging

2018 ◽  
pp. 844-866
Author(s):  
Mary L. Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Infancy And Early Childhood ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Pregnancy And Birth

Folklore occurs at every stage of a person’s life, and this chapter covers the way folklore and folklife across, and of, the life course has been studied. Six divisions in the life course that mark traditions of age groups as well as perceived stages in the United States are pregnancy and birth, infancy and early childhood, childhood and adolescence, adulthood, seniority, and death. Although much of the scholarship of age groups has been on the beginning and end of life, I demonstrate the conditions of aging in adolescence through the senior years that generate folklore and should be studied in relation to formation of age-group identity. This chapter emphasizes the use of folklore as an adaptation to aging. It examines the connection of folk traditions to the role that anxiety plays in the aging process, the formation of self and group identity, and the rites of passage that mark transitions from one stage to another. It shows that the presence of invented and emerging traditions indicates changing values and beliefs across the life course and encourages research in age-based research as a basic component of folklore and folklife studies.

scholarly journals A Confluence of Policy Inequality: Health Disparities in Old Age Among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 37-37
Author(s):  
Sadie Giles
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Life Course ◽  
American Indian ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Political History ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Racial health disparities in old age are well established, and new conceptualizations and methodologies continue to advance our understanding of health inequality across the life course. One group that is overlooked in many of these analyses, however, is the aging American Indian/Native Alaskan (AI/NA) population. While scholars have attended to the unique health inequities faced by the AI/NA population as a whole due to its discordant political history with the US government, little attention has been paid to unique patterns of disparity that might exist in old age. I propose to draw critical gerontology into the conversation in order to establish a framework through which we can uncover barriers to health, both from the political context of the AI/NA people as well as the political history of old age policy in the United States. Health disparities in old age are often described through a cumulative (dis)advantage framework that offers the benefit of appreciating that different groups enter old age with different resources and health statuses as a result of cumulative inequalities across the life course. Adding a framework of age relations, appreciating age as a system of inequality where people also gain or lose access to resources and status upon entering old age offers a path for understanding the intersection of race and old age. This paper will show how policy history for this group in particular as well as old age policy in the United States all create a unique and unequal circumstance for the aging AI/NA population.

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